The nationally ranked No. 7 men's lacrosse team relied on its powerful offense to rebound from a disappointing loss to Middlebury over the weekend with a 18-13 victory against No. 15 Endicott Tuesday night. Playing on the road in Beverly, the Jumbos never trailed against the Gulls as they finally succeeded in putting the game away with seven fourth-quarter goals.
"It was a nice win to get us back on track," junior midfielder Zach Groen said. "It was just one of those things where it was back and forth the whole time. We came out early and scored a couple of goals, and they came back. Then we kept going up by two or three, and they would come back and tie it or be down by one. We finally broke it open at the end."
With the victory, the Jumbos dispelled any notion of a lasting hangover from Saturday's loss to the Panthers, a game that may have cost them the regular-season NESCAC title. "We went up to Middlebury and lost by one goal to a really good team," Groen said. "But we were also upset with our performance because we know we didn't play as well as we could have. But by now, 12 games into the season, we realize what we're capable of and what we're made of, so I think we were confident that we'd be able to go out [Tuesday] night and get the job done."
While much has been made of the strong play of Tufts' three leading attackmen -- senior tri-captain Clem McNally and sophomores D.J. Hessler and Ryan Molloy -- Tufts displayed impressive offensive balance against Endicott, with seven players scoring multiple goals, including senior Kevin Williams, who led the team with six points. Williams has been enjoying something of a renaissance during the second half of the season, with 13 points in the team's last five games.
"Kevin's the guy who's always working," Groen said. "He's always working, always hustling. He had a great game yesterday with a bunch of assists, and I think that just stems from his work ethic. Against Middlebury and then again [Tuesday] night, he keeps coming."
"Kevin's a real solid player," junior tri-captain Mike Droesch added. "I don't think anybody is surprised that he's playing well given how hard he works."
Tufts came out guns blazing under the lights on Tuesday, netting the game's first goal under a minute into the first quarter as sophomore Matt Witko, assisted by McNally, scored a man-up goal. The Jumbos took advantage of the aggressive tone of play throughout the game, converting on five of seven man-up opportunities.
"Our man-up offense played great," Groen said. "There were a lot of penalties on both sides, and we were fortunate enough to convert a lot of our chances."
Hessler added a second goal four minutes later to extend the Jumbos' lead, but Endicott senior Dan Cain scored five minutes after that to temper Tufts' momentum. The second quarter was an especially free-wheeling affair, with nine goals scored overall. After the opening half of play, the Jumbos retained a one-goal edge, 8-7.
"The coaches told us at halftime to play our game," Droesch said. "They stressed that we needed to get back to the fundamentals."
The see-saw style of play in the first half continued into the third quarter, with one- or two-goal swings in either team's favor. But the Jumbos' offense ultimately proved too powerful to contain, and Williams' goal with 11:13 remaining in the game led a streak of four consecutive goals to put the game out of reach.
"We knew we had one of those runs in us," Groen said. "We were close to putting one together the whole game, and it finally clicked towards the end."
Next up for Tufts will be a matchup with conference opponent Conn. College on Saturday. Although Conn. College currently occupies a tie for last place in the NESCAC standings with Bates, the Jumbos vow to take the Camels seriously after falling to them last season by a four-goal margin.
"They're a solid team," Groen said. "They're another team that beat us last year, so taking care of them is number one on our list."
"We haven't forgotten about what happened last year," Droesch added. "Even though they're at the bottom of the standings, we know that anything can happen, so we're eager to go out there and play a great game."
