The men's lacrosse team lost a hard-fought game at the Ellis Oval Wednesday to the defending National Champion Middlebury Panthers. The Panthers dominated the first half on their way to a 13-8 victory over the Jumbos. Tufts (5-4, 1-3 NESCAC) once again received great performances from co-captains senior Dan Kollar and junior David 6Supple.
Kollar recorded a hat trick, while Supple added two goals in the loss. Senior All-American Holt Hopkins had two goals and an assist in the victory for the Panthers (7-1, 4-0), who came into the game ranked seventh in the nation.
Junior Jon Zissi had the Jumbos rolling out of the gate with the first goal of the game. But it was not long before Middlebury freshman Greg Bastis took the ball in from midfield and scored a breakaway goal on Tufts goaltender Kirk Lutwyler for the Panthers.
The defining moment in the game later in the first period, with the Jumbos down by only one (4-3). Coming out of a timeout, Middlebury was playing one man down, and Tufts had the ball near the Panthers' net. The Jumbos turned the ball over, however, and let Middlebury cruise in for an easy goal. "That was a turning point," Supple said.
The Panthers added another goal 30 seconds later to end the period with a 6-3 advantage.
Middlebury carried its first-quarter dominance into the second, building up a 9-4 lead heading into the half. The one bright note for the Jumbos in the period came when sophomore Alex Kerwin sacrificed his body for an impressive goal. Kerwin curled to the front of the net and was able to jump in the air and unload a shot just before taking a big hit from the Middlebury defense.
Following a Panther goal early in the third, sophomore Mike Morley and the Jumbo defense stepped it up a notch to shut out Middlebury for the rest of the period. Offensively, Kollar put one in the net for the Jumbos off of a nice assist from Kerwin, sending the team into comeback mode.
In the final period, the Jumbos again played the confident Middlebury team evenly, but it was too little, too late. "We went into halftime not happy," said Kollar. "It was 4-4 in the second; we wish we came out with that intensity."
Two goals late in the fourth by Kollar and Supple had the crowd back into the game and the Jumbos within five. But the Panthers' large first-half lead was enough to secure them the game.
The Jumbos left the field knowing they could play with the Panthers, but were alarmed by the number of simple miscues.
"We gave up so much on our mistakes," Kollar said. "They made goals because we couldn't control the ball. We dug a whole in the first half and we couldn't get out of it; they're a good team."
Freshman Matt Malatesta echoed his captain's feelings. "In a few key situations, we hurt ourselves, we dropped some balls, and we didn't have as many good possessions as we should have," he said.
