After the dust had settled on Saturday, the men's lacrosse team had another win under its belt and had claimed sole possession of the top spot in the NESCAC standings.
With their 12-9 win over Colby, the Jumbos improved to 4-0 in conference play, which, coupled with a Williams loss to Wesleyan, is good enough to place them on top of the league.
In addition to league position, the Jumbos were hoping to right the ship after suffering a messy 17-9 loss in Waterville, Maine, last year to a squad that at that time was positioned squarely in the NESCAC basement. Although Colby has a dismal league record this year as well, it came into the game on Saturday riding the momentum of a double-overtime 13-12 win against NESCAC powerhouse Middlebury.
"They're a pretty good team, and they have a lot of underclassmen who are playing a lot," sophomore attack Clem McNally said. "I think that they're definitely a better team than their record."
"We played a relatively mistake-free game against Colby but failed to capitalize on a lot of opportunities," senior midfielder Chris Connelly wrote in an e-mail to the Daily. "Besides our shooting, we played a pretty solid overall game."
The Jumbos had to work for their win on Saturday, however, overcoming a 6-5 halftime deficit to beat the Mules by a final score of 12-9. McNally led the Jumbos in the second half of the game, turning in four goals of his own to jump-start the offense.
"Offensively we had a lot of great looks at the cage but didn't finish well," senior tri-captain Mark Warner said in an e-mail to the Daily. "On one hand, getting a lot of opportunities was comforting, because we knew we were moving the ball well and doing all the right things. On the other hand, against better teams we will have to finish a higher percentage of shots."
Although Colby opened the scoring on the day with senior James Brady finding the net with 11:05 left in the first period, the Jumbos were quick to respond. Junior attack Connor Ginsberg and Connelly responded with unassisted goals of their own to get the Jumbos back on top.
Sophomore defenseman Jordan Yarboro added his goal in the second period, but Mules senior Rory Murphy put his team back on top with two goals of his own, sending Colby into the locker room with a 6-5 advantage.
Tufts came out of the halftime on fire, starting a five-goal scoring streak that lasted the entire third quarter and part of the fourth. During this span, McNally added three goals to goals from senior tri-captain Mark Warner and junior Michael Ludwig.
"We just tried to keep calm," McNally said. "There wasn't a big difference between the third period and any other - we were just finishing our shots."
"We didn't change anything at halftime," Connelly said. "We just stuck to our game plan and executed it more efficiently."
Colby junior Drew Piekarski stopped the Jumbos' scoring streak by finding the back of the net twice in the fourth period. The two goals brought the score to 10-8, before McNally netted his fourth goal of the day to push the Tufts advantage to three. Excellent face-off play from the Jumbos, who won 17-of-24 on the day, allowed them to control the ball and bleed the clock as the game wound down.
"We wanted to remain calm and continue what we were doing," Warner said. "In the second half we started to put in some of our open looks. This offensive spurt was spearheaded by senior face-off man Matthew Lanuto. He allowed us to get transition opportunities and control the ball."
Coupled with their strong offensive play, the Jumbos shut down the Mules in the last minutes of the game. Strong defense and key saves by sophomore goalie Matt Harrigan preserved the margin and gave Tufts the victory. The man-down was particularly strong, as has been the case throughout most of the season. Tufts successfully killed all six penalties it accrued without surrendering a goal.
"Harrigan played really, really well," McNally said. "He came up with big saves when we needed them. He didn't have as many saves as [Mules sophomore Alex Farmer, who had 23] but he made just as many important ones."
"The man-down unit has been great all year," Connelly said. "This was just one of the many factors that helped us win on Saturday."
The Jumbos host Endicott on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. on Bello Field.
