MEDFORD, Mass. — The Tufts University women’s lacrosse team rallied from a three-goal deficit with under eight minutes to play to defeat Bowdoin, 14-13, in overtime on Wednesday evening.
The fifth-ranked Jumbos finished their regular season at 14-1 (9-1 NESCAC) and will be the second seed for the upcoming NESCAC Championship.
Bowdoin (9-6, 5-5), ranked 13th, will be the fifth seed and will head to No. 4 Amherst on Saturday at noon for the NESCAC quarterfinals.
A back-and-forth first half saw the Polar Bears and Jumbos deadlocked after 30 minutes of play. Bowdoin opened up a 5-3 lead midway through the stanza on the strength of three straight goals byEliza Denious.
Emily Games sparked a 4-1 run to regain the lead for Tufts, but Fiona Bundy managed to score a late goal for the Polar Bears to tie the score at 8-8 at halftime.
Bowdoin took control early in the second half, getting a pair of goals from Bundy in a 4-1 surge that pushed the lead to 12-9 with 15:39 on the clock.
The Polar Bears maintained that three-goal lead under the eight-minute mark before Tufts began its rally. A 3-0 Jumbo run was capped by another goal from Emily Games, knotting the score at 12-12.
Bowdoin replied with a go-ahead score from Kara Finnerty at 3:44, and was able to regain possession after the ensuing draw control. But a turnover led to a Tufts attack and Dakota Adamec scored a free-position goal with 58 seconds left to force overtime.
In OT, Adamec won the draw control and Games converted a free-position goal at 1:31 to give Tufts the come-from-behind victory.
Denious had four goals and four draws for Bowdoin while Amanda Anderson and Bundy added three goals each. Games led Tufts with five scores.
Erin Morrissey made two saves in 24:54 for Bowdoin, while Aaliyah Biondo made five saves in 39:35. Bowdoin held a 33-31 advantage in shots in the match.
Men’s lacrosse
Tufts secured the top seed for the NESCAC Tournament with a 13-7 victory over Bowdoin at Whittier Field.
The fourth-ranked Jumbos (14-1, 9-1) prevailed despite the best efforts of Bowdoin (6-9, 2-8 NESCAC) netminder Michael Covell, who made 25 saves — the most by a Polar Bear goaltender since 1998.
Bowdoin scored the first goal of the game, courtesy of Zach Chandler, but Tufts answered with a 4-1 run to end the opening quarter, capped by a pair of Ben Connelly goals to take a 4-2 edge after 15 minutes of play.
Danny Murphy and James Gilbert pushed the Tufts lead to 6-2 early in the second quarter before Bowdoin’s Nick Iznaga trimmed the lead to 6-3 at intermission.
Tufts looked to put the game away with a pair of goals to open the third period, but Bowdoin was able to get tallies from Chandler and Jimmy Young with six minutes remaining in the frame to cut the lead to just three goals, 8-5.
The Polar Bears had a number of chances to cut further into the Tufts lead, but couldn’t convert.
Tufts sealed the win with goals from Ben Connelly and Nick Shanks to open the final stanza and Bowdoin failed to get closer than four goals for the remainder.
Connelly powered the Jumbos offense with six goals. Murphy had a goal and three assists.
Bowdoin was led by two goals apiece from Chandler and Young. Sam Carlin won 11-of-19 faceoffs for Bowdoin.
Mason Pollack made 11 saves in goal for Tufts.
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