AMHERST, MA (October 28, 2023) -- First-year
Waverly Sumner tallied her third goal in the last two games for the Tufts University women's soccer team, but No. 6 Amherst College and top-seed Amherst College earned a 3-1 victory in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) quarterfinals from Hitchcock Field.
With the loss, Tufts (7-5-4) will wait and see if it will be selected to the NCAA Tournament with the selection show coming November 6.
As for Saturday, the Jumbos had some good chances in the early going as the back and forth game saw four shots from both teams in the opening 25 minutes. The Mammoths (14-1-1) got on the board in the 28th minute, as Patience Kum tallied unassisted to put the hosts on top with a right-footed shot into the right side netting. It was her 13th goal of the season, tops in the NESCAC.
First-year goalkeeper
Gigi Edwards would make two of her five first-half saves after the opening goal to keep the game where it was heading to halftime. In the second half, Tufts came right out and evened the game at a goal apiece as a rocket from the edge of the box by Sumber deflected off the crossbar, down off a Amherst defender and into the goal for the equalizer.
Tufts kept the pressure on the host Mammoths, taking the next four shots in the game, all four coming from sophomore
Caroline Kelly. With just under nine minutes to play, Amherst would get the eventual game-winner on a free kick strike from Fiona Bernet to make it 2-1. Minutes later, Precious Novidzro scored on a 1-on-1 with Edwards to help seal the win for the top seed.
Both teams finished with 15 shots in the contest, while Amherst held a slight 9-5 edge in shots on goal. Sumner and Kelly each had four shots for the Jumbos, whiel
Elsi Aires fired three for the Jumbos.
Amherst will host the remaining semifinal and finals round of the NESCAC Tournament next Saturday-Sunday, November 4-5 in Amherst, MA.
--JUMBOS--
