Tufts Earns 2-0 Victory Against Wesleyan in Field Hockey Quarterfinals
Courtesy Tufts Sports Information
MEDFORD, Mass. - Junior Tamara Brown (Annandale, Va.) scored a goal in each half and Tufts University controlled possession during a 2-0 victory against Wesleyan University in the quarterfinal round of the 2009 NESCAC Field Hockey Championship on Sunday afternoon at Bello Field.
Tufts, the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament, advances to the semifinals next Saturday at Trinity College. The Jumbos will play fifth-seed Williams, a 2-1 winner at Middlebury in the first round. Tufts improved to 14-1 overall, while Wesleyan finished its season at 8-7.
Brown scored on the first shot of the game at 2:20, and it was all Tufts would need. The Jumbo defense did not allow Wesleyan near their goal, giving up no shots on net and just three attempted. Tufts keeper Marianna Zak (Concord, Mass.) did not have to make a save while recording the shutout, which was the fourth in a row for Tufts. Meanwhile, Cardinals first-year goalkeeper Tori Redding (Guilford, Conn.) was outstanding with 20 saves. Tufts finished with advantages of 35-3 in shots and 10-0 in penalty corners.
The first Tufts goal was set up by senior co-captain Amanda Russo (Garden City, N.Y.). She slid the ball past Redding and other Wesleyan defenders in the goal mouth to a wide-open Brown, who deposited it into an empty cage. Redding would stone the Jumbos for the rest of the half, finishing with 12 saves. Her best came on a point-blank cannonball blast off the stick of Tufts junior Amanda Roberts (Wenham, Mass.).
The Jumbos continued to dominate in the second half, but could not add to their one-goal margin. Finally, with 17:38 on the clock, Brown was perfectly positioned again to score off a rebound from classmate Melissa Burke's (Walpole, Mass.) shot. The goal was Brown's 19th of the season and put the Jumbos up 2-0.
Wesleyan managed some pressure late in the second half, with junior Allie Lynch (Greenwich, Conn.) getting two shots off. However, a Tufts defense that has allowed just four goals against in the last 10 games, didn't let either get through to Zak.
Tufts reached the conference semifinals for the fourth consecutive season. They were 3-0 winners at Williams on October 24.
