Soccer Women Rally Hard, but Come Up Short Against Tufts

Author: Mike Kennedy

The Middlebury College women's soccer team lost a tough 2-1 decision to Tufts last weekend in Boston. The loss was the second in a row for the Panthers in NESCAC play and dropped them into a tie for sixth in the conference. The top seven teams qualify for the NESCAC playoffs, making Saturday's regular season finale against Connecticut College critical to the Panthers playoff hopes. A win would guarantee them a spot in this Sundays's opening round action.

Against Tufts, the Panthers fell behind by a goal late in the first half off a mad scramble in front of the goal following a corner kick. After the shot deflected off several players in front of the net, a Jumbo got her foot on the ball and sent it past the Middlebury keeper Els Van Woert '05 to open the scoring in the game. The goal came with just over a minute left in the half and sent the Panthers to the locker room trailing by one.

In the second half, Middlebury showed why they entered the game ranked fourth in New England, controlling the pace of play and keeping Tufts from generating many opportunities on the offensive half of the field. Coach Boettcher complimented Kelley Feeney '04, Caitlin Fabian '06 and Christine Bolger '07 on defense, commenting, "They put in the performance of the year, dominating the defensive third of the field." Another Jumbo corner kick led to their second goal of the game with under 15 minutes left in the match. This time, a Tufts forward banged home a rebound to give the Jumbos the two goal advantage that would prove too much for the Panthers. Middlebury kept pressing and Brittany Cronin '05 scored her team leading 11th goal of the season on a bomb from outside the box that found the top corner of the net, bringing the Panthers within one with four minutes to go in the contest. With under one minute to go in the game, the referee awarded the Panthers an indirect kick from just outside the box, but time elapsed before the kick was even taken, leaving Middlebury surprised and confused at what had happened. Either way, Middlebury left Tufts with a disappointing loss and in danger of missing the NESCAC playoffs entirely.

Senior co-captain Michaela Dietz '04 expressed the team's frustration: "The game was most disappointing because we knew that we were and still are more than capable of beating Tufts, and any team in the NESCAC." She did comment that the team cannot dwell on their last two losses. "What is more important now is to prepare for our game against Connecticut College. There are no guarantees as far as the playoffs go now, so this game is crucial for us," she said.

Dietz and the rest of the Panthers are still confident that they can play with anyone in the NESCAC, and realize that it is anyone's title to win once the playoffs begin Sunday. The Panthers did sit atop the NESCAC standings just over two weeks ago, but will first have to take care of Conn College Saturday in Middlebury to have any chance.