Balanced Attack And Strong Defense Lead No. 5 Jumbo Women's Lacrosse Past MIT

MEDFORD, MA (April 5, 2023) -- No.5 Tufts University women's lacrosse used a balanced offensive attack and strong defense throughout the game as they defeated MIT at home on Bello Field, Wednesday afternoon, 17-11.

After a defeat on the road at No.1 Middlebury last Saturday, the Jumbos got off to a perfect start as they scored the first four goals in the game. Caroline Walter got the scoring going for Tufts as she got past her defender and put the Jumbos up 1-0. Caroline Conaghan then scored the next three goals for Tufts to up the Jumbo lead to 4-0. MIT would respond with two goals of their own to cut the Jumbo lead in half before Emma Joyce put Tufts back up 5-2 at the end of the quarter off the feed from Conaghan.

MIT would start the second quarter strong as they cut the Tufts lead to one after Julianne Flusche scored to make it 6-5. The Jumbos would then get the next two goals as Margie Carden had a hand in both, scoring one herself and then assisting Joyce 31 seconds later to bring their lead back up to 8-5. After a save by Cortney Kaufman late in the quarter, Madeline Delaney was able to give Tufts a 9-6 lead going into the halftime break.

A woman down goal by Joyce gave Tufts a 10-6 lead before MIT trimmed the Tufts lead down to two after goals from Ellie Rabenold and Lindsey Gambino. The Tufts would respond by not giving up another goal in the quarter and only allowed four shots all quarter and caused MIT to make five turnovers. Tufts would take a four-goal lead going into the final quarter after Joyce and Carden each scored.  

The fourth quarter saw MIT cut the Tufts lead to two again before the Jumbos would go on a 4-1 goal run over the final 11:27 of the game to close the door on the Engineers. Carden was the catalyst for the offense in the final quarter as she had a goal and two assists. The defense continued to be strong as after Ella Lesperance put Tufts up 17-11 with 6:42 remaining in the game, MIT would not get another shot off until 10 seconds left in the game and the Jumbos forced three turnovers and two failed MIT clears.

Joyce scored five goals on the afternoon while Carden added eight points with four goals and four assists. Tufts had a 24-8 draw control advantage with Joyce having 10 draw controls and the Jumbo defense caused 13 turnovers in the game.
 
Rabenold led the way for the Engineers scoring five goals and adding two assists. Gambino had two goals and two assists, while also winning four draw controls. Abigail Kolyer was big in net as she made 13 saves.

Tufts will return to NESCAC action as they take on Connecticut College Saturday, April 8 at 12 PM at home for Senior Day and Scooter's Game. 

                                                                                                                --JUMBOS--