Last spring, the men's lacrosse team capped off its regular season in style, defeating Middlebury 7-6 in overtime for the first time in 40 years to claim the regular season NESCAC title. But the postseason was a less fruitful affair, as the Jumbos lost to the same Panthers by one goal in the semifinals of the conference tournament and to national powerhouse Gettysburg in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
This year the team has higher aspirations in mind.
"Our goal is to win the conference title outright so that we secure an automatic berth [into the NCAA Tournament]," junior quad-captain Jordan Yarboro said. "We want to win the national championship."
Tufts ended its 2007 campaign ranked No. 9 in the country, the Jumbos' best-ever final ranking, and they'll take that same ranking into their first game of the season on Saturday against Skidmore. Despite its lofty goals, the team claims it will not get too far ahead of itself.
"Coach [Mike] Daly instills this attitude in us that even though we're in the spotlight right now and we're getting more attention, we're still nobodies from nowhere," senior quad-captain Mike Cortese said. "It's a blue-collar, workmanlike attitude. If we do the little things over the course of a game, they'll add up to victories. We have this team creed that we're going to take things one game at a time."
"We're hardworking and physical, with good speed to pick up loose balls," Yarboro added. "We're not too fancy. We focus on doing the base essentials necessary to win."
While junior attackman Clem McNally says that it's far too early for the team to establish a collective identity, he has been impressed by the play of the freshmen.
"The entire freshman class is good," he said. "Top to bottom, there really isn't a big drop-off in skill."
"Last year we were more defensive oriented, but this year we can run and gun and score quick goals," Cortese added. "We're also going to be very strong at faceoffs."
The Jumbos run-and-gun offense might be slowed early on, however, by preseason injuries to two key returning offensive cogs. McNally, the team's top returning goal scorer, recently had surgery to repair a broken jaw, sidelining him for at least four weeks. And senior attackman Connor Ginsberg, who was fourth on the team with 23 points last season, recently tore ligaments in his hands, putting him on the shelf indefinitely.
One positive for the Jumbos in recent weeks has been the relatively mild weather, allowing them to practice outside and adjust to the conditions before their first game.
"We've been able to practice outside a lot, which has been great," Yarboro said. "And we've been waking up at 6 a.m. and working out at Gantcher. We've been working hard."
The Jumbos will face stiff competition in the NESCAC this year. Middlebury returned its core nucleus of players from last season and is ranked just ahead of Tufts at No. 8 in the nation. In addition, Williams and Wesleyan are two other critical conference games. Tufts will also face non-conference challenges from Roanoke, Western New England and Endicott, all of which are ranked in the top 25 nationally.
But first up for the Jumbos will be Skidmore, a team that has given Tufts surprising fits the past two years. Last year, Tufts prevailed 5-4, and in 2006 Tufts eked out an 8-7 victory in double overtime.
"The last two seasons, they haven't been considered that strong," Cortese said. "But we only beat them by one goal last year, and I think only one the year before also. So we're studying our film trying to learn about them."
