Box Score
MEDFORD - Sophomore Rachel Terveer (London, OH) scored with 9:12 left in the second half and the Tufts defense gave Bowdoin its first shutout loss of the season in a 1-0 NESCAC field hockey final Wednesday at Bello Field.
Both teams entered with 8-1 records in the conference, with Bowdoin ranked #2 nationally and Tufts at #3. The Jumbos improved to 13-1 overall and 9-1 in the league while the Polar Bears fell to 12-2 and 8-2.
The Jumbos will await the final score of tonight's Amherst at Trinity game to learn their seeding in the upcoming NESCAC Championship tournament. A loss by the Lord Jeffs would give Tufts the #1 seed. Bowdoin will have a top-four seed as well.
Bowdoin finished with advantages of 9-4 in shots and 7-2 in corners, but the Jumbo defense limited their quality chances. The Polar Bears finished with two shots on goal, the same number as Tufts.
Junior Brittany Norfleet (Solana Beach, CA) against Bowdoin penalty corners and sophomore Alexandra Jamison (Gaithersburg, MD) during regular play were defensive stalwarts for the Jumbos.
Tufts had the only strong scoring chance of the first half when senior Emily Cannon (Atkinson, NH) fired a shot on goal during the Jumbos' only penalty corner attempt of the first 35. Bowdoin's Hannah Gartner made the save. The game went to halftime 0-0.
The visitors continued to apply pressure in the second half with three early corners. A shot by Katie Riley (Hingham, MA) during the first was saved by Jumbo keeper Brianna Keenan (Greeland, NH). First-year Mettler Growney's (New Canaan, CT) shot was blocked during the second.
Tufts would respond with an attack that resulted in a corner. However, senior Chelsea Yogerst's (San Diego, CA) deflection of a shot by classmate Stephanie Wan (Morgan Hill, CA) hit the right post.
Four minutes later, the Jumbos would take the lead. Norfleet's shot deflected off a Bowdoin defender. Terveeer retrieved it and her shot wolud deflect off Gartner before going into the cage.
The Polar Bears would have fine penalty corners in the second half, but Tufts was able to squelch each of them. As time wound down, Bowdoin had perhaps its best chance of the game when Growney's shot from near the left end line was saved by Keenan.
Keenan finished with two saves as the Jumbos gave Bowdoin its first blanking since November 19, 2011.
Cannon, Katy McConnell (Baltimore, MD), Wan, Yogerst and injured goalie Katie Stuntz (Mamaroneck, NY) were honored on Seniors Day at Tufts prior to the game.
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