Men's lacrosse kicks off 2016 title-defense campaign by winning season opener

The reigning NESCAC and NCAA Div. III national champions opened their season with a tense 14-13 victory over Stevens Institute of Technology on Saturday. The Jumbos went into the final quarter two goals down but managed to outscore the Ducks 4-1 in the final quarter to claim the win.

Face-off expert and senior midfielder Connor Helfrich won Tufts' first face-off of the season to open the game, but the attack failed to convert the possession into a goal. Although senior co-captain Ben Andreycak brought the ball down to the Stevens goal and got a shot off, it was blocked and repossessed by Stevens senior Tim Fair. The Ducks quickly went on the attack and capitalized on the opportunity. Tufts senior goalie Alex Salazar saved the first shot attempt, but eventually Stevens senior Conor O’Shea found the net on the second try to give his team a lead they would not lose until the fourth quarter.

Ironically, face-off wins rarely turned into immediate scores for either team. The second face-off, won by Stevens, led to an initial turnover to give Tufts a chance to equalize. But Stevens first-year goalie Carson White made the save and sent the ball back up the field, with his team quickly putting another goal in the back of Tufts' net to go up 2-0.

Seniors Garrett Clarke and Kyle Howard-Johnson scored a goal apiece in quick succession to bring the Jumbos back equal with the Ducks. However, a face-off violation gave Stevens the opportunity to get ahead again. With just over three minutes left, two Jumbos received penalties, giving the Ducks a two-men-up situation. Stevens capitalized again to score twice more, ending the first quarter 5-2.

“We weren’t really worried too much [about being down early],” Andreycak said. “We wanted to make sure that we were getting back to plays that were successful, and that's just working hard, getting ground balls and doing the little things right. So we had confidence that when we got back to playing Tufts lacrosse that we're going to have success.”

The Jumbos opened the second quarter strongly, with sophomore Nico Pollack taking only 11 seconds to score. Two minutes later, Andreycak, who had assisted Pollack’s goal, found the back of the net himself, decreasing the deficit to one. However, the Ducks were able to maintain this lead for the remainder of the first half. Tufts stayed in the game largely due to the impressive goaltending of Salazar, who made four saves in the last four minutes to keep the score at 8-6 in favor of Stevens at the half.

Tufts got fired up during halftime, and thanks to a man-up situation, immediately equalized through efforts from seniors Connor Bilby and Jake Gillespie.

“It was a great effort from our wing play,” Helfrich said. “Guys like [junior] Tyler Carbone, [senior] Jake Gillespie, [senior] AJ Enchill [and senior] Curt Townshend did a good job all game long helping us get those extra possessions.”

The third quarter was an even matchup between the two teams with both scoring four goals. Tufts stepped up its attack to make 16 shots to Stevens’ 11, but was still held to only four goals, while Helfrich won seven of the eight face-offs during the quarter. Two goals from Stevens put Tufts down for the third time in the game, but two goals from junior Austin Carbone allowed Tufts to equalize again.

For the first three quarters the Jumbos had been forced to play catchup as Stevens repeatedly went two goals up. However, the fourth quarter brought about a decisive change. Howard-Johnson found the back of the net only 10 seconds into the quarter and again with just under seven minutes remaining to tie it up again at 12-all. Carbone slotted a shot past Stevens’ White for his third goal, giving the Jumbos their first lead of the game. Carbone then assisted Bilby who put the Jumbos two goals up with two just under two minutes remaining. One minute later, a last-ditch effort from the Ducks brought them within one, but the Jumbos just managed to hold on for the 14-13 win.

A crucial four saves in the fourth quarter by Salazar, who made 15 overall, kept the Jumbos in the game. One thing that proved difficult for both teams was converting their face-off wins into goals. Of Helfrich’s 20 face-off wins, only six were converted into goals by the Jumbos, a relatively low percentage given the Jumbos' usually hyper-efficient offense.

Despite the close result, head coach Mike Daly was satisfied with the team’s performance.

“The fact that our team kept grinding for 60 minutes, I thought that showed our experience and toughness,” Daly said. “We certainly need to keep striving and improving every day.”

Both Daly and Andreycak cited the key role that the defense played in giving the Jumbos their first win of the season.

“All the credit goes to the defense. They played really tough and had a lot of guts,” said Andreycak. “They are the ones who carried the team on Saturday and made sure that no matter what happened on the field that we came out with a victory.”

Andreycak, who captains the team with senior John Uppgren, lauded the senior class for its ability to lead by example.

“I have a pretty easy job because the 14 other seniors are so successful playing and such successful leaders that my role [hasn’t] had to change that much,” Andreycak said. “We have 15 guys guiding the ship, and it's really easy for me to just focus on doing my job on the field and bringing the team along because 14 other guys are doing the exact same thing. We had a really strong senior class, and I’m really lucky to have all those guys by my side.”

Although none of the 14 first-years saw playing time on Saturday, both Helfrich and Andreycak have spoken to the capability of the incoming class.

“They’re doing an awesome job adjusting to playing college lacrosse,” Helfrich said. “It’s a big commitment for them. We’re doing a great job coming together; we just have to keep improving as a team”

Tufts heads to Keene State tonight, where the team will look to maintain its 10-game winning streak dating back to last season.