Box Score CAMBRIDGE - Senior
Reegan McCluskey's first goal of the season gave #4 Tufts Field Hockey a 1-0 victory on the road over #22 MIT on Tuesday night.
The first half was dominated by Tufts as they had eight shots with three of them being on goal. Along with that they had five corners. In the first quarter alone, the Jumbos out-shot MIT 4-0. McCluskey's goal came off a corner as
Ashley Zolin passed her the ball at the top of the circle and she faked the shot and continued to run past her defender and shoot it into the bottom left-hand corner.
After the goal, the game was much more even as the teams traded good plays. In the second quarter the teams combined for seven shots with five of them on the goal. The goalies for both teams,
Sam Gibby for Tufts and Kiely Smiga-McManus for MIT, were outstanding in the quarter as they saved all the shots that came their way with Gibby making three saves and Smiga-McManus making two. The best chance for either team though was off a Tufts penalty corner as McCluskey got the ball up at the top of the circle and shot it barely missing the bottom left of the goal.
In the second half, MIT continuously put pressure on Gibby and the Tufts defense. The Engineers had six shots during the half with three of them on goal along with six corners. The Jumbos on the other hand didn't have a shot or corner all half. MIT twice looked like it had tied the game. The first time, Ashley Lederman stole the ball from a Tufts player and was on the right side of the penalty circle and crossed it into the middle where Erica Radler got a touch to it and it went into the net, but the referee disallowed the goal.
The second time it looked like MIT had tied the game was in the fourth quarter when Paige Forester picked up a loose ball and was one-on-one with the goalie down by the out of bound line. She crossed the ball to the middle and a Jumbo defender cleared it, but it went right to Alice Zehner who scored. However, the referee again called the goal off and awarded MIT a penalty corner. Gibby made three more great saves from penalty corners to keep MIT off the scoreboard and it would stay 1-0 Jumbos until the end of the game.
MIT out-shot Tufts 10-8 on the night and had a 7-3 advantage in shots on goal. Even though the Jumbos had all five of their corners in the first half, MIT was able to have more corners, 9-5, by the end of the game. On the night, Gibby made seven saves compared to Smiga-McManus' two.
With the win, Tufts is now 3-0 on the season and will be back in action on Saturday on the road against Amherst College at noon. This was MIT's first loss of the season, as they are now 4-1 and on Saturday will travel to face Smith College.
Game recap written by Ryan Daly, Athletic Communications Intern
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