EDFORD -- Wellesley senior goalkeeper Sarina Sawyer recorded 22
saves in the Blue's matchup at Tufts, but it wasn't enough to keep
the Jumbos from steamrolling to a 6-0 home-field win in non-league
field hockey action Thursday.
In the first half alone, Tufts outshot Wellesley 25-0 with the
defense keeping any hint of a Blue attack silent. It wasn't until
almost 10 minutes after the starting whistle that Wellesley was
able to break past the midline into their offensive zone.
Though sustaining continued pressure, the Jumbos were denied by
Sawyer on several key occasions and were only able to rack up three
goals before the half.
It was senior Tamara Brown
(Annandale, VA) who characteristically broke the seal for the
Jumbos, converting on a feed from sophomore Lia Sagerman (LaJolla,
CA) to put Tufts up 1-0. Soon after, classmate Melissa Burke
(Walpole, MA) wailed a shot from the left side of the striking
circle to stretch the lead to two at 12:08 in the first.
Then, even with only a slight lead, Tufts began to rotate the
reserves.
The Jumbos would strike once more just before intermission when
freshman Chelsea
Yogerst (San Diego, CA) collected senior co-captain Amanda
Roberts' (Wenham, MA) rebound off of Sawyer's pads to close out
the half at 1:47.
Missed opportunities continued to add up for the Jumbos while
Wellesley began to creep into their offensive end. But, after an
aggressive play by Sawyer to deny a 1-on-1 from sophomore Missy
Karp (Berwyn, PA), a penalty stroke was awarded. Brown stepped up
and easily sent the ball into the left side of the open net.
On the next play however, Karp refused to be taken down and
dodged Sawyer to lay the ball in behind her. Sagerman collected the
pass and slammed it home. At 5-0, the Blue kept fighting despite a
single look at the goal thus far.
Sagerman would end the scoring for Tufts at 11:50 as she
completed a fast break passing combination with a goal off of
Yogerst's assist.
Then, as the clock wound down under 10 minutes, the Blue began
to threaten Tufts' rotating defenders by earning their first
penalty corner. And then, on their last offensive possession of the
game, Wellesley sophomore Allison Robbins (Bennington, VT) received
the insert on the team's fourth and final penalty corner. Winding
up with a clear path to the goal, Robbins sent a hard ball in that
rattled the left post and deflected away from the goal.
Tufts finished outshooting the Blue 36-4, with only a slight
advantage in corners, 8-4 - with all of the Jumbos' coming in the
first half. First year goalkeeper Katie Stuntz
(Mamaroneck, NY) finished with two saves on the Blue's only two
shots on goal while junior starter Marianna Zak
(Concord, MA) faced no shots during her time.
The Jumbos return to action on Saturday when they travel to
Colby. Wellesley will have a large block of time to reevaluate
after the loss as they do not play again until Oct. 16 when they
welcome Smith College.
Game Statistics
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