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Jumbos Fall Short in NCAAs
Field Hockey and Volleyball see their championship runs end, closing out strong seasons
The Tufts field hockey team fell to Salisbury University, 1–0, in the NCAA Division III national championship semi-final on November 21, ending the season with a record of 18–2. The Jumbos played without head coach Tina McDavitt, who underwent emergency appendectomy surgery the day before. Midway through the first half, Tufts lost senior co-captain and National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) New England West Region Player of the Year Margi Scholtes, A10, when she dislocated a finger playing defense on a penalty corner possession by Salisbury.
“I think we’re just really proud about how our girls played,” said Tufts assistant Dani Ryder, who ran the team along with assistant Craig Rowe. “They had a lot going against them this weekend. They came out, really gave it their all and left everything on the field. We couldn’t be prouder of them.”
For the second straight year, Scholtes, Tamara Brown, A11, and Amanda Roberts, A11, were selected for NFHCA honors.
Scholtes, a senior co-captain, is a First Team All-American for the second consecutive season. Brown, a junior forward, is also a First Team All-American this fall after earning Second Team honors last year. Roberts, another junior, is on the All-America Third Team for the second year in a row. This marks the first season in Tufts history that two Jumbos are First Team All-Americans.
The volleyball team’s historic 2009 season came to an end on November 19, when the Jumbos lost 3–1 to Hope College in the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Division III Championship at John Carroll University. Down 2–0 after dropping the first two sets 25–17 and 25–23, the Jumbos battled back and won the third set 31–29. However, the Flying Dutch, the number six ranked team in the nation, won the fourth set 25–15 to take the match.
The third set of the match had all the spectators on the edges of their seats. Tufts fought off five match points before producing a victory in the longest game of any match on the day.
“I couldn’t be more proud of them,” said head coach Cora Thompson. “Although the outcome was disappointing, the effort was not.”
