Volleyball, men’s soccer, and women’s cross country advance in NCAAs; men’s cross country begins tournament this weekend
Photos: Courtesy of Athletics Department
For Tufts teams are busy contending in NCAA tournament action this month: volleyball and men’s soccer advanced this weekend, women’ cross country won its first NCAA regional, and men’s cross country was selected for an at-large NCAA berth.
Volleyball
The Tufts University volleyball team stunned host Johns Hopkins University in four sets on November 14 to win the NCAA regional championship and advance to the Elite 8 for the third time in program history.
The Jumbos (21-5) handed the Blue Jays (31-1) their first defeat since 2018. Hopkins had won the NCAA championship while finishing 35-0 in 2019, and were the number one ranked team in the nation this fall with a 31-0 record entering Sunday’s match.
Tufts will travel to St. Louis later this week to play in the national quarterfinals. The Jumbos will face the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in an Elite 8 match on Thursday, November 18, at 4 p.m. ET.
Head coach Cora Thompson’s Jumbos are in the Elite 8 for the third time, including 2009 and 2016.
Men’s Soccer
The men’s soccer team advanced past the Stevens Institute of Technology Ducks on penalty kicks in the second round of the NCAA championship on November 14, following a scoreless regulation and overtime.
The penalty kick shootout went 13 rounds, with the Jumbos coming out on top 11-10. Freshman goalie Erik Lauta made two big saves for Tufts in the shootout. In the 11th round, when the Ducks could have won with a goal, he dove left and saved both the shot and the season. Jumbos Ian Daly and Travis Van Brewer then scored and Stevens’ 13th attempt hit the post.
Tufts (14-1-4) moves on to the Sweet 16 next weekend, where they will play Washington College, a 2-0 winner over Montclair State. Bello Field at Tufts will be the site of the sectional round.
Women’s Cross Country
The women’s cross country team won its first-ever NCAA Regional Championship on November 13 at Franklin Park in Boston. As the East Region champs, head coach Kristen Morwick’s team earns an automatic berth into the 2021 NCAA championship race on November 20.
The Jumbos had three runners in the top 10, leading them to the victory. Senior Danielle Page was the regional runner-up for the second straight time, and classmate Anna Slager placed third. Page finished the six-kilometer race with a time of 21:32, while Slager was right behind her with a 22:18 mark. Junior Meghan Davis was the other Jumbo in the top 10, crossing the finish line with a time of 23:00 to finish in seventh place.
As a team, Tufts finished with 59 points, six ahead of neighboring rival MIT (65). Bates College rounded out the top three teams in the region with 87 points. This was the first East Region championship race after the sport was realigned into 10 regions earlier this year.
Men’s Cross Country
The Jumbo men’s cross country team has been selected for an at-large berth into the 2021 NCAA championship race that will be held in Louisville, Kentucky, on November 20.
The Jumbos placed third at the NCAA East Region Championship on November 13. That put them in position to gain one of 22 at-large berths that were available, and they learned Sunday afternoon that they did in fact get an invitation to compete at the national championship.
The NCAA team berth is the 16th overall for men’s cross country. In the 15 prior appearances, Tufts has posted six national top 10 finishes, with a best of fifth place in 2005.
Field Hockey
The Tufts field hockey team (15-5) fell to the Middlebury College Panthers (20-0) in a 2-0 NCAA Elite 8 game on November 14 at Kohn Field. The Panthers advance to the Final Four in Hartford, Connecticut, next weekend, while the Jumbos’ season ends.
The day before, the seventh-ranked Jumbos defeated 14th-ranked SUNY New Paltz (17-3) by a score of 5-2 on a rainy Saturday afternoon at Middlebury College in the second round of the NCAA championship.
