As the mercury topped 90 degrees on Kraft Field yesterday afternoon, the men's lacrosse team lost to the Amherst Lord Jeffs, 13-7. With the loss, the Jumbos fell to 6-3 overall and 3-3 in the NESCAC. The Lord Jeffs improved their record to 5-5 (2-3 NESCAC).
A win would have vaulted Tufts into a three-way tie with Bowdoin and Colby for second place in the NESCAC, but instead the Jumbos fell back into fourth place, tied Williams and Wesleyan.
"All this did was put us in the middle of the pack instead of in second place," senior Jon Zissi said. "Now we have to play with our backs against the wall for the rest of the season."
For the second time this season, Tufts came off a big win against a nationally-ranked team and dropped its next game to a lower-ranked and arguably weaker team. After defeating Bowdoin on April 3, the Jumbos lost in heartbreaking fashion to Williams, 11-10. And again yesterday, after an impressive victory over Colby last weekend, the team played uninspired lacrosse in losing to Amherst.
"We didn't play well enough to win, and we didn't deserve to win," coach Mike Daly said. "And it's pretty disappointing coming off of a pretty good win against Colby."
The Jumbos did see their fair share of chances to get back into the game. Tufts was within one goal through the first half until an Amherst score with 49 seconds left sent the Lord Jeffs into the half up 5-3.
The Jeffs got on the board quickly in the second half, jumping out to a 6-3 lead after only 23 seconds of play. The Jumbos cut the lead back to two, however, when junior midfielder Alex Kerwin found freshman Bryan Griffin open in front of the cage, where Griffin made it 6-4.
Tufts came within one goal of Amherst with 3:52 left in the third when Zissi came around the left side of the goal and fired a shot in to the top left corner, just out of reach of Amherst's freshman goalie Cushing Donelan. The Lord Jeffs responded a mere 27 second later, however, when a shot from way out got past senior goalkeeper Kirk Lutwyler, who was screened by three players.
In the fourth quarter it was Tufts that struck first, pulling within one goal yet again when senior Jack Palmer nestled a shot into the low left side, making it 7-6 with 14:27 left to play. But Amherst once again had the answer, as Jeffs senior Harlow Voorhees fired an underhand shot into the back of the net to restore the two goal lead.
Just over one minute later, Voorhees struck again, giving Amherst a 9-6 lead. Though Tufts had the ball in its end numerous times throughout the remainder of the fourth - and saw several opportunities to put another score on the board - the Jumbos seemed to stand around the crease, refusing to cut and get open for shots.
Amherst upped its lead to four when the Jeffs' leading scorer, freshman Alex Casertano, rolled an underhand shot along the ground past Lutwyler. After another Amherst score, the Jumbos finally scored with 1:20 left, but it was too little, too late. The Jeffs would add two more goals in the final minute of the game to make the final score 13-7.
"We came out flat and we played flat for the whole game," Zissi said. "They out-ground-balled us and they out-hustled us. They just wanted it more than we did."
Though the loss was disappointing - especially on the heels of the win at Colby - the team is focused on the remainder of its NESCAC schedule.
"It's disappointing, but this game isn't any different than any others," Daly said. "They're all league games and they're all important."
Tufts has three games remaining in the regular season, and will next face Bates on Saturday in what should prove a hotly contested battle. In its most recent game, Bates defeated second-ranked Bowdoin, 10-7. Though the Bobcates are near the bottom of the conference, Daly said his team isn't taking anything for granted.
"Every team in this league should be nationally ranked, and in my mind every team in this league is nationally ranked," Daly said. "There's not any one that's any bigger or any more important than any others."
