Fresh off Saturday's 12-9 victory over Connecticut College, the men's lacrosse team will finish its regular season tonight at Bowdoin with seeding for the NESCAC Tournament on the line.
For Tufts, the calculation is simple. At 6-2 in NESCAC play, the team currently owns sole possession of second place in the conference standings, which they would lock up for good with a victory over the Polar Bears. Thanks to regular-season victories over Wesleyan and Williams in March, a loss would drop Tufts no further than the third seed for the start of the postseason play on Sunday.
But first, Tufts must focus on Bowdoin. After starting the season with seven wins in their first eight games, the Polar Bears have cooled off significantly, losing four of their last five. Still, the team is coming off a 15-7 victory over Bates on Tuesday and should have an axe to grind, given its 19-4 loss in last year's matchup with Tufts.
While Bowdoin lacks star power up front -- they have no players in the top 20 in the conference in points -- it has adequate firepower, averaging 10 goals per game. On the defensive end, sophomore goalie Jake McCampbell has the fourth-lowest goals against average in the conference.
"They've got solid goalkeeping and they're very balanced offensively," senior tri-captain Jordan Yarboro said. "They don't have one go-to guy, but they share the ball well. Their defense is also solid. They've held most teams to pretty few goals."
"They've got a lot of guys on offense who are consistent threats," junior midfielder Zach Groen added. "It'll be a tough challenge because they're a good team. They've got an incentive to play hard against us because when they came down here last year, we beat them pretty handedly."
Regardless of tonight's outcome, the Jumbos are guaranteed a home game in the first round of the conference tournament, noteworthy considering that both of the Jumbos' losses this season have come on the road.
Tonight, however, they'll have one more chance to better their road mark with the trip to Brunswick, Maine, where the host Polar Bears have lost their last two home games.
"We like the road," Yarboro said. "It's a good challenge. Bowdoin's a team that needs a win, and it'll be at night with a full crowd. We'll have an 'us vs. them' mentality."
Despite the challenges that come with playing on the road, the team tries to normalize its experience by preparing for road games the same way it prepares for home games.
"There's really no difference in preparation," Groen said. "We have to take the bus to play, but other than that, it's really the same. [The game against Bowdoin] will be good practice because at some point in the playoffs, we'll have to play at a neutral site or on the road."
With one game remaining, Tufts' trio of dominant attackmen -- senior tri-captain Clem McNally and sophomores Ryan Molloy and D.J. Hessler -- will try and maintain their positions as the top three points scorers in the NESCAC.
"It's rare what they're doing, and it's impressive," Groen said. "They just work well together up front, and it's a testament to the midfield and the entire offense."
While acknowledging the possibility that Sunday's NESCAC Tournament opener could be its last game, the team's seniors are preparing to cap their careers with a final push for the conference championship. Tufts has not won a NESCAC Tournament game since 2006, and the disappointment from last year's first-round exit to Williams remains a fresh wound.
"As seniors, we know what we've accomplished, and we're not satisfied with it," Yarboro said. "We only have five days left of practice, including games, for sure. In a couple months, we could be washed-up. We're trying to enjoy every minute we have left because we don't want to go home yet."
"We always try to play every game like it could be our last," Groen added. "It's a natural tendency. But this time, for the seniors, it really could be, so we'll all be jacked-up to play. We haven't won a NESCAC playoff game the last two seasons, so no juniors have experienced that -- it's something we all really want to accomplish. But we don't just want to win one game. We want to win the whole thing."
