Perfect-Season Tufts Sweep NESCAC Honours — Helm Named Offensive Player of the Year
Tufts didn’t just win the NESCAC. They swept it. And now the honours list reads like a Tufts team sheet.
Sophomore forward Eleanor Helm has been named the 2026 NESCAC Offensive Player of the Year, the headline award in a five-award haul for the Jumbos. Helm scored both goals in Sunday’s 2-0 final win over Middlebury, so nobody can say this one came out of nowhere.
The Tufts coaching staff were named Coaching Staff of the Year, and three Jumbos made the All-NESCAC First Team: Helm, senior defender Claire Casey and junior midfielder Eleanor Luft.
A season without a blemish
Tufts are 18-0. They won their fourth NESCAC title on Sunday, went 10-0 in conference play for the first time ever, and now they’re the No. 1 overall team in the NCAA Tournament. They host an NCAA Regional for the fifth time, and they’ll be expected to win it.
That’s the thing about a perfect season. It stops being about the next game and starts being about the record. Tufts have handled that pressure all year, and the NESCAC honours are just the latest proof that everyone in the conference knows it.
For our money, Tufts are the team to beat in Division III, and it’s not close. The only question left is whether anyone can take a game off them before the final on 22 November. On this form, it’s hard to see it.