Jumbos Tally Five Goals in Impressive Shutout Win

MEDFORD, MA (October 7, 2024) - The Tufts University women's soccer team showed off their all-around strength in a 5-0 win against the Regis College Pride in a Monday night game at Bello Field.

The Jumbos (7-2-1) established their own tempo over the game from the starting whistle. As they have now six times this season, they would score in the opening 10 minutes of the match. The Pride (5-5-3) were on the back foot, and the Jumbos recognized their advantage and pressed even harder to start the scoring. Junior Caroline Kelly fired a shot in through traffic, but it was parried by the Regis goalkeeper Daniela Mazo. Graduate student Nicola Sommers was on the other end of the initial save, allowing her to score with little resistance from the Pride. Sommer's third goal of the season came just two minutes and 34 seconds into the first half, and gave the Jumbos a 1-0 lead.

From there, the Jumbos were unstoppable. The defense was an impregnable fortress, centered by junior Lena Sugrue and freshman Phoebe Marsick, who made her first start of her Jumbo career. Senior Jordan Cushner and sophomore Rachel Arcella held down the wings, playing equal parts defense and offense as they worked to distribute the ball up to the outside forwards. As a unit, the Jumbos defense limited the Pride to a total of zero shots in the first half, and only two shots in the whole game. Freshman goalkeeper Greta Steege played in the first half and while she didn't make any saves, she was poised on the ball and distributed when needed with ease. 

Junior midfielder Aoife O'Reilly was the next Jumbo to score. After the Regis defense was scored on, they began to collapse and prevent the home side from penetrating their penalty area. O'Reilly decided to circumvent the Regis defense by firing a shot from distance, driving the ball past Mazo for her second goal of the season. O'Reilly's long-range strike gave the Jumbos a 2-0 lead.

73 seconds later, and the hosts found a third. This time it was scored off of a set piece, as two freshmen linked up to pot the ball. Sarah Hauck headed home Maren Jones' corner kick after the former rose above the Regis defense to win the ball out of the air. In the blink of an eye, Tufts led 3-0.

The second half saw the home side continue to run circles around their visitors. The Pride could not get any offense going, and they would find themselves under pressure again from the Tufts forwards early in the second frame. Sommers would strike again, as she received a great lofted through ball from sophomore Cate Holzbeierlein at the edge of the penalty area. A touch forward and a shot was all she needed to beat Mazo for the second time, and giving the Jumbos a commanding 4-0 lead.

Jones, who came on as a substitute and played 31 minutes, was electric at the front line. She would earn a spot on the scoresheet for her efforts, scoring the fifth goal for Tufts. Her score was the most impressive of the day, as she took it upon herself to shoot a free kick from a good distance away. The power and curve on her strike made it impossible to stop, as it soared past a diving Mazo for the final goal of the game for Tufts.

The Jumbos would win 5-0, continuing their goal-scoring streak that has seen them notch 15 goals in three games. Senior goalkeeper Natalie Rinker would make the only save of the game for the Jumbos, stopping a long range effort that hardly challenged the substitute goalkeeper. 

The Jumbos will be back in action October 12, as they make the trek up to Lewiston, Maine to play the Bates College Bobcats in a weekend NESCAC match at 12:00 PM.