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The Tufts Daily
Where you read it first | Thursday, March 28, 2024

Tufts tops Stevens, moves to 3-0 on season

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Junior attack John Uppgren has picked up where he left off last year with a five-goal performance on Saturday.

The men’s lacrosse team improved its record to 3-0 with a victory at Stevens Institute of Technology on Saturday. The No. 1 Jumbos topped the Ducks by a score of 19-10 in a game that was never close.

The trip to Hoboken, N.J. was the first road game for the defending national champions. The Jumbos began their season with victories at home over the Middlebury Panthers and Keene State Owls.

In those first two games, Tufts was able to pull out wins despite not always playing its best lacrosse. The team fell behind early in its season opener against Middlebury and trailed at halftime before finding its groove in the third quarter. Tufts also trailed after three quarters against Keene State before scoring nine goals in the fourth quarter to secure the victory. There was no such trouble in Saturday’s contest.

“We came out a little flat in our first two games but found our rhythm late," sophomore midfielder Zach Richman told the Daily in an email. "Yesterday we came out hot right away and just took one possession at a time and didn't look back.”

Tufts stormed out of the gates to an early 7-1 lead in the first quarter.

The Jumbos followed that by taking a 12-4 lead into halftime and subsequently led 17-5 after three quarters of play.

“We just came out firing yesterday," Richman said. "We played Tufts lacrosse and didn't worry about our opponent. We were clicking on all cylinders. Our face-off unit and defense played great and our offense finished opportunities. It was just a great team win."

Stevens ended the game with a 54-52 shot advantage in addition to corralling 36 ground balls to Tufts’ 29. Despite the advantage in shots, Stevens was only able to muster five goals against junior goalie Alex Salazar, who started in net and made 18 saves in over 49 minutes action.

Coach Mike Daly was happy with his team’s performance following its first two games.

“I was impressed with our team’s preparation and focus for the Stevens Tech game," Daly told the Daily in an email. "We have a proud team and they have set a high standard for themselves, so I think they were a little disappointed with some of the mistakes they were making. It was great to see them address and correct our mistakes."

The Jumbos got offensive contributions from a large portion of the roster. Thirteen different players tallied a point.

The offense was led once again by junior attackman John Uppgren, who was the fifth leading scorer in Div. III last season. Uppgren notched five goals to go along with four assists. Through three games, he has 16 goals and 10 assists for 26 points.

Sophomore attackman Austin Carbone added three goals and an assist, and Richman scored four goals of his own.

Richman credited the team’s other units in helping the offense succeed.

“Our offensive success is a tribute to our defense and face-off unit getting us the ball," Richman said. "My teammates made great plays and just found me and I was able to finish and get in a rhythm. Once we started scoring we got on a roll and we were able to protect our defense by scoring goals."

Daly agreed that all units of the team have been able to be successful thus far, and he complimented the team’s mental toughness.

“Our team has done a great job competing and showing great resilience," Daly said. "We certainly can improve on our consistency. We have shown we can make a lot of plays in all phases of the game but we have to execute those plays more regularly."

According to Daly, the diverse offensive output is a testament to the team’s depth and preparation.

“We have great confidence in all of our players on the roster and we expect every one of them to be ready for and to take advantage of any opportunity given them," Daly said. "All of our players do a great job preparing themselves. We are extremely lucky to have so many players who work so hard to improve.”

The season has started on the right foot for the defending champion Jumbos, who have picked up right where they left off last year. According to Richman, however, they are always trying to get better.

“We played well but are never satisfied," Richman said. "As a team we will keep working on all aspects of our game as it can always improve."

The team has a week between games and will not play its next one until Saturday, when it resumes conference play and travels to Maine to take on the Colby Mules.