Box Score MEDFORD - For the second year in a row, 3-0-1 Tufts and 0-4-1 Wesleyan needed more than 100 minutes to decide the game's fate. This year's double overtime contest ended in a 1-1 stalemate, as both goals came off the feet of Wesleyan players. Hannah Stone recorded her first goal of the year, while the Cardinals, who earned their first point of the season, helped the Jumbos get on the board with an own goal.
The first half featured a somewhat sloppy back and forth battle with both teams getting several dangerous chances on net. Tufts forward Jess Capone made contact on a header, but it sailed high over the crossbar and later Tufts defender Alexa Pius nearly connected with a streaking Mariah Harvey-Brown, but the opportunity was thwarted by Wesleyan goaltender Jessica Tollman at the top of the box. The Cardinals biggest first half threat was forward Madeline Keane who fired several hard-hit balls on net, but she was unable to convert any of her four shots.
In the second half, Tufts and Wesleyan played a cleaner game, making crisp passes to feet and attacking the goal more aggressively. Just under three minutes into the half, midfielder Meghan Cunningham laid the ball off to midfielder Hannah Stone who drilled a shot from outside the 18 and watched as the ball sailed right, tipping off of Tufts goalkeeper Eileen McGarry's fingertips and into the netting.
The Jumbos knotted the game just two minutes later when Capone took the ball on her right foot and sent it towards the far post, where Cardinal defender Katy Hardt attempted to clear it, but instead redirected the ball into her own goal.
The rest of the half saw stalwart defensive efforts from both teams. Wesleyan's back line of Hardt, Kaylie Williams, and Brynn Hansson, stymied the Jumbos advances time and time again, while 'Bos defenders Nicole Campellone, Chandler Quinton, and Alexa Pius put in a similar effort on the other end. The hard-nosed D resulted in a 1-1 tie after a full 90 minutes.
In the best scoring chance of the first overtime, Harvey-Brown had space to get off a cross that dropped right in front of the goal mouth where a scrum ensued, but ended with Tollman falling on the ball to keep the score notched at one.
The second OT began with Wesleyan's best chance of the extra time periods as a pretty build-up from the Cardinals down the left wing resulted with the ball finding the back of the net, but the line ref had called Wes offsides.
Tollman ended the game with six saves, while McGarry grabbed four. Tufts finished the game with 19 shots, just one under their average of 20 per game, which is second in the NESCAC, while Wesleyan matched their shots per game average with a league-worst eight. This is the sixth meeting in a row between these two sides that has not seen more than one goal scored by either team.
The Jumbos return to game action in one week when they face Suffolk on Kraft Field next Tuesday at 4 pm.
#
