The men's and women's lacrosse teams will each face off against Middlebury tomorrow with one last chance to move up in the NESCAC standings before Sunday's conference tournament opener.
The men still have an outside shot to clinch the regular-season NESCAC title, home-field advantage for the conference tournament and the accompanying first-round bye. The Jumbos, however, will have a tall task ahead of them, as they will have to earn just their second victory over the seven-time defending NESCAC champion Panthers in the last 40 years, with the first coming last year.
In addition, Tufts will have to hope that Bates, loser of four of its last five games, can pull off an upset of Wesleyan (8-4), which is currently tied with Tufts for second in the conference. The Cardinals, however, own the tiebreaker over Tufts, having taken the teams' lone head-to-head matchup on March 22.
If the Jumbos lose tomorrow, they will settle for the NESCAC's third seed and a home game Sunday afternoon.
The women will look to make program history tomorrow when they host first-place Middlebury in their regular season finale. With a victory, Tufts can lock up a home game in the conference tournament for the first time ever. But standing in the way is a Panthers team that has won the NESCAC title in each of the last seven years and hasn't dropped an in-conference game all season.
Tufts can also lock up home field in the first round if Colby, which is currently tied with the Jumbos for fourth in the NESCAC, falls to 12-1 Amherst tomorrow. If Colby wins and Tufts loses, coach Carol Rappoli's squad can fall no further than fifth, but that scenario would force the Jumbos to hit the road for Sunday's first round.
Last season, the Jumbos failed to qualify for the NESCAC Tournament for the first time since 2003. They will be seeking the program's first ever conference tournament win this weekend.
