Men's Lacrosse | Late rally helps Jumbos light up Camels

    The men's lacrosse team is back on track and beginning to round into postseason form at exactly the right time.
    On Alumni Weekend at Bello Field, the nationally ranked No. 8 Jumbos (11-2, 6-2 NESCAC) defeated Conn. College (6-8, 1-7 NESCAC) 12-9 in an important conference game. Tufts grabbed sole possession of second place in the NESCAC standings with the win.
    Senior tri-captain Clem McNally tallied four goals to push his team-leading count for the season to 44. McNally now leads the NESCAC and additionally has set a new career high for goals this season. Sophomore attackmen D.J. Hessler and Ryan Molloy both added two scores while Hessler had an assist to bring his conference-leading assist total to 36 and overall point total to 67. Hessler, McNally and Molloy hold the NESCAC's top three spots in overall point total with 67, 52 and 51, respectively. Senior midfielder Kevin Williams and junior defenseman Eytan Saperstein each contributed one goal and one assist apiece.
    Tufts opened the fourth quarter with a slim 8-6 lead, but with less than eight minutes remaining in the frame, the Camels trailed by only one goal at 9-8. Conn. College then won the faceoff and went for a goal, but a save and clear by senior netminder Matt Harrigan sent the Jumbos on a counter-attack. Saperstein passed to McNally, who finished with 6:33 on the clock. Tufts then netted two goals in the next 83 seconds to seal the victory.
    The win seemed to be forecast by the Jumbos' ability to mount multiple offensive spurts despite struggling all afternoon to keep any distance between themselves and their visitors. Tufts initially jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first quarter, but the Camels came back to tie it up 3-3 in the second frame. The Jumbos then managed a three-goal spurt to put them back in control.
    McNally scored two of his four goals on opposite ends of Saperstein's first score of the year to push the score to 6-3 at 5:28 in the second. After a Conn. College tally late in the first half, the Jumbos opened up the third quarter by converting a man-up opportunity by junior midfielder Jamie Atkins, followed soon thereafter by Hessler's second goal of the game to increase the lead to 8-4.
    The Camels responded with two scores at the end of the third quarter and proved that they could hang with the Tufts offense, while the Conn. College defense kept the Jumbos' potent attack unit scoreless for the remaining nine minutes of the quarter.
    McNally opened the fourth quarter with a beauty to beat junior Camel goalie Mark Moran, but the Camels rattled off two more scores on Harrigan and pulled the score to within one before the Jumbos' encouraging offensive finish.
    "It was a pretty close game and they kept fighting back all afternoon," junior midfielder Zach Groen said. "We went up 2-0, but they kept coming back and responding to our goals for the majority of the game. We finally got that four-goal lead late in the fourth quarter and put it away, but they gave us a tough battle."
    Despite playing a close game with Conn. College on the scoreboard until late, the Jumbos worked hard to maintain possession of the ball — dominating the groundball battle 44-28 — to keep their offensive unit at work.
    Tufts has now responded nicely after a loss against No. 2 Middlebury on April 11 with an 18-13 win over No. 15 Endicott and the 12-goal showing on Saturday.
    "In the Middlebury game, we had plenty of opportunities, but we just didn't finish around the cage," Harrigan said. "On Saturday, being at home was nice, and we avoided coming out flat after being on the road so much. Our shot selection was a lot better, and we converted more on our opportunities."
    "[Conn. College] came out pretty aggressively on defense, shutting off [Hessler] some early on," Groen added. "But all three of [our attackmen] played really well together, and they were able to put up some good points."
    This season, the NESCAC Tournament has been expanded to eight teams from seven in past years. Whereas in years prior the No. 1 seed would automatically earn the right to host the semifinals and finals, now it must also play a first-round game in order to advance.
    The Jumbos understand that with a win at Bowdoin on Friday, they have a chance to host the final four section of the NESCAC Tournament if Middlebury loses its first-round matchup. Even if Middlebury wins as expected, Tufts needs to accrue as many in-region wins as possible to secure an NCAA at-large bid if eliminated in the NESCAC Tournament.
    "The Bowdoin game is of critical importance," Harrigan said. "It's a league game and an in-region conference win that would count for NCAA criteria. It's very important that we win this game on Friday. If for some reason, Middlebury were to lose in the first round, then we would host the NESCAC Tournament, which would be ideal, so we also need the win to secure the No. 2 seed."
    "Seedings are still up in the air," Groen added. "We're fighting for that No. 2 seed, and if we get this one on Friday against Bowdoin, then we have it locked up. You always want to have momentum heading into the playoffs, and it's really important to keep that winning streak going into the postseason. We want to be winning when it's most important."