The men's lacrosse team continued its NESCAC dominance on Wednesday afternoon, defeating Wesleyan College in Middletown, 10-7, in a matchup of two of the top nationally ranked teams in Division III.
Wesleyan could not gain momentum throughout much of the game after the Jumbos came out firing in the first quarter and never looked back. With the victory, Tufts moves to 7-1 in the NESCAC on the season, tied with Middlebury College -- who has been the only team to defeat the Jumbos in league-play -- for first place.
"We did a great job possessing the ball and simply outworking Wesleyan," coach Mike Daly said. "Wesleyan is a great team that we have a lot of respect for and our possession was fantastic and created a lot of opportunities for us. The defense also played great when we needed them, and they did a better job clearing the ball than in past games."
Junior Bryan Griffin was the story on offense for the Jumbos. The top scorer in the NESCAC tied the team's single-season points record after he contributed three goals and as many assists, to post a 64-point total in 13 games so far this season.
Griffin scored two goals and dished out an assist in the first quarter to put the Jumbos up 4-1. The junior all-American also came out firing in the second quarter, posting five of his total of six points in the first half to put them up 6-4 at halftime. Daly has been impressed with Griffin's play throughout the season, but attributes much of his success to his teammates.
"Bryan is a special guy with a drive that is very impressive," Daly said. "Being the reigning player of the year in New England and the NESCAC, he has taken an absolute beating this year, but he just keeps coming up huge in big games. Our whole team has a drive similar to Bryan's and their drive and ability to fulfill different roles has allowed Bryan to have success."
Wesleyan was plagued by penalties early on in the game, and committed three penalties in the first quarter to give the Jumbos the man-advantage. Tufts was able to capitalize on scoring opportunities during Wesleyan's penalties.
Wesleyan's offense was led by sophomores Glenn Adams and Mike Vitulano and junior Chris Knacke, who all contributed goals in the first half to keep the game tight. Adams, Vitulano, and Knacke ended the game with two goals a piece. Vitulano came up big for the Cardinals in the third period by posting his second goal at 9:36, which cut the Jumbos lead to one goal.
After lagging for parts of the third quarter, Tufts picked up its offensive play and answered Wesleyan's attack with crucial goals from sophomores Mike Hughes and Mike O'Brien to give the team a more comfortable three-goal lead.
Hughes, who has been a force to reckon with on offense over the past two games, contributed three goals in the Jumbo's victory to bring his two-game total to eight. Before the close of the third quarter, Knacke tallied one more goal for Wesleyan, and the quarter ended with Tufts' on top 8-6.
The fourth quarter was contested tightly on defense by both teams, neither of which allowed goals in the first seven minutes of play. Tufts sophomore Billy Granger ended the Jumbo drought with a swift shot off a pass from Griffin to put the team up 9-6 with seven minutes left in regulation. Two minutes later, junior Devin Clarke swept across the right side of the field and posted his second goal of the game, adding even more cushion to the Jumbos' lead.
After a Tufts penalty late in the fourth quarter, Wesleyan managed to post one more goal on a man-advantage opportunity. However Wesleyan could not pull off any last-minute comeback, and was held scoreless for the rest of the game.
Tufts has been playing especially strong on offense the past three games. Daly attributes much of the offensive success to assistant coach Dan Kollar's ability to utilize the team's talent. Kollar has been able to teach the offense to play as a unit, which has made the Jumbos one of the most offensively powerful teams in the league, Daly said.
The Jumbos will square-off in their final game against Connecticut College (5-9 overall, 3-5 NESCAC) on Saturday at Kraft Field. The game is important for Tufts not only for its record, but for its fate in the NESCAC tournament. Unless the Jumbos win on Saturday and Middlebury loses, Tufts will be hosting a first-round game on Sunday. The top team in the NESCAC after Saturday's regular-season finales hosts the NESCAC tournament.
Daly is wary of Conn College, especially because it has been playing so well. The Jumbos lost to Conn last season and look to redeem themselves on Saturday.
"Conn is one of the hottest teams in the league," Daly said. "It will be a good challenge for us. They beat us last year and we will have to continue to play the sound game we've been playing as well as our focus for 60 minutes to come out on top."
