Field hockey dropped two contests this week, falling 13th-ranked Tufts 4-3 in an overtime thriller on Saturday before dropping a 1-0 overtime heartbreaker to Trinity.

On Saturday, the team gave up two early second-half goals before battling back to tie the game and force overtime, only to fall short when Tufts scored off of a penalty corner four minutes into the extra period.

The 12th-ranked Jeffs knew they were going to face a stiff away test going into the game, as Tufts had only lost to undefeated Middlebury on the season.

The team started off on the offensive, narrowly missing a breakaway before winning a penalty corner seven minutes in. Tufts’ Brianna Keenan saved the initial shot but couldn’t keep out Katie McMahon ’13, who put home the rebound for her eighth goal of the season.

Tufts’ Kelsey Perkins began what would turn out to be a big day for her midway through the half, ripping a low shot that beat Rachel Tannenbaum ’15 to tie things up. The stalemate lasted until late in the first half, when Ellie Andersen ’15 scored from in front of the cage off a rebound.

Tufts came out of the break firing on all cylinders, and within seven minutes Perkins had dragged the Jumbos into the lead. She scored off a Lia Sagerman assist before firing another shot just over 90 seconds later. Tannenbaum made the initial save, but Perkins found her own rebound and completed her hat trick, giving the Jumbos their first lead of the day at 3-2.

That lead lasted for less than 15 minutes, as the Lord Jeffs pushed for the equalizer. The team had four penalty corners in the second half and eventually capitalized on their chances, as Alex Philie ’14 deflected Andersen’s shot past Perkins.

The score remained deadlocked at the final whistle, and the game headed to overtime. The Lord Jeffs recorded the first shot of the period off of a penalty corner, but the Jumbos made no mistake with their first penalty corner of the extra period. Co-captain Lia Sagerman got her stick on the initial shot, sending it into the net for the game-winning goal.

Tufts finished with a 21-10 advantage in shots and a 16-9 advantage in penalty corners. Tannenbaum made eight stops in goal, while Perkins had three saves to record the win.

On Tuesday, Oct. 2, the Jeffs looked to rebound against a 6-1 Trinity squad. Instead, they found themselves locked in a defensive battle in which they managed no shot attempts over the final 18 minutes of regulation.

To their credit, the Jeffs took the Bantams to overtime tied at 0-0, where, in the waning seconds, Trinity was awarded a penalty stroke following a scrum in front of the Amherst goal.

Jeff goalie Rachel Tannenbaum ’15, who had held her own throughout the game, was unable to stop Sarah Duncan’s penalty shot, and the Amherst squad fell by a 1-0 score. The victory was Trinity head coach Anne Parmenter’s 100th in her career,
Currently sitting at 2-3 in conference play, the Amherst team faces a must-win game on Saturday, Oct. 6 against Williams.

Despite the setbacks, however, head coach Carol Knerr maintains her team is “focused and determined.”