SOMERVILLE – Lesley University traveled to Kraft Field on Tuesday afternoon for a non-conference matchup. The game was evenly played with no score until the first overtime period when Lesley's Samantha Bessey (Algonquin, IL.) forced a breakaway and laid in the open shot to win it for the Lynx 1-0.
With the win, Lesley improves to 11-2-2 while the Jumbos move to 7-3-3 overall.
The first half went back and forth with few chances to score for both teams. Lesley had opportunities to break the scoreless first half as they controlled the possession keeping the ball on Tufts' side of the field. At the 40:35 mark, there was a shot made by junior midfielder Jordan Mitchell (Sachse, Texas) who leads the team with 10 goals this season, but it was saved by Emily Bowers (Needham, Mass.) who dove to her right to block the attempt.
In the second half with 39:20 left in regulation, the Lynx's Bessey made a short pass to senior midfielder Karlie Rubin (San Diego, Calif) who ripped a shot, but missed wide left. At the 69:54 mark, Mitchell made a pass to junior midfielder Sam Ring (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) who took a shot, but Bowers took a step and dove to save the shot attempt.
In the second half, the Jumbos came to life and forced the tempo and increased the pressure on the offensive side putting up 13 shots, including five that were on goal. With 26:48 remaining in regulation, junior Taylor Koscho (Hudson, Ohio) sailed a direct kick towards the net but the leaping Lesley goalkeeper Lilly Donovan (Newburyport, Mass.) was able to handle it. At the 71:48 mark, junior forward Alessandra Sadlertook (Atkinson, N.H.) a shot off of a pass from freshman forward Sophie Lloyd (Los Altos, Calif.) which hit the crossbar and glanced over the net.
The Jumbos had an opportunity to end it in the overtime period with 4:32 left, as freshman forward Liz Reed (Lynnfield, Mass.) made a move around a Lynx defender and took a shot but Donovan made a diving play to keep the game at 0-0. At the 97:20 mark, Bessey forced the ball past the last line of Jumbo defense and made a breakaway down the middle of the field and fired off an on-target shot that went past the diving Tufts goalkeeper to end the game in a 1-0 Lesley victory. That was Bessey's seventh goal of the season
Jumbo junior goalkeeper Bowers (7-3-3) made five saves in the loss and the Lynx senior goalkeeper Lilly Donovan (7-0-0) made six saves to preserve the shutout.
Tufts outshot the Lynx 18-10 and had the edge in corner kicks 4-1. The Jumbos were called for seven fouls compared to Lesley's six.
"Tufts is one of the top programs in the region. Our work-rate was phenomenal our players never stopped working".
- Head Coach Paul Vasconcelos
Lesley will be hosting Mitchell College at 8 p.m. on Wednesday. The Jumbos will be playing again on Saturday at Williams College at 12:30 p.m. in a key conference matchup.
Courtesy of Tufts Athletics