Western New England College tallied the first goal within the first two minutes of the game yesterday at Bello Field. But that was about all that went wrong for the Jumbos all day. Less than two minutes later junior Mike O'Brien scored to tie the game at one, and Tufts scored six more times in the first quarter to take a 7-1 lead. The Jumbos were up 13-3 at halftime, and kept the game out of reach in the second half to come away with an 18-6 win.
Senior tri-captain Bryan Griffin scored twice in the first quarter, and three times in the first half for the Jumbos. He scored his first goal, which came with just under 11 minutes to go in the game, diving to his left from the right side of the goal.
"We came out with intensity and focus, and that's something we haven't done all the time this season," Griffin said. "We played the full 60 minutes; we didn't take a quarter off or even five minutes off."
Tufts had a big second half in its last game, against Colby, which coach Mike Daly attributed to the Jumbos playing team-oriented lacrosse. Daly has been looking for unselfish play all season, and he got his wish against WNEC.
In all, seven Jumbos had goals in the first half. O'Brien and Rory Doucette scored their second goals of the game with 13:50, and 2:27 to go in the half, respectively.
"A lot of the early goals were assisted," coach Mike Daly said. "The way it goes, you tend to get the same names getting the points. But any of those guys would give up points for the win. That's what we're all about."
Griffin, one of Tufts leaders on offense, agreed with Daly's remarks.
"It was a great team win," Griffin said. "Everybody comes out and plays hard in practice, and when they come out and play they do a great job. Today everybody did their part. The starters came in and got the job done in the first half and the beginning of the third quarter, and the other guys came in and got it done."
In the second half, it was more of the same for Tufts, as Doucette got his third score of the game and freshman Connor Ginsberg scored twice in the third quarter. Junior midfielder Adam Delaney-Winn, who has not seen much time this season, came in and played well, scoring twice in the second half. His first goal, which came off of an assist from senior Casey D'Annolfo, gave the Jumbos a 17-5 lead heading into the final period.
Griffin was not surprised by how effective Tufts' reserves were.
"There are no bad players on this team," Griffin said. "Everybody on this team can play."
As strong as Tufts was on offense, they were even more impressive defensively, holding WNEC to just six goals, and including scoreless runs in two straight two men-down situations in the fourth quarter. Western New England's six goals represent its lowest output of the season and just the second time all year they have been held in single digits. The Golden Bears were coming off a season-high 22 goals in their last game, but they never got going against the staunch Jumbo defense.
"We just focus on Tufts and playing Tufts defense," Daly said. "[WNEC] has a lot of good players, and we have a ton of respect for Coach Klepacki and their team. But we feel when we play with a team concept, and play our style of defense, we're going to be successful."
Senior goalkeepers Andy Starr and tri-captain Luke Chicco both played well. Starr played the first half and gave up just three goals, while Chicco also surrendered just three before being replaced late in the fourth quarter by freshman Kevin Coneys.
Tufts traditionally plays WNEC early in the season, but a scheduling mix-up led to the game being moved to the middle of the conference season. Both Griffin and Daly said that the team gains a lot from playing a team like Western New England.
"They're an excellent team," Griffin said. "And it's great for us to see what teams in other conferences are like. WNEC's one of the best teams in its conference, with a chance to make the NCAAs, so its good for us to play a team like that."
"Whenever the game is, we want to play as many good teams as possible," Daly said.
Tufts has three conference games remaining, including two road games. Although the team is still trying to get back the chemistry they lost when Griffin missed the most of four games with an injury, they have played markedly better in its last two games.
"We're still coming together," Griffin said. "I missed a couple of games, so we're still getting used to playing with each other and seeing how each player reacts in certain situations. But we're becoming more of a cohesive unit. From here out, every game is a playoff game for us."
