Men's lacrosse downs Trinity despite sloppy play

As the old clich?© goes, a win is a win.

That is how the men's lacrosse team is choosing to look at a sloppy 8-5 victory over NESCAC foe Trinity on Saturday at Tufts.

"In this league they're wins," coach Mike Daly said. "They're not easy, they're not blowouts, they're not anything. We need to clean our game up a little bit and that's what we're focused on right now. Certainly, Trinity's a good team and we're lucky to get the win."

Sophomore David Taylor led the way for the Jumbos with three goals and two assists, while senior tri-captain Chris Kollar notched one goal and three assists in the effort. Tufts' leading goal scorer, sophomore Bryan Griffin, was held to just one goal and no assists, his lowest single game output of the season.

Trinity senior tri-captain Ravi Pillay led the Bantams with two tallies on the afternoon.

The game was destined to be a low scoring affair from the opening whistle, as the soft field and blustery conditions caused numerous errant passes and missed ground balls. Despite a number of early shots on goal for Tufts, the team did not notch its first score until the 4:10 mark of the first quarter when freshman midfielder Evan Saulsbury put one past Trinity junior goalie Geoff Shaw for his first collegiate goal.

The Jumbos wasted little time after the ensuing face-off, and put another tally on the board just 30 seconds later when senior tri-captain Alex Kerwin caught a feed from Taylor and beat Shaw to give Tufts a 2-0 lead.

Two unanswered Trinity goals in the second quarter tied the game at two. After Griffin was denied on an acrobatic one-on-one attempt with just over a minute to play in the half, the teams went into the break still knotted at two.

The Jumbos pulled away in the third quarter with the support of a raucous crowd that filled in during the halftime break. Less than two minutes into the quarter, it was once again Taylor with the assist, this time to Kollar who put the Jumbos up 3-2.

Taylor scored the next three goals in the game, two off of assists from Kollar, to break the match open at 7-3 with 13:00 minutes left to play.

The Bantams would not go quietly, however, and after a Pillay goal at 7:07 in the fourth, trailed by three. With 5:00 to play, Griffin scored an impressive unassisted goal to restore the Jumbos' four goal lead.

Trinity would add two more goals in the closing minutes, but could not overcome a career best effort from sophomore goalie Luke Chicco, who amassed 15 second half saves, en-route to his total of 20 on the day. For his efforts, Chicco was named NESCAC Co-Player of the Week.

"Luke played phenomenally," Daly said. "He got in there, got his chance and made the most of it. Any time you can hold a team in this league to five goals, that's a good day."

Despite the sloppy play and low score of the game, the Jumbos emerged with a number of positives. They put forth a strong enough defensive effort to hold Trinity to five goals, and overcame an off day by their main offensive weapon.

"Griffin had his chances, and their goalie made a lot of good saves," Daly said. "But if Griff's not scoring, then somebody else will. And if we have 14 wins, that's all [Griffin] cares about."

With Griffin frustrated by a tough Trinity defense and solid goalkeeping, it was Taylor who stepped into the role of primary scorer. According to Kollar, Taylor has been vital to this year's attack.

"Taylor has a really good way of getting open for passes and he has a great shot. I love having him on the line," Kollar said. "We've been playing really good team offense and we all just kind of bounce off each other."

The Jumbos face an intimidating gauntlet of NESCAC teams in the coming weeks, including away games against Bowdoin and Williams this week, and a home contest against defending national champion Middlebury the following week. According to Daly, the team will have to rid itself of the undisciplined play it showed against Trinity in order to be successful in the near future.

"The scores don't worry me, but our play worries me a little bit," he said. "We can't continue to turn the ball over and not protect the ball like we did. Everything starts and ends in this league, and every game is tough."