Teams: Field Hockey: Team Overview

►Sarah Cannon presented NCAA Elite 88 award at NCAA banquet
►Jumbos ready for second straight NCAA semi-final
►Scholtes chosen as NFHCA Regional Player of the Year
►Five players gain All-Region recognition
►Tufts opens NCAA play versus MIT
►Player and Coach of the Year among team's NESCAC honors
►Jumbos fourth in final NFHCA national poll
►Perkins named NESCAC Player of the Week
►Tufts to host NCAA Tournament second and third rounds
►Jumbos win first NESCAC title
►Brown lands team's first NESCAC award of '09
►Russo, Scholtes named NFHCA Senior All-Stars
►Brown sets program's all-time scoring record
►Read about Tufts' Tamara Brown on NCAA.com

The Tufts University field hockey team was the NCAA national runner-up in 2008, continuing its rise as one of the elite programs in the country under Coach Tina McDavitt. The Jumbos lost 3-2 in two overtimes against rival Bowdoin College in the 2008 NCAA Championship Game.

Tufts had the best winning percentage in the NCAA's Division III last fall with their 19-2 record (.905). Three members of the squad were named Longstreth/National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) All-Americans, the most ever for the program. Tufts finished first in the ultra-competitive New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) with a 9-0 mark. They won 4-3 at defending national champion Bowdoin College on Halloween to finish their league schedule undefeated. In their first-ever NCAA Tournament "final four" appearance, the Jumbos routed 12-time "final four" participant Messiah 5-2 in the national semi-finals.

Tufts has advanced into the national spotlight during Coach McDavitt's five years. Their 43-12 record over the last three seasons includes a 13-win campaign in 2007 that was tied for the program's best-ever mark prior to last fall. The '07 team earned the program's first NCAA Tournament victory and finished with the #15 ranking in the NFHCA poll.

McDavitt was the NESCAC Coach of the Year in 2008, guiding a team that scored 82 goals and allowed only 21 in 21 games. Sophomore Tamara Brown smashed the single-season scoring records for goals with 28 and points with 61. On defense, midfielder Margi Scholtes was selected as NESCAC Defensive Player of the Year and as an NFHCA First Team All-American. Brown and midfielder Amanda Roberts were also All-Americans.

A 2000 Boston University graduate, McDavitt was hired as the sixth coach of Tufts Field Hockey in June 2004. At BU, she was a four-year standout and captain of the 1999 team. She led the Terriers to an undefeated America East Conference championship that season. An assistant at Holy Cross prior to Tufts, McDavitt won two Massachusetts state championships while playing for the Walpole High School team in 1994 and 1995. She was the Regional Coaching Director for USA Field Hockey's Futures Program from 2003-06. Still an active player, McDavitt is a member of US Field Hockey's national indoor team. She won a silver medal at the Pan Am Games in December 2005.

The Jumbo program's success under McDavitt has added to the winning history of a Tufts program that was established in 1974. The Jumbos enjoyed many successes with former coach Carol Rappoli at the helm. Her teams won 155 games in 19 seasons, made NCAA Tournament appearances in 1998 and 1995, and won ECAC championships in 1996 and 1989.

As members of the NESCAC, Tufts plays in the nation's most competitive small college conference academically and athletically. The NESCAC is a group of highly selective liberal arts colleges and universities that share an academics-first philosophy for intercollegiate athletics. Tufts was a recipient of the 2008 NFHCA National Academic Team Award as a program with better than a 3.0 cumulative grade point average. Additionally, 13 Jumbos were named to the NFHCA National Academic Squad with grade point averages of 3.3 or better during the Fall 2008 semester.

Located right outside of Boston, Tufts offers a well-rounded collegiate experience to student-athletes. Within its picturesque small-college campus, Tufts is a major university with "an unprecedented diversity of programs, exceptional faculty and staff, and bright and talented students," according to President Lawrence S. Bacow. The Athletics Department sponsors a varsity program of 28 sports that is among the most competitive in the NCAA's Division III. Tufts finished 10th in the 2009 Learfield Sports Directors' Cup, which awards points based on NCAA performances. The University's proximity to a world-class city renowned for its academic institutions is also a major draw.

Tufts opened a new field turf stadium, Bello Field, in 2004 and have a 38-9 record at the facility. In May 2008, the team took a two-week tour of South Africa, visiting three cities, playing three games against international competition and experiencing the "adventure capital of the world." The Jumbos are involved in the community, holding a clinic for the Big Sisters of Boston each summer among other activities.

Craig Rowe and Dani Ryder will be McDavitt's assistant coaches again this fall. Originally from Brisbane, Australia, Rowe played Division I and State Representative hockey. Now in his fourth season working with the Jumbos, Rowe is also the Regional Coaching Director for the Futures Program in Massachusetts. Throughout the summer he directs and coaches at the Champions Edge Camps under Princeton coach Kristen Holmes-Winn. In her second year at Tufts, Ryder is a 2008 graduate of Stonehill College who posted 29 shutouts during her career as a goaltender for the Skyhawks. She was a two-time Northeast-10 Academic All-Conference honoree.