MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – The Jumbos had the Cardinals right where they wanted them. Building a 15-11 lead, what was their largest of the game, heading into the fourth, Tufts was met by an unrelenting surge over the final 15 minutes that carried Wesleyan to a thrilling comeback win.
 
Outscoring the Jumbos 6-0 in the fourth quarter, the No. 8 ranked Cardinals (7-2, 3-2 NESCAC) overcame the four-goal deficit at the start of the period to hand the No. 3 Jumbos (10-1, 5-1 NESCAC) their first defeat of 2024. This win also marks the first for Wesleyan over Tufts in Middletown since 2003.
 
In a very well-played, back-and-forth battle of Top 10 ranked teams, the two sides traded blows for most of the early going. 10 combined goals were scored in both the first and second quarters, with neither team leading by more than two goals throughout the entire first half.
 
Even with the 10 goals scored in the first quarter, both Wesleyan and Tufts saw balance in their goal scorers as neither team have a repeat goal scorer until the second quarter. After Allie Zorn gave Tufts a 4-2 lead with 4:35 left in the first, Wesleyan responded with a 3-0 run over a span of just 2:09 as three midfielder goals from Dylan Green '26, Kiara Tangney '25, and Molly Greer '24 gave the Cardinals their first lead of the game.
 
The Jumbos answered back, scoring with just 9.3 seconds left in the first, before continuing with an extended 4-1 run to lead 8-6. It was Green who had the answer this time for Wesleyan, scoring consecutive goals in just 40 seconds as she completed a first half hat trick, the first in her career.
 
The game began to slow down over the final 8+ minutes of the first half but Tufts managed to score three of the final four goals of the half to take a 11-9 lead into halftime.
 
That defensive-minded play from the Jumbos carried over into the third quarter as Tufts outscored Wesleyan 4-2 to take a 15-11 lead into the fourth. Even with three saves from Cardinal goalkeeper Izzy Weintraub '26, the Cardinals managed just four shots on the offensive end as Tufts had control of the game going into the final 15 minutes.
 
Playing in front of a crowd of over 300 on Senior Day, the Cardinals certainly weren't going to go down without a fight, and the score line proved just that as Wesleyan blitzed the Jumbos with a stagging 6-0 fourth quarter. Tufts, the highest-scoring team in the nation coming into play (18.9 goals per game), was held scoreless for the entire fourth quarter and for 19:03 consecutive minutes going back to the last goal scored with 4:03 left in the third.
 
After committing just six turnovers over the first three quarter, Tufts had five turnovers in the fourth quarter alone while the Jumbos were outshot 9-4 in the stanza. Weintraub, who made a big save in the final minutes of the third, made saves on all three of Tufts' shots-on-goal in the fourth, finishing the game with four consecutive saves in a clutch showing.
 
With the Jumbo offense stalling, Wesleyan went to work on attack, with Greer and Bridget Horst '26 scoring on free positions within the opening four minutes, cutting the deficit to 15-13. Greer scored her second of the quarter and third of the game a few minutes later to make it 15-14 before Laura Baine '24 beat her defender in an isolation play along the near side, darting through traffic before burying the game-tying goal with 7:23 left.
 
Riding a 4-0 run, Wesleyan had all the momentum but still work to do as Julia Noyes '24 caused a turnover and Margie Carden was whistled for a yellow card in the scrum trying to secure the ground ball. Playing on the player-up for two minutes with the game tied, Wesleyan came up empty on offense but just as Tufts made a successful clearance, Greer intercepted an Ella Lesperance pass from behind cage to give the Cardinals another chance on attack with a player-up.
 
With the yellow card penalty nearly expired, Tangney took on her defender and made a sidestep past her before burying the go-ahead goal with 2:35 left. On the ensuing draw, Horst drew a foul call on Grace Hammond before the ball was put in play, giving possession to Wesleyan.
 
After Lilly Stoller '26 came up with a crucial ground ball following an errant pass, keeping possession with the Cardinals, Baine buried a show-stopping goal as the senior grabbed a ball off a restart, sprinting towards cage. With her defender still on her back, Baine jumped and spun to her left back towards the end line. Playing right-handed, Baine generated enough power on her leap to beat an unsuspecting Pascale de Buren in net to give Wesleyan a much-needed insurance goal.
 
An alternate possession draw went to the Jumbos but Tufts still had trouble finding anything on offense. Horst's tight defense on Emma Joyce forced another turnover, giving Wesleyan the ball back with under 40 seconds left. A failed Cardinal clearance gave Tufts another chance but Kate Deehan was denied by Weintraub on a free position twice, as the Cardinals swarmed the sophomore goalkeeper as the final buzzer sounded on a thrilling comeback win.
 
Baine's highlight reel goal was her fifth of the day, a new career-high for the senior attack who has 17 points over the last three games. Tangney also set a new career-high in goals, as the junior midfielder had four. Green's three first half goals landed her the first hat trick of her career while Greer scored three times, giving her hat tricks in consecutive games.
 
The trio of Horst, Tangney, and Greer led the way on the draws for Wesleyan who led 20-15 in that category for the game. Horst totaled seven while Tangney and Green both finished with five each.
 
Weintraub battled in net, making six of her eight saves in the second half, including four straight saves in the third and fourth quarters during the 6-0 Wesleyan run.
 
Next up for the Cardinals is a mid-week NESCAC clash against Trinity which starts at 6:30 PM from Smith Field.