MEDFORD, MA (April 28, 2023) -- The Tufts University women's lacrosse, which comes into the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Tournament seeded No. 3, will host Amherst College Saturday at noon on Bello Field in the quarterfinal round. The Jumbos are looking to repeat as NESCAC Champions, having earned its second crown in program history in 2022 after topping Middlebury College 9-8 in the final a season ago. Tufts also won the conference title in 2021.
2023 NESCAC Women's Lacrosse Championship Quarterfinals
Opponent: vs. Amherst College (9-5, 5-5 NESCAC)
Dates: Saturday, April 29, 2023 - Noon
Location: Medford, MA – Bello Field (
Directions)
Coverage:
TOURNAMENT WEBSITE
Earlier This Season
The Jumbos and Mammoths battled on Bello Field in the second game of the season for both squads, as Tufts toppled Amherst 14-9, finishing the game on a 10-4 run to pull away for the victory. Sophomore
Ella Lesperance scored four goals in the second quarter as part of a seven-goal quarter for the Jumbos that gave the then No. 2 ranked Jumbo women's lacrosse team the lead for good. In the seven-goal second quarter, the Jumbos went down 3-1 early after a Clara Sosa goal for the Mammoths but responded with three goals in the span of one minute punctuated with a
Margie Carden goal following a
Madeline Delaney draw control. Amherst would get two goals back of their own before the Jumbos ended the quarter on a four-goal run.
Margie Carden and
Caroline Conaghan both added to the Tufts offense with three goals. Delaney had eight draw controls and added a goal and an assist. Tufts finished the game leading in draw controls 14-13. As a defense the team caused seven turnovers with
Emma Joyce leading the way causing two.
All-Time With Amherst
Tufts and Amherst have played a very competitive all-time series, as the Mammoths hold a slight 22-19 edge dating back 1981. Amherst won every meeting from 1997 to 2006, but the Jumbos have earned wins in three of the last four including earlier this season. Tufts is 11-7 at home in the series, as the two squads have split the previous 10 meetings dating back to 2013. The two teams have met four times in the NESCAC Tournament, with Amherst hosting a 3-1 edge with the last meeting coming in 2010 with a 11-9 win for Amherst.
A Look At The Jumbos
Tufts has won three straight contests entering the NESCAC Tournament, posting a 12-3 record while going 8-2 in the NESCAC regular season table. Tufts is 7-1 at home this year, with the lone loss coming to No. 2 seed Wesleyan University back on April 15. Tufts ranks sixth in the NESCAC in scoring margin this season, outscoring teams by 2.7 on average, while scoring the fifth-most goals of any team in the conference with 194.
Offensively,
Margie Carden leads the squad in goals with 44, netting 2.93 goal a game for the Jumbos.
Emma Joyce is right behind her with 39 goals, which ranks 12th in the NESCAC. Joyce's name is littered in the league leaders, as she is second in the NESCAC in draw controls with a program-record 94.
Madeline Delaney has scored 21 goals to go with a team-high 11 assists, while
Caroline Conaghan,
Allie Zorn and
Caroline Walter all have 18 tallies on the season. Carden, Joyce and Delaney all have three game-winning goals as well this season.
Defensively,
Becca Gable leads the squad with 17 caused turnovers, and Joyce has also tallied 15 caused turnovers as well.
Genna Gibbons has posted 19 draw controls, 11 caused turnovers and 13 ground balls this season, adding eight goals.
Mary Grace Reynolds and
Meg Hatton have been solid leaders for Tufts defensively as well, and
Courtney Kaufman has settled in as the starting goalkeeper with a solid save percentage of .494, making 114 saves on the season.
The Jumbos are coming off their biggest comeback victory in the history of the program, erasing an eight-goal deficit on Wednesday to topple Bowdoin College 18-15.
Tufts is under the direction of head coach
Courtney Shute, who helped the program to back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Tournament Finals along with repeat NESCAC titles. Shute has led Tufts to 117 wins as the head coach, now in her 10th season.
A Look At The Mammoths
Amherst comes to Bello Field on Saturday with a 9-5 overall record, going 5-5 in the NESCAC this season. The Mammoths are in search of their first-ever NESCAC title in 2023, as they have lost in the finals six times before with the latest coming in 2014. This is the 21st NESCAC Tournament appearance for Amherst.
Amherst is coming off back-to-back losses to finish the regular season, falling at Middlebury College 20-9 as well as against Trinity College at home April 26, 13-10. The Mammoths will look for offense from the trio of Clara Sosa, Emily Petersen and Bridget Finley. Sosa leads the team with 48 points on 38 goals and 10 assists, while Petersen has tallied 37 goals to go with a team-high 59 draw controls. Finley has 34 goals as well, leading the Mammoths with 11 free position goals and a shooting percentage of 55.7 percent.
Sofia Guttman also has 20 goals, while Sydney Larsen paces the squad with 17 assists. Defensively, Brynn Korpi has posted a team-high 13 caused turnovers and 26 ground balls, while Colleen Mooney has 13 caused turnovers and 54 draw controls but hasn't played since April 15. Fiona Jone also has 36 draw controls and 12 caused turnovers.
In goal, Amherst has split reps pretty much right down the middle this season, as Jessye Salmon has made 53 saves along with a 44.2 save percentage in 10 games and six starts. Caroline Stole has started eight times and played in 10 games, making 53 saves while going 6-2.
Amherst is under the director of first-year head coach Brooke Diamond O'Brien, who graduated from Amherst in 2003. O'Brien returned to Amherst after spending the previous 15 years as the head coach of women's lacrosse at Washington & Lee University, where she compiled a 221-60 (.786 win percentage) mark and was named conference coach of the year nine times. She guided the Generals to a 19-3 mark in 2022, a conference championship and a spot in the NCAA Div. III Tournament quarterfinals.
--
Quarterfinal action begins on Saturday, April 29 on the campuses of the higher seeds. The four quarterfinal winners will square off in the semifinal round on Saturday, May 6 at the highest remaining seed, and the championship game is set for Sunday, May 7 at the site of the semifinal matches.
--JUMBOS--
