The men's lacrosse team could almost taste the NESCAC championship game when it clashed with Wesleyan in a NESCAC semi-final game on Saturday, May 8.
That sweet taste of victory, however, quickly turned sour as the Jumbos saw their aspirations to advance to the finals crushed in heartbreaking fashion.
With just four seconds left in regulation and the game tied at nine, Wesleyan scored the game-winning goal off an intercepted pass from Jumbo junior goaltender Luke Chicco at midfield.
Wesleyan's Glenn Adams, who intercepted the pass, quickly sent a darting shot back to the Tufts goal and scored on an empty net to propel the Cardinals on to the NESCAC championships.
"We didn't play to the best of our ability," coach Mike Daly said. "We played one great half, and played complacently in the second. A team can't expect to win in this league with a showing like that, and I take the blame for that."
The Jumbos dominated Wesleyan for much of the game, taking a 5-1 lead into halftime and a 7-3 lead halfway through the third quarter.
Wesleyan changed the pace of the game with a strong third quarter finale, tallying two goals with under five minutes to go, narrowing the Jumbos lead to 7-5. The Jumbos answered with a goal from sophomore Michael Hughes with a man-advantage, but Wesleyan was relentless and tallied one more score from Ian Applegate with eight seconds left in the quarter, closing in on the Jumbo lead.
The Cardinals put the pressure on Chicco in the final quarter. With two minutes to go and the score tied at nine, Chicco made two key saves on back-to-back shots from Wesleyan.
Chicco also came up big for the Jumbos with 15 seconds left on a bounced shot from Applegate.
But in the end it was Wesleyan's ability to capitalize on scoring opportunities and outplay the Jumbos in the second half, getting them a win when it counted after Tufts had defeated the Cardinals earlier in the season, 10-7.
The Cardinals fell in the championship game 12-7 against Middlebury, which gave the Panthers their fourth consecutive NESCAC championship title.
"We fell short in the end," senior tri-captain Matt Malatesta said. "We battled hard though throughout the season and I think despite the loss against Wesleyan, we had a great season as a team."
But for a team that enjoyed a 13-2 season record, an 8-1 record in the NESCAC, and a No. 10 ranking in Div. III competition, the men's lacrosse team looked to be a favorite to contend in the league championship game.
In short, the Jumbos had high expectations.
"The season was somewhat disappointing," Daly said. "We began the season expecting to win every game, and we should have won every game. We had two New England losses that were tight games, and to lose in those types of games is especially disappointing."
The Jumbos had strong contributions from junior All-American Bryan Griffin, who led the team and the NESCAC with 76 points, and also tied the team record in points scored earlier in the season.
Tufts was also led on offense by junior Devin Clarke, freshman Mark Warner, and sophomores Mike O'Brien and Billy Granger, who were among the top five in points scored during the season.
The defense was anchored by Chicco, who posted a 61.7 save percentage over the season.
Perhaps the largest weakness of the team was its injury-plagued roster. The Jumbos lost some of their most experienced and key contributors early in the season. Senior tri-captain Matt Malatesta, senior David Taylor, and sophomore David Harty were out for the majority of the season. Granger was also out periodically due to injury.
Despite the loss of some key players over the season, the Jumbos were able to replace them with players who stepped up in clutch situations.
The team will also lose ten experienced seniors to graduation.
These include tri-captains Malatesta, Dave Richman, and Tom Mulcahy.
The team will also be losing Drew Innis, Taylor, Marco Cedrone, Jesse Miller, Charles Savicki, Brian Atherton and Michael Terrasi.
Although hard to replace, Daly will have to address their loss in the off-season.
"Our biggest challenge will be replacing the seniors," Daly said. "We're losing some unbelievable players, all of which have great character and personalities. It will be almost impossible to replace them, but we have a lot of younger players on our team who want to work hard to fill their shoes."
