GENEVA, N.Y. - With time winding down, Margaret Ellis took the ball off of a whistle and sprinted down the field.
There was just one problem - a foul was called on DePauw, and it was Tufts University's ball.
Ellis, a senior, tried everything she could to jump-start an often-times stalled offense in the second half, but the Jumbos played a smothering style of defense.
The DePauw field hockey team's primary strength, stick-to-stick passing, was virtually eliminated by an all-around, fundamentally-sound Tufts team.
At midday Saturday on McCooey Memorial Field at William Smith College, the Tigers were downed, 2-0, in the NCAA Div. III field hockey semifinals - the first time DePauw (21-2) was shutout all year. The Tigers had chances in the first half, but one borderline call and excellent play by the Jumbos' goalkeeper kept the Tigers from scoring. Then, in the second half, DePauw tallied just one shot as Tufts (18-2) stepped up the offensive pressure to close out the game.
"I'm very proud of the team and the way they played today," DePauw head coach Gina Wills said. "They've had a tremendous year, and that's testament to how hard they've worked all year. They've gotten better every day, and they played very well today."
Coming in to the game, Wills' plan was to use her team's speed to counter an overall consistent Jumbos' lineup. Tufts, the No. 10 ranked team in the tournament, doesn't possess standout players, but displays a general talent and skill with ball movement and defense.
In the first half, it was Tufts who first had the advantage on offense. After earning back-to-back penalty corners in the 4th minute, the Jumbos fired two shots, one that goalkeeper Maggie Steele deflected, and then another that hit the body of junior Sydney Sprawls.
DePauw countered with a well-designed corner of its own five minutes later. Junior Chelsea Cutler sent a pass to sophomore Maggie Campbell on the right wing. She flicked the ball back to Cutler, who found a wide-open Ellis near the top of the striking circle. Ellis muscled a powerful pass to the far post intended for fellow-senior Bridgette Shamleffer, but Shamleffer was unable to get a stick to the ball and it rolled out of bounds.
Six minutes later, it was Tufts who earned a corner, and this time capitalized.
The pass went to freshman Dakota Sikes-Keilp who unleashed a shot from the top of the scoring circle that blew past DePauw's defense and to the left corner of the cage.
"I didn't really look up," Sikes-Keilp said. "I just ignored the goalie and shot it."
The Tigers almost responded off a corner of their own in the 18th minute. Ellis received a pass from Cutler and lifted a high-arcing shot over the defense. It soared over the head of Tufts goalkeeper, Brianne Keenan, but another Jumbos defender was there to block the shot.
Ellis stood on the field and raised her arms asking for a penalty to be called, but she argued to no avail.
The first half ended with DePauw being outshot 7-4, and the Jumbos holding the edge in corners, 8-7.
"Tufts stepped up, and they were there on defense," Wills said. "We just weren't quite able to get it in and the goalkeeper did a great job of recovering and getting to the right spot to make the play."
Added Tufts head coach Tina McDavitt: "[DePauw's] tackles were so consistent, and I think they were really strong on the ball. We couldn't push through them, we had to go around and that took us a while to figure out what they were doing so we could go around them."
Out of halftime, Wills moved Ellis out of her center forward position to a sideline spot to get the ball on the stick of DePauw's greatest scorer in history.
"I got a little flustered, especially in the first half, and that why I was moved outside to the wing," Ellis said. "I got my feet caught up a little bit, and they were there."
In the second half, however, the adjustment didn't produce more DePauw offense, and Tufts shutdown the Tigers' passing game.
DePauw's passes were intercepted one after another, and the Jumbos added another goal off of a corner in the 57th minute that all but put the game away.
"From what we knew about DePauw, we knew they had an excellent passing game," McDavitt said, adding they scouted both DePauw's second and third round games. "So I told the girls in the locker room that if we wanted to win this game today, we had to step up and intercept and to beat them all over the field."
On offense, the Jumbos assaulted the Tigers' defense constantly in the second half. Junior Taylor Helms said her DePauw team did a great job of stopping the attacks, but on corners, the shots were too precise to handle.
"They did a great job of executing because they got it to the back post," Helms said. "That's really hard to defend once it gets out there, and we stepped up and blocked it as well as we could. But they got some in with great shots."
The game ended with the Tigers taking just one shot in the entire second half compared to Tufts' five. In total, the Jumbos outshot DePauw 12-5, and held the advantage in corners, 11-9. Steele tallied five saves while Keenan notched two.
"(Tufts) is great on defense," Wills said. "There are always two or three people around the ball. In the first half, we were able to take advantage of it and dribble individually, but in the second half, we got caught up a little bit. We needed to pass earlier in those situations."
The 2012 season ends for DePauw - but not without breaking a plethora of program records. The NCAA semifinal game was the farthest a Tigers team ever proceeded in the NCAA playoffs, and it was the first time since the early 1980's a team from the NCAC made it that far.
The 21 wins on the season is the most in program history, and the senior class of Ellis, Shamleffer and Caroline Torie finish with an overall record of 62-20. Ellis capped off her DePauw career the school's points and goals leader with 172 and 75, respectively.
But after the game, the senior from St. Louis, Mo., choked back tears.
"It's hard when you don't play your best in your last game," Ellis said. "But we did so well and made it so far, and it's hard especially as a senior, I'm clearly upset, but I'm so proud of this team."