The men's and women's lacrosse teams both found success in yesterday's games with NESCAC rival Amherst, with the women winning 13-7 and the men emerging with an 11-9 victory.
After last night's game, the men's team stands just one win away from a regular season NESCAC title, which would be its first in a league perennially dominated by Middlebury. With the win, Tufts improved its record to 7-1 in the NESCAC, putting itself in the driver's seat with just one game remaining against the Panthers.
Senior tri-captain Mark Warner had a huge game with two goals and three assists, including a vital insurance goal with just 11 seconds left.
The two teams traded goals throughout the first quarter until senior midfielder Chris Connelly's goal at the beginning of the second period handed Tufts a 5-4 advantage, its first lead of the contest. But in the final seven minutes of the half, Amherst rattled off three-straight goals - including its second man-up goal of the match - to take a 7-5 lead into the locker room.
The Jumbos' defense owned the second half, however, as Tufts held Amherst scoreless from the beginning of the third quarter until 4:26 left in the game.
Tufts scored five goals in that period, including a man-up strike from Warner that gave the Jumbos their first two-goal lead of the match at 9-7. With the score 10-7, two late goals from the Lord Jeffs made the game interesting, but Warner's second goal with just seconds left put the game on ice.
The women's team earned a much-needed victory that pushed it over .500, but it will still likely need a victory Saturday at Middlebury to get in the top seven in the conference and qualify for the NESCAC Tournament.
Now ranked No. 17 in the national Div. III rankings, the Jumbos were underdogs coming into the game versus the No. 8 Jeffs, who are also the second-best team in the NESCAC. But Tufts had the upper hand yesterday, routinely beating Amherst to the ball and out-hustling the Jeffs as it built up a big first-half lead and held on for the win.
Tufts came out of the gates strong on Senior Day, opening up a surprising four-goal lead before Amherst sophomore Mary Noonan broke the shutout with the Jeffs' first goal. Junior Sarah Williams scored two of the Jumbos' four goals, and the Tufts defense was impenetrable. Tufts added three more goals before the half to go up 7-1. Freshman Jenna Abelli had a pair in the half, as did senior co-captain Lauren Murphy.
While the Jumbos' offense was firing on all cylinders, the defenders were really the story of the half, as they stymied every threat, led by strong play from sophomore goalie Gillian Kline.
The Jeffs would not go away, however, as they recorded their own four-goal run to open the half. Senior quad-captain Alyssa Briody had two of the goals to pull her team to within striking distance at 7-5. But every time Amherst seemed to pull within striking distance, the Jumbos found a way to score again and keep the game out of reach.
See tomorrow's Daily for more coverage.
- by Ethan Landy and Matt Mertens
