Being No. 1 means having a lot to defend every game, and men’s lacrosse pulled through with one of their closest wins yet. Tufts beat No. 7 Wesleyan 20–19 in a road win in overtime.
The game was close throughout, though Tufts was able to start pulling away through the second and third quarters, leading by up to five goals at times. But by the end of the third, the Cardinals had nearly caught up, and they weren’t letting the Jumbos get out with an easy win.
“I think we showed a lot of resilience and grit throughout the game. Wesleyan is a tough, talented, and well-coached team, and they pushed us for four full quarters and into OT,” sophomore Will Emsing wrote in an email to the Daily. “Lacrosse is a game of runs and even when Wesleyan was up late in the game, none of us were worried and I loved how we stayed composed.”
The last few minutes of the fourth quarter were a tough back-and-forth on goals for the two teams. Tufts held the lead until Wesleyan scored with under three minutes to go in the fourth, bringing the score to 19–18. Senior Charlie Tagliaferri scored a goal less than 30 seconds later to tie up the game. After both Wesleyan and Tufts missed shots in their final chances, the game went into overtime.
“We already had an overtime versus CNU, so I think our team has some experience there,” sophomore Logan Lee said. “And then also having the best face-off guys in the country, we feel pretty confident going into overtime that we’ll get the ball. And our offense [is] great. I don’t think we’ve ever felt too nervous going into overtime. We’ve been prepared for it through practice and in real-game experience, just trusting our players.”
After winning the face-off, the Jumbos had two missed shots, when junior Garrett Kelly scooped up a ground ball to make the game-winning shot and propel the team to their 20–19 victory.
“We try and practice and have the same kind of urgency throughout the entire game that you would in a normal overtime period, where one mistake can end the game,” senior Michael Ayers said. “So I think by spending a lot of time in practice, working on that stuff, we felt prepared.”
The Jumbos offense looked great from start to finish with 20 goals. Tufts also outshot Wesleyan 62–50.
“I think [the offense was] doing a great job really possessing the ball and moving it around, having great spacing, sharing the ball and shooting really well,” Ayers said.
Junior Jack Regnery led the Tufts offense with 6 points off of four goals and two assists, followed by Tagliaferri with 5 points from three goals and two assists. Senior Max Ettinghausen, junior Brooks Hauser, and Emsing each totalled 4 points.
The Jumbos’ confidence and ability to stay cool under pressure are key to their high performance in close game situations like Saturday’s game against Wesleyan.
“Even when it was a really close game, [our offense] just stuck to our stuff. And our stuff works,” Lee said.
The defense had some strong moments, but wasn’t always consistent through the game.
“At times when we were playing well, we were winning the ground ball battles and getting them to the offense and scoring in transition,” Ayers said. “I think there were other points in the game where we were a step slow and weren’t being the tougher team, and letting them win more ground balls. I think that’s always going to be the most important part of any top 10 game, where the talent on both teams is pretty equal. It’s going to come down to who’s giving more effort, who’s the tougher team.”
Lee caused two turnovers. Junior Victor Salcedo scooped eight ground balls, and Ayers had seven.
On Wednesday, the Jumbos beat Bates 18–5 to bring their season to 11–0. Ettinghausen and Regnery led the scoring with four goals and two assists each.
Tufts will look to continue their undefeated season with two upcoming home games. They will play No. 16 Middlebury on Saturday and Babson on Tuesday.
“Games like that expose areas we can clean up, and it’s a great learning opportunity as we head into the heart of NESCAC play,” Emsing wrote about the game against Wesleyan. “We want to continue sharpening our execution so we’re peaking at the right time. We are excited for some more games at home and the tests we have in front of us.”
