After a 3-1 loss on Saturday, Sept. 26 to Bates, a team the Cardinals had not lost to since 2005, the field hockey team turned it around to upset 12th nationally ranked Tufts 3-2 in what was undoubtedly their finest performance of the season thus far. With storm clouds gathering overhead, the Cardinals took to Smith Field on Tuesday, Sept. 29 and gave the small but boisterous crowd a performance to remember. Prior to Tuesday night, the Jumbos had defeated the Cardinals in their previous 12 encounters.
“That’s a huge win for us,” commented Captain Caitlin Majewski ’16. “In our four years here we have never beaten Tufts. They won a national championship our freshman year. We definitely stepped it up from our previous few games.”
The Cardinals came out ready to play, and it showed from the first whistle. Less than five minutes into the game, they were awarded the first penalty corner of the contest and capitalized on the opportunity. Lauren Yue ’17’s insertion pass found the stick of captain Hannah Plappert ’16, who took a shot that put the Birds in front, 1-0. About three minutes later, the Cardinals had another corner. Just as before, the script read Yue to Plappert to back of the net, and just like that, the Cardinals had taken two shots and were leading the 12th ranked Jumbos 2-0 less than 10 minutes into the contest.
“We wanted it more from the first minute of the game and we kept that energy high,” Majewski said. “We were the first to score and we set the pace.”
After calling a timeout with 23:43 remaining in the half, the Jumbos settled in and began to push the attack, but largely to no avail. In the waning minutes of the half, the Jumbos intercepted a pass and started a two-versus-one breakaway that led to a goal and cut the Cardinals’ lead in half.
“We were able to score, and we capitalized on our opportunities,” stated captain Michaela Celella ’16. “We know we are a good team, and we were finally able to prove it, play well, and show that we are a threat.”
The Jumbos came out firing in the second half and were awarded a corner at three minutes and 30 seconds into the half. The Wes defense, headed by Sara Grundy ’16 in net, rose to the challenge and stood strong as it faced shot after shot. With 13 minutes remaining in the game, Plappert was pressing the attack down the right flank and centered a pass to Tierney Behles ’18 who put the ball past the Jumbos’ netminder, giving the Cardinals a commanding 3-1 lead. However, the Jumbos would not go quietly, and 52 seconds later, they beat Grundy and clawed back to within one.
“Everything we have been practicing finally came together,” Plappert said. “We played a full 70 minutes of Wesleyan field hockey, and I felt we did a great job of making Tufts adjust to how we were playing. It feels so good to get the opportunity to show how skilled we are as a team. From our goalie to our forwards, everyone was in it for the entire 70 minutes.”
As the clock was winding down, the energy on the sideline continued to build. The Cardinals continued to thwart every Jumbos’ attack in the final minutes. In the last 30 seconds of the game, the away side was awarded its fourth corner of the half. The clock sounded, and now all that stood between the Cardinals and one of the greatest upsets in team history was defending that corner.
As the Jumbos set up for the final play of the game, all was silent except for the crickets chirping. The insertion pass came to the top right part of the circle where the ball was controlled and a shot was fired. Grundy split her legs in order to make the save, but there was no need as the shot sailed wide. The Cardinals’ bench members erupted in excitement as they sprinted to join the pileup forming at the far end of the field in front of their goal. The Birds had done it.
“The energy on the field is unreal,” exclaimed Plappert in a postgame interview. “I think something that made such a big difference today was our energy on the bench. We really developed as a team. It didn’t matter who was coming on; everyone was pumped to play. Even if people didn’t get on, they were pumped. It was so fun.”
The Cardinals look to maintain the intensity when they travel to Hamilton on Saturday.
“We are excited for Saturday now that we know what we are capable of,” Plappert said. “This is going to be a pattern for the rest of the season.”