Wesleyan Records 1-0 Victory Over Tufts in Field Hockey First Round
Courtesy Wesleyan Sports Information
MIDDLETOWN, Conn. - Wesleyan made it two shutout victories within four days over Tufts as Wesleyan advances to the NESCAC Final Four to be hosted by top-seeded Bowdoin Sat., and Sun., Nov. 5-6. Freshman Hailey Sarage scored the first goal of her career after junior Maddie Rottman took a free hit from outside the circle on the right side.
Sarage tipped the ball past Tufts keeper Marilyn Duffy-Cabana at 14:07 of the first half. The assist was Rottman's fourth of the year. While Tufts had nine penalty corners in the opening 35 minutes to just one for Wesleyan, Tufts only produced one shot during the first half as the Wesleyan defense was solid in front of junior goalie Caitlin Kelly.
Tufts best chance to score came during the second half when a shot got through Kelly but was turned aside by senior defender Alex Pfeiffer for a valuable defensive save 10 minutes into the period.
The teams met in Middletown during a regular-season game Oct. 26 with Wesleyan prevailing, 2-0. This was the third time in six years of NESCAC tournament play that Wesleyan and Tufts have met in a first-round tournament game. All the games have been in Middletown and Tufts won last year's meeting, 2-0, and also came away with a 2-1 overtime decision during the 2000 campaign.
