Tufts lax suffers close loss to Amherst

When a game is close, even the smallest errors can make all the difference. The men's lacrosse team learned this the hard way on Wednesday, falling 15-13 to the Lord Jeffs of Amherst.

The two squads traded goals throughout the tight match, but down the stretch sloppy defense caught up with the Jumbos.

"It was definitely little mental errors at key moments," sophomore David Taylor said. "I can remember at least three goals caused by trying to go over the head with the stick for a steal. It looks nice if it works, but if not you get burned. Middies do it when lazy or tired. They were mental errors."

After the team had effectively used a zone defense in each of its previous games, coach Mike Daly elected to go with a man-to-man defense against the Jeffs.

"Amherst is a skilled team that can move the ball well," Daly said. "A lot of teams haven't had the outside shooting threats that Amherst has. We didn't feel comfortable with that in the zone."

Although many teams use a head-to-head defense, the zone had served the Jumbos well, providing them 8.4 goals against average before the contest against Amherst. That average jumped up to 9.1 after Wednesday's loss.

Also contributing to the Jumbos' defensive frustrations were numerous whistles, which disrupted the flow of play and led to several man-up situations for the Lord Jeffs.

"We don't blame the loss on the officials because it went both ways, but we blame it on the fact that there was no tempo," Taylor said. "It seemed like they were blowing the whistle every 30 seconds."

While Tufts struggled with the numerous whistles, Amherst took advantage of them, netting several goals in man-up situations.

"A definite problem was the man-up defense," senior tri-captain Mike Morley said. "They had to be close to 100 percent scoring man-up. I can't even remember stopping them once. When you do that, you put yourself up against an insurmountable hill."

Despite the team's defensive woes, Taylor provided a bright spot for the Jumbos on offense with his four goals, including two in the last four minutes in a last ditch effort.

Freshman Mike O'Brien contributed three tallies and an assist, in his first multiple goal game of his collegiate career. Senior tri-captain Alex Kerwin and sophomore leading scorer Brian Griffin added a pair of goals each to round out the Jumbo scoring.

The Jumbos opened the game firing, taking a 4-3 lead after the first quarter. But Daly's squad was never able to break the game open.

"They did a better job finishing their shots and a better job on man-up," Daly said. "We were up 2-0 and 4-2, but we couldn't get the three-run homerun, just like against Middlebury."

Against Middlebury last week, the Jumbos led 4-3 at halftime and 6-4 midway through the third quarter, but were never able to pull away.

The team expressed frustration at such a close loss to a seemingly evenly matched opponent.

"I have never been so frustrated before," Taylor said. "Today was especially frustrating because we lost the game. We were the better team. We gave them the win."

Tufts will look to bounce back quickly and regain its momentum.

"I hope the team is frustrated and that's motivating them right now," Daly said. "We know this league is tough and competitive. We're not packing it in. I know we will rebound."

The Jumbos will take the field next against Bates at 1 p.m. on Saturday at home.

"It's important to get the team back on track," Morley said. "We need to get the win against Bates. We're playing a lot of the middle of the pack teams. We need to stay focused."