BOX SCORE

BRUNSWICK, Maine - The Tufts University field hockey team defeated Bowdoin 4-3 in a battle between nationally-ranked squads on Friday evening. With the win, the fourth-ranked Jumbos (14-0, 9-0) earn the top seed for the NESCAC Championship Tournament that begins Sunday. Bowdoin (12-2, 7-2) is the second seed and will host Bates in a quarterfinal match Sunday at 1:00 p.m.

Junior Michelle Kelly scored twice for the Jumbos, and both gave the visitors two-goal leads. Her first goal late in the first half (3:57 left) put Tufts up 3-1, but Bowdoin's Katherine Gromley scored before the halftime whistle making it 3-2. Julia King had an assist on the play.

Approximately 12 minutes into the second half, Kelly scored again, her 12th of the season, to give the Jumbos a 4-2 lead. Bowdoin again scored late. King's tally, assisted by Kristen Veiga, with 6:54 remaining created an exciting finish. Bowdoin had two penalty corners in the final five minutes, and Tufts first-year goalkeeper Marianna Zak had a save in the final minute on a shot by Veiga.

Zak earned the win in goal with five saves. Emileigh Mercer and Emily Neilson made one save apiece, splitting time for the Polar Bears.

Bowdoin had taken a 1-0 lead on the first shot of the game. Shavonne Lord tallied 5:49 into the contest with an assist from King. Tufts responded quickly with a record-setting goal by sophomore Tamara Brown on a penalty corner attempt. The goal with 23:04 on the clock was the 19th of the season for Brown to set the program's single-season mark. About seven minutes later, Tufts then took the lead for good on junior Amanda Russo's goal that made it 2-1 Tufts.

The four Tufts goals are the most allowed by the Polar Bears since Williams defeated Bowdoin 5-4 in the semi-finals of the conference tournament on November 8, 2003, a stretch of 87 games. With the win, the Jumbos earned their first #1 seed in the nine-year history of the conference tournament.

Photo courtesy of Alex Cornell du Houx