Ten Jumbos scored at least one goal as the No. 6 men's lacrosse team rolled to a definitive 18-3 win over the Hamilton Continentals in Clinton, N.Y. on Saturday. Coming off of its first NESCAC loss of the season to Williams on April 1, Tufts returned to form, outshooting Hamilton 52-26.
Though the Jumbos did not net their first shot until sophomore attackman John Uppgren's strike with 6:29 remaining in the first period, they were never in any real trouble. After two more goals from Uppgren separated by junior attackman Cole Bailey's first of the game, the Jumbos had a 4-0 lead by the end of the first quarter.
While the Jumbos stayed in control throughout the game, the impressive result was not so much a response to their loss against the Ephs as it was its own separate feat.
"I only think it means that we were the better team that day," senior attackman Jack McDermott said. "It means that we were able to go out there, on a pretty big road trip where we stay overnight, and play a full game. I think it's easy to want to call it a 'bounce back,' or that we went out there and had to win, but I don't think that we changed anything really. We outplayed them, and that's really all there is to it."
Last week, it was Bailey who shined for Tufts, picking up NESCAC Player of the Week honors as a result of his four goals and 12 assists between the two games against Western New England University and Conn. College. In this matchup against Hamilton, Uppgren, the team leader in points with 59 on the season, sparked Tufts' attack with seven goals and an assist.
These types of performances speak to both the depth and ability of a Jumbos' offense that is averaging 18 goals per game.
"We ask everyone on our team to do the same things offensively in terms of our system," head coach Mike Daly told the Daily in an email. "It is great to see so many guys be threats and it makes us tough to defend at times, but our entire team needs to keep improving our consistency. I thought the assistant coaches did a remarkable job preparing our three phases of the game. Our face-off unit got the ball to our offense and protected our defense. Our defense got the stops we needed and protected the offense. The offense got some very key goals, which protected the entire team. It really is a team game."
The Continentals struck first in the second quarter, as senior midfielder Bryan Hopper netted a goal at the 8:29 mark. After Hopper's goal though, the Jumbos emphatically put the game away, building a 16-1 lead before the Continentals saw the back of the net again.
Junior attackman Chris Schoenhut scored his lone goal of the game two minutes after Hopper's strike, and then Uppgren hit three straight goals, giving him six before the end of the half and giving the Jumbos an 8-1 advantage going into the intermission.
The Jumbos picked up where they left off in the third quarter, as senior midfielder Peter Bowers netted his ninth goal of the season just under three minutes into the second half and junior midfielder Peter Gill scored back-to-back goals at the 11:11 and 6:49 marks. After Uppgren's seventh strike of the game and Bailey's second, senior defenseman Nate Marchand netted his first goal of the season to close out the third period with a 13-goal lead.
The fourth quarter brought substitutions for the Jumbos on the field. Sophomore goalie Alex Salazar took over in net first, replacing senior Patton Watkins who had five saves on the day. Salazar played the first ten minutes of the final period, allowing two goals and making three saves, and then junior Brian Droesch took over between the pipes for the final five minutes, making one save and allowing no goals.
Offensively, sophomore midfielder AJ Enchill scored a goal assisted by Bailey with 13 minutes remaining and senior tri-captain Beau Wood tacked on a goal 30 seconds later assisted by sophomore midfielder Jake Gillespie. Hamilton's two scores in the fourth quarter came from sophomore midfielder Joe Ricciuti and junior attackman John Zimmerman. The Jumbos closed out the game on goals from sophomore attackman John Andreycak and junior midfielder Charlie Rubin.
The Jumbos ended with a slight advantage in ground balls, 44-42, and won 16 of the 25 face-offs, 11 of 17 wins coming from sophomore midfielder Conor Helfrich. Helfrich also led the game with seven ground balls, while Schoenhut had six and junior defenseman Garret Read had four. Schoenhut and Read also caused two turnovers apiece.
The Jumbos' depth offensively has caused problems all year for opponents' defenses, as was the case against Hamilton, since any combination of Tufts' attackmen or midfielders is prone to having big games.
"We have a lot of talented guys, but the mentality we have is that we let them choose who scores for us," McDermott said. "We don't care if it's an attackman, a midfielder, a short stick or [whoever], we're going to expose however they choose to play us. So against Hamilton, John [Uppgren] had a short-stick [defender] playing him on defense, so on offense we were able to get some picks for him, and I think that's why he got off so many shots. But I think that's one of the benefits to having a deep team. We can get that type of play from anybody, and on one day it's going to be Cole [Bailey], another it's going to be John and on another it's going to be Beau [Wood] or Chris [Schoenhut]."
The most redeeming aspect of the game for the Continentals was junior goalie Will Driscoll's play. Though Hamilton could not totally prevent the flood of goals from Tufts, Driscoll made 14 saves, including some impressive stops at point-blank range, before getting substituted out with just about six minutes remaining in the game. He also had a career-best six ground balls.
While it was important for Tufts to score a dominant win in the wake of an upset loss, the Jumbos are more focused on staying consistent and getting the job done in each game in the highly competitive NESCAC.
"[The win's] important only in that it's a league win on the road," Daly said. "Every league win or loss counts the same and means the same. Anybody can beat anybody and I was proud of our team, how they handled themselves this week, and certainly how they played today. It was a great reflection of our seniors and their leadership."
