Trinity Women's Lax Loses At Tufts In Matchup Of Top Ten Teams
Medford, Mass. - With the game tied at 9-9 and 17 minutes left in regulation, the Tufts University Jumbo women's lacrosse team scored the next three goals and went on to a 13-10 victory against the visiting Trinity College Bantams in a New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) match on the Bello turf this afternoon.
Tufts and Trinity both entered the game tied for first place with Colby in NESCAC at 4-1, while the Jumbos were ranked No. 7 and Trinity was No. 9 in this week's Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) National Poll. With the victory, Tufts improved to 7-1 overall and 5-1 in the conference. Trinity dropped to 7-2 and 4-2.
First-years Lara Kozin (Suffern, N.Y.) and Stephanie Perez (East Providence, R.I.) stepped up and led Tufts with three goals apiece. Senior co-captain Chrissie Attura (Yarmouth, Maine) notched a game-high seven ground balls and four draw controls for the hosts. Trinity sophomore Rachel Romanowsky (Hampstead, N.H.) had a game-high four goals along with two assists. First-year Liz Bruno (Andover, Mass.) scooped up six ground balls and caused three turnovers for the Bantams.
Tufts had the better of the play in the first half, but came out of it leading only 6-5. Trinity netted the first two goals, but the Jumbos rattled off four straight and led, 4-2, on Kozin's first at 15:44. The Jumbos went ahead, 6-3, on another first-year goal by Casey Egan (Massapequa, N.Y.) at 6:01, but Romanowsky and sophomore Caitlin Irvine (Westwood, Mass.) scored late in the half to pull Trinity within a goal at the break.
Perez got a ground ball amidst a cluster in front of the Trinity goal and scored at 24:47 for the first goal of the second half. The Jumbos scored three of the first four goals in the second and led, 9-6, on sophomore Amanda Roberts' (Wenham, Mass.) tally at 20:45. The Bantams put together their best sustained play of the afternoon during the next four minutes and scored three straight goals. Two came out of the stick of Romanowsky, including her third free-position goal of the game at 17:03 to tie the score at 9-9. Trinity was six for eight on free-position attempts overall.
With the game on the line, the Jumbos rallied with goals by Kozin in free-position at 13:06, senior Courtney Thomas (Needham, Mass.) unassisted at 11:32 and by Perez with an assist from Kozin at 10:49. Leading, 12-9, the Tufts defense continued its stingy play and kept the Bantams scoreless until Jenn Calver (Barnard, Vt.) netted their final goal at 3:24. Junior Emily Johnson (Yarmouth, Maine) scored the 13th Tufts goal at 2:07.
Kozin added two assists to her three goals for a five-point game. Roberts caused three turnovers in addition to scoring twice with an assist. Tufts nearly doubled Trinity in shots with a 36-19 final count. The Jumbos also finished with a wide margin for ground balls (42-26) and won 14 of the 25 draws. Sophomore Sara Bloom (Summit, N.J.) stopped six shots in the Tufts goal for the win. Irvine and Calver had two goals each for Trinity, while senior Kristina Scontras (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) finished with four ground balls and three draw controls. First-year Gina Dinallo (West Hartford, Conn.) made eight saves for Trinity.
