The 75 diehard fans that braved a bizarre mid-March snowstorm to watch the lacrosse team open its season on Saturday against MIT were handsomely rewarded by halftime. At the break, the Jumbos had already amassed a 10-goal lead and senior co-captain Bryan Griffin had tied the career point record in Tufts lacrosse history. The ninth-ranked Jumbos would go on to win the game by an 18-3 margin.
Late in the second quarter, Griffin took a perfect feed from junior midfielder Rory Doucette and slammed the ball home for his fourth goal of the game and 191st career point, tying the mark Dan Kollar set from 1998-2001.
"The biggest impact [Griffin] has had on our team is the example he set every day in practice. I hope every one of our younger players understands that Brian is a self-made player," seventh-year coach Mike Daly said.
"Rory picked a pass off in
midfield, I cut to the middle, and he was kind enough to share the ball with me," Griffin said.
At that point Griffin was alone with the goalie, a match-up that will almost always result in another notch on the Jumbos' scoreboard.
Griffin, the two-time reigning NESCAC Player of the Year, needed almost a full season less than Kollar to reach the mark of 191.
"There have been a lot of expectations for this season," Griffin said. "It's cool to get it done, but I'm glad to get it out of the way early. I just want to focus on winning."
Griffin had entered the day with 184 career points, and the record-tying goal was Griffin's fourth in the game. Adding three assists to his four goals, Griffin led the game with seven points.
The final outcome was never in question as the Jumbos took control early, finding the back of the net with impressive frequency to score seven first quarter goals.
"We've just been beating on each other in practice so long, we needed to get out, play against a different team, and hit something with a different color uniform," coach Daly said. "The guys were really excited to do that."
Senior co-captain Devin Clarke agreed.
"I think everyone was pretty excited to play our first game, to get out there and play someone other than ourselves," he said.
Clarke is one of three pre-season All-Americans on the 2005 squad, joining Griffin and junior defenseman Ave Cook, a transfer from Bates.
At the end of the first half, the Engineers managed two goals, one from sophomore Paul Steiner and one from classmate Jonathon Stolmeier, but the game was all but decided already as the teams went into the break with the Jumbos leading 12-2.
By the second half, Daly was substituting lines and players freely as the ball rarely left the MIT side of the field. The Engineers only managed seven shots all game.
Tufts' starting goalie Luke Chicco, a senior tri-captain, allowed two goals and recorded two saves. Classmate Andy Starr split time in net, recording two saves.
With the game already out of reach, the second half was marked by an increase in the poor playing conditions, as rain turned to snow and the Bello Field turf began to resemble a slush-covered marsh more than a lacrosse field.
However, the weather did not slow down the Jumbos, who added six more goals in the half. Sophomore Doug Smith, classmate Mike Cortese, and freshman Connor Ginsberg all scored the first goals of their collegiate careers.
Sophomore Mark Warner tallied four points on two goals and two assists, and sophomore Stephen Ginsberg and juniors Michael Hughes and Billy Granger each had two goals in the contest.
By the end of the game, the remaining bleacher-creatures, a rowdy group of Tufts students affectionately referred to as "Brown Town," could be heard chanting "warm up the bus," punctuated by one fan's scream of "warm up my feet."
The cheers highlighted the game's two themes: a Tufts blowout and harsh weather.
Despite the lopsided score, Daly and the Jumbos are staying even-keeled coming out of the opening game.
"We're never comfortable where we are," Daly said. "We've got to keep improving on a lot of little things, and have to keep working every day."
The team hosts Endicott this Friday at 5 p.m. for its second test of the season.
"It was a good win and we hope to build on it for next week," Clarke said. "We're happy about how the game went, but it's still early in the season and we need to keep getting better everyday."
Like his coach and co-captain, Griffin has already focused his attention on the next game.
"It's a start, but I don't think anyone's going to hang their hats on beating MIT," he said. "The best teams in the country are in the NESCAC, and we're facing a lot of really tough competition over the next few weeks, starting with this Friday. Endicott's a team on the rise, and they played us tough last year."
The Jumbos also opened last season's 13-3 campaign with a win over MIT, that time by a 16-4 margin. They went on to beat Endicott in the second game by a score of 9-4. Yet both MIT and Endicott are non-conference teams and the NESCAC has some of the toughest lacrosse programs in the country. Tufts will start challenging those teams when league play opens on Wednesday, March 30, when the Jumbos host Amherst College.
