MEDFORD, MA (October 29, 2024) –
Andrea DelGiudice,
Kylie Rosenquest, and
Hannah Murray scored shootout goals, and
Lydia Eastburn defended three of Bowdoin College's five shootout shots successfully as the Tufts University field hockey team took a 3-2 win over the Polar Bears in an exciting NESCAC game on Tuesday night.
The fourth-ranked Jumbos improved their record to 13-2 overall (8-2 NESCAC), the team's most wins in a regular-season since 2018. Tufts will host Amherst College in the conference quarterfinals at Ounjian Field on Saturday at 1:00 PM.
Bowdoin narrowly misses a conference tournament berth due to tonight's loss. The Polar Bears finished their season at 6-9 overall and 3-7 in the conference.
Tufts had taken a 1-0 lead tonight on DelGiudice's 14th goal of the season. A corner insert by
Kayleigh McDonald went out to
Lainie Pearson. She sent it to Rosenquest on the right while DelGiudice got open on the left side. Rosenquest sent the pass over and DelGiudice's shot leaked through the goalkeeper 10 minutes into the game.
The Polar Bears tied the score also on a corner less than four minutes into the second frame. The insert by Caroline Higgins went out to Clara Noyes, who fired a shot to the front of the goal. Maya Malenfant deflected it over to Higgins at the left post and she scored to even things up.
Tufts regained the lead late in the third.
Kate MacKenzie fired a loose ball out of the Jumbo end, and after deflecting off a Bowdoin stick
Reagan Malo tipped it nicely to Rosenquest on the run. The play was initially broken up, but Rosenquest retrieved the ball and sent it to Malo in the middle of the circle. She beat the goalie glove side with 1:21 to go in the third.
The back-and-forth scoring continued in the fourth quarter as Bowdoin was awarded a penalty stroke and scored. Hannah Balmelli had capitalized on a Jumbo miscue and broke in on goal. A foul was whistled on the play and Bowdoin sent Emily Ferguson in for the stroke and she scored four minutes into the fourth to tie the score.
Junior goalie Lauren O'Donald was excellent for Bowdoin most of the game. She made six saves in the fourth quarter to help send the game to overtime.
The action would go to a second OT period where both teams had great chances to win it. Two minutes into the quarter, Ferguson poked the ball away from a Tufts defender and made a move around the goalie Eastburn. With an open goal, she tried to control the ball for a shot while stumbling. Ferguson put a slow shot on net, where Tufts defender Clare Casey had scrambled into position to make an incredible defensive save, barely keeping the ball from crossing the goal line.
Later in the period, the Jumbos'
Claire Gavin scored on a corner. However, after a discussion by the umpires, the goal was disallowed due to the shot touching the wrong side of the stick.
Tied 2-2 after 80 minutes, the game would be determined in the shootout which Tufts won 3-2. Bowdoin's Ferguson and Tufts' DelGiudice both scored on their first attempt. Mackay Bommer juggled the Polar Bears' next attempt in on Eastburn before shooting, but the Jumbo goalie made the save and a second shot was wide. Rosenquest and Murray – who hadn't played during regulation and overtime - both scored, sandwiched around a Bowdoin goal by Malenfant and Tufts had a 3-2 lead. Eastburn would swat away Bowdoin's final two attempts before shots were taken to give Tufts the victory.
The Jumbos dominated the stat sheet, outshooting Bowdoin 39-7 and earning a 15-2 advantage on corners. O'Donald finished with 21 saves in Bowdoin's cage, while Eastburn had one for the Jumbos.
--JUMBOS--
