MIDDLEBURY, VT (November 10, 2024) -- The Tufts University field hockey team earned its third all-time New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) title Sunday afternoon, defeating fifth-seed Bates College 1-0 in a shootout (3-2). The conference crown is the first since 2016, also joining Tufts first-ever NESCAC title back in 2009.
With the victory, Tufts (16-2) earns the NESCAC's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament field, which will be announced Sunday evening at 9:30 p.m. on NCAA.com. It will be Tufts' 15th all-time appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
As for Sunday, the Jumbos and Bobcats were playing in the NESCAC finals against one another for the first time ever and the showdown didn't disappoint. In the opening stanza, both teams had decent scoring chances but Tufts' goalkeeper
Lydia Eastburn saved the only shot on goal to keep the game scoreless.
Tufts had two penalty corners in the opening period, but both shots off the attempts were blocked and never made it through to goal. The Jumbos midfield would take control from that point, as Tufts did not allow another shot in regulation.
After halftime, Tufts had its best chance of the game at 33:18 but a shot from Andrea Delgiudice was stopped by Bobcat goalkeeper Ava Donohue. Early in the fourth quarter,
Lainie Pearson had back-to-back good looks for the Jumbos but neither would yield a goal.
The final shot of regulation with less than nine minutes to play came from the Jumbos'
Hannah Biccard, but Donohue was once again able to steer the shot away to keep the game scoreless heading to overtime.
Early in the first overtime period, both teams earned penalty corners but shot attempts were denied by defenders and sent out of the zone. Five minutes into overtime, Tufts had a great chance as consecutive shots by
Claire Gavin and Biccard were saved by Donohue. The Jumbos got three more penalty corner opportunities in the first overtime but couldn't convert.
In the second overtime, the task of playing back-to-back games including a pair of overtime games for Tufts showed as both squads looked exhausted as the final horn sounded to signal for a shootout.
Before last week shootouts would have been a rare occurrence for the Jumbos, but Sunday marked the fourth straight contest for the Jumbos that has went all the way to the skills challenge.
Bates shot first and junior goalkeeper
Lydia Eastburn denied the attempt, while
Andrea DelGiudice slotted home to make it 1-0. Eastburn was fooled on the second attempt by Anna Lindeis, but she was able to get enough footing to make an incredible sprawling save to keep the Bobcats off the board. On the next attempt for Tufts, senior
Kylie Rosenquest finished her attempt to make it 2-0.
Anna Cote netted her chance to get Bates on the board, but first-year
Hannah Murray made a great move, spinning and firing inside the near post to put Tufts within a save or goal of the win. Bates would score and make a save in round four, but in the final shot of the game Izzy Grol had to work to get around Eastburn and her shot went wide after the buzzer to give the conference title to the Jumbos with the 3-2 shootout win.
Tufts outshot Bates 14-4 on the day over the 80 minutes of action, while Eastburn made one stop for the Jumbos. Donohue saved six shots for the Bobcats, as Gavin and DelGiudice each finished with a team-high three shots apiece.
The defensive unit of
Claire Casey,
Kate MacKenzie,
Gabby Sousa and
Eleanor Luft was strong all game, while
Carly Iacullo and
Camille Clarke also subbed in defensively to help pitch the shutout.
The contest was the first NESCAC final since 2010 that did not feature Middlebury, and it was the first all-time conference final appearance for Bates. It was also just the third NESCAC game that went to a shootout, as Middlebury won 3-2 over Bowdoin in 2012 while Bowdoin knocked off Williams in 2005, 1-0.
The NCAA Selection Show will air Sunday, November 10 at 9:30 p.m. on NCAA.com, as Tufts will find out who and where it will be playing this upcoming week.
--JUMBOS--
