As the Jumbos prepared for the 2024 postseason, women’s soccer forward Elsi Aires was named Player of the Year by the New England Small College Athletic Conference—but if you ask her about it, she’ll give all the credit to her teammates.

“I wasn’t expecting it at all, because NESCAC is such a competitive league and there are so many great players in it,” Aires, A26, says. When she heard the news, “I just felt so appreciative and grateful for my teammates, because I would be nothing without them.” 

Head women’s soccer coach Martha Whiting says she was practically bursting with excitement and pride when she got the news herself.

“The NESCAC, our conference, is one of the toughest in the country, and to be recognized as the best player in best conference is a huge honor, not only for Elsi, but for her teammates who helped her get there,” Whiting says. 

Aires, a biology major on a pre-med track, is just the second women’s soccer player to earn the honor, and the first since 2005. She was also named to the All-NESCAC First Team with teammate Caroline Kelly, A26. Graduate student Nicola Sommers, senior Jordan Cushner, and sophomore Emily Nicholas were named to the All-NESCAC Second Team. 

The Jumbos wrapped up the regular season with a record-setting 52 goals, nine of which Aires scored. She also notched a pair of goals in the postseason. She led the team in shots on goal this fall with 26. The Jumbos advanced to both the NESCAC and NCAA tournaments, but fell in competitive second rounds of both. 

Now, in the offseason, Aires and her teammates will turn their attention to developing a culture centered on the team’s core values: compete, joy, and team first.

“Elsi embodies all of our core values to infinity,” says Whiting. “She’s so ultra competitive. Every time she steps in the field, she wants to win as much or more than anyone, and she’ll just get after it the whole time. Everything she does is for her team. And when you talk about joy, she is full of it every day—and it’s hard to be positive and joyful all the time.”

Finding joy on the team comes naturally to Aires, who says she’s always having fun with her teammates, smiling and laughing.

“It’s so different from my club soccer experience growing up—that was only about competing, and you start to lose the joy and love of the game,” Aires says. “So coming here and playing for Tufts and with Martha’s core values, it’s been such a blessing. We’ve been able to have fun, enjoy our time with each other, and grow our love for the game.”

Aires says the team’s work developing its culture is what helped create the most supportive and united team she’s seen since starting at Tufts. 

“Working on our team culture as a group has been one of the greatest things about being a part of this team,” Aires says. “And it’s proving to really work, because we are not a dramatic team at all, and we truly do love each other and have created a family-like bond.”

During the spring, a time when coaches and players have not historically had much interaction, Whiting says the Jumbos continue to push each other both in the classroom—the team has a cumulative 3.87 GPA, the highest of any Tufts team—and in their training. 

“I remember last year, we were driving back from Amherst after losing a tournament game, and thought we weren’t going to continue,” Whiting says. “I heard Elsi and a bunch of teammates who would be returning talking about what they’re going to do in the off-season to get better—and it showed this year.”