The beautiful weather at Bello Field yesterday was a perfect backdrop for the men's lacrosse team's 13-8 runaway victory over Bates in the first round of the NESCAC Men's Lacrosse Championship.
The team's 10-8 victory over Connecticut College on Saturday, combined with Middlebury's 9-8 comeback win over Bates the same day, handed the nationally 17th- ranked Jumbos the No. 4 seed in the tournament and home-field advantage in the first round.
The Jumbos knew that they would have to bring their A-game and maintain their intensity against the formidable Bobcats.
"[Bates] plays great team offense and great team defense," coach Mike Daly said. "They are one of the best teams in the league, and we just had to match their motion and their game."
"We just talked about playing a game for a full 60 minutes, not playing for 15 minutes and taking a five-minute break," senior attacker Dane Carillo said
The win over Bates, No. 18 in the nation and the tournament's fifth seed, moves the Jumbos to 11-5 on the year and ends the Bobcats' season at 9-5 overall.
Sunday's game, a rematch of an Apr. 22 game in which Tufts came away with an 8-7 double-overtime win, was as back-and-forth as the teams' first dead-even duel, and the Jumbos adopted a similar strategy.
"We worked a lot on moving the ball and keeping active on the crease," said freshman attack Clem McNally, who had a game- and season-high six goals in the win. "It worked in the first game and we figured it would work the second time around," McNally said.
The teams traded goals and momentum throughout the match until the final eight minutes, when the Jumbos opened the floodgates, breaking the deadlock with a five-goal run to the final buzzer. Freshman Clem McNally, who logged five goals in the Apr. 22 game, once again ripped apart the Bates defense for his double hat trick on the afternoon.
"[McNally] didn't hold the ball very long, and he doesn't' carry the ball very much," Daly said. "He is a great finisher, and our guys have done a great job looking for him. He gets open, he catches the ball and he finishes."
Bates took advantage of Tufts' initial mistakes with a goal at the 11:22 minute mark for a 1-0 Bobcat lead. Sloppy passing and shooting on both sides resulted in multiple possession changes for the next seven minutes, until Tufts sophomore midfielder Perry Choren found McNally at the top of the crease for a 1-1 tie with 4:42 minutes remaining.
Having a man positioned at the top of the crease is an important part of the Jumbo strategy.
"We definitely set a lot of our plays up for [Clem] to get the ball there," Daly said. "He does a great job for us. He's just had a phenomenal last two weeks of the season."
Bates scored at 2:15 minutes, but Tufts countered with a goal by Carillo for a 2-2 tie going into the second period.
The Jumbos came out firing in the second set, running around the stunned Bobcats in an unanswered four-goal spurt in the first three minutes of the period. Senior co-captain midfielder Rory Doucette's dominance in the face-offs (he won eight of the nine face-offs in the period) gave the Jumbos a possession advantage and led to two goals by McNally and scores by sophomore attacker Matt Caple and junior midfielder Brett Holm.
The Tufts defense, playing a man-to-man set against the Bobcats, allowed no shots by Bates until sophomore attacker Bryan Frates broke through with an unassisted goal at the 8:10 mark to cut the Tufts lead to 6-3. Frates struck again with 5:26 minutes remaining.
Choren then capitalized on a Bates defensive mistake, but Bates closed the lead once again with a last minute score from junior midfielder Wes Couture, for a 7-5 Jumbo lead going into the half.
The Bates man-to-man defense adjusted and held Tufts scoreless in the third period. Bates scored the only two goals of the period. Both defenses continued to frustrate the opponent's offense, and the Tufts defense managed to avert a threatening Bates run in the last minute of the period with a clutch clear by junior defender Alex Bezdek.
Entering the fourth period, the Jumbos changed their offensive strategy, from a 1-4-1 to a 1-3-2 formation.
"That means that you take a guy off the crease," Carillo said. "We did that because they were a very quick sliding team. Only having one guy on the crease made their slides a lot longer, and gave us more opportunities to score."
The Jumbos broke the 7-7 tie in the fourth period with a beautifully orchestrated goal at the 11:33 minute mark. O'Brien sprinted up the right side of the field, and found McNally on the top of the crease. Rather than taking the shot, McNally pivoted and connected with Carillo, who powered the ball from his position on the left side of the net past flat-footed Bates goalkeeper senior co-captain Paul Kazarian, who had 10 saves on the day but was left helpless by the rapid passing on that play.
Bates countered for an 8-8 tied score, the last Bobcat goal of the game. The Jumbos began their five-goal onslaught with a McNally goal, his fifth of the match, with 8:51 remaining. McNally contributed another goal to the Jumbos run, and was joined by junior midfielder Doug Smith, freshman midfielder Chase Bibby, and O'Brien.
In Saturday's game against Connecticut College, the Jumbos traded scores with the Camels early the match, but found themselves at an 8-5 deficit at the 7:50 minute mark in the third period. However, Tufts staged a comeback, embarking on an unanswered five-goal run. The Tufts defense held the Camels scoreless for the remainder of the match, securing a 10-8 victory in the Jumbos' final regular season league game of the year.
The Jumbos now face the No. 1 tournament seed and No. 10 nationally ranked Middlebury Panthers, to whom they fell 12-4 in a regular conference match on Apr. 12, in the semifinal round on May 6.
Tufts must work to retain its momentum from the Bates victory going into the weekend.
"It's pretty tough [to maintain momentum]," Daly said. "We're in the middle of finals and reading week. It's a tough mental time for our guys and that's what we're focused on, being mentally ready to play. We're going to be physically ready to play. Now it's just making sure we're tough and strong and that we're getting through what we need to get through academically."
