Teams: Women's Lacrosse: Schedule & Results

TUFTS OVERCOMES FIVE-GOAL DEFICIT IN FINAL 15 MINUTES TO WIN 11-10

COLLEGE WOMEN'S LACROSSE FINAL SCORE
Tufts 11, Bates 10

At Lewiston, ME
Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Game Box Score

Emily Johnson's three goals down the stretch helped Tufts make an impressive comeback

LEWISTON, Me. -- The No. 7 nationally ranked Tufts University women's lacrosse team came back from a 10-5 deficit to defeat host Bates College 11-10 in a NESCAC contest on Wednesday evening.

The host Bobcats (5-4, 2-3 NESCAC), on the verge of a signature upset win, were held scoreless after Morgan Maciewicz's goal with 18:05 remaining in the game made it 10-5. The Jumbos began their comeback when junior Emily Johnson (Yarmouth, ME) scored on a Jenna Abelli (Framingham, MA) assist with 14:44 left, starting a 6-0 run to end the game. Johnson would score twice more in the run, once to close the gap to 10-9 and finally netting the game-winning goal with 2:07 left.

Tufts (6-1, 4-1) played effective keep-away after winning the draw control following the go-ahead score, until Bates first-year Jenna Dannis caused a Tufts turnover and scooped the ground ball. Bates senior and leading scorer Caroline Thomas got off a shot from close range with under 10 seconds left, but it was stopped by Tufts goalie Sara Bloom (Summit, NJ) to preserve the win.

Johnson led the Jumbos with four goals, while sophomore Amanda Roberts (Wenham, MA) and senior co-captain Chrissie Attura (Yarmouth, ME) had two goals and two assists apiece. Abelli added two goals and one assist. Bloom recorded eight saves in net.

Bates first-year Joan O'Neill led the Bobcats in scoring with a career-high three goals, while Thomas added two goals and three assists. Dannis scored two goals and recorded game highs of seven ground balls and five caused turnovers, and Maciewicz and Briana Gross added a goal and an assist apiece. Sophomore goalie Mara Krueger made 10 saves.

Bates got out to a 3-1 lead in the opening 15 minutes. Attura closed it to 3-2 with 13:35 left in the first half, but Dannis made it 4-2 on an assist by Thomas with 11:19 left, and Bates held a lead of at least two goals until 13:20 remained in regulation. O'Neill's second goal of the game put Bates ahead 6-3 at the half, and Dannis and Thomas sandwiched an Abelli goal to put Bates on top 8-4 with 22:00 remaining.

Tufts first-year Lara Kozin (Suffern, NY) closed the gap to 8-5 on a Roberts assist less than a minute later, but Bates responded with two straight from O'Neill and Maciewicz to make it 10-5.

Johnson's second goal of the game with 14:44 sparked Tufts, which added goals by Abelli (on a free-position shot) and Attura over the next 84 seconds, closing the gap to 10-8 and prompting a Bates timeout. Bates settled down a bit, but couldn't find the net, and Johnson closed the gap to 10-9 with 7:55 left. Roberts scored the equalizer with 4:02 left in the game on an assist by first-year Stephanie Perez (East Providence, RI) to complete the comeback at 10-10, prompting another Bates timeout.

Bates travels to Connecticut College on Saturday at noon. Tufts will play host to Trinity at the same time.

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