It wasn't pretty, but the formerly No. 1 — now No. 4 — men's lacrosse team, sparked by a run of five unanswered goals that started late in the second quarter and continued throughout a dominating third quarter, was able to gut out a 6-5 win Saturday at Bello Field against Conn. College, the team that ruined the Jumbos' bid for a perfect season last year.
Tufts fell behind 3-0 in front of the home crowd, and sluggishly went into half down 3-1, with a goal from senior quad-captain attackman Ryan Molloy as the lone Tufts tally against a Conn. College team content to slow down the pace of the game. But Tufts came out with newfound intensity in the second half, dominating the Camels 4-0 in the third frame and ultimately avenging last year's only loss, an 8-6 defeat to the Camels.
"In the first half, they out-strapped us," freshman goalie Patton Watkins said. "They got more of the groundballs and just pretty much out-hustled us. At halftime we got really pumped up and decided, ‘No more. This team's not going to work harder than us. We're not going to be outworked in the second half.'"
Conn. College, which was unranked but received votes in the latest United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) coaches poll, held a decisive advantage Saturday when it came to possession; the Camels captured 30 groundballs to the Jumbos' 19 and ran an effective settled offense for much of the contest. Meanwhile, Tufts struggled with possession for much of the game.
Yet gutsy efforts from junior attackman Sean Kirwan and senior quad-captain attackman D.J. Hessler, who together led Tufts with three points apiece, allowed the Jumbos to eke by a threatening Camel team led by senior tri-captain midfielders Eric Doran and Mark Mangano and sophomore midfielder Mike Giambanco.
Tufts dug itself into a hole early after Doran's man-up score gave the Camels the first tally of the contest less than five minutes in. Mangano and Doran added two more goals for the Camels, and sophomore goalkeeper John Lenehan kept the Tufts offense at bay with four saves in the first quarter.
"The first half was a case of a hot goalie and a team that liked to slow the ball down," Kirwan said. "We weren't getting the best looks at first and we had a little bit of an off-day finishing."
In the second quarter, Tufts quad-captain attackman Ryan Molloy had the only score of the period, on a feed from Hessler. Facing a 3-1 halftime deficit, the Jumbos were in danger of losing both their second game in five days and their grip on the top seed in the NESCAC.
But three goals from Kirwan, including two off feeds from Hessler, helped put Tufts up 5-3. The Jumbos never looked back.
"The key thing was that we needed to stick to what we're good at and what we do well," Kirwan said. "I think we did that to the maximum in the third quarter, and we were confident with our decisions.
"It was just being patient on offense," he added. "We like to push the ball but at the same time we have to understand what's a solid look and what's not, and that's something that we were able to pick up as we went on."
Conn. College did not go down without a fight, however, and following a Tufts goal from senior quad-captain midfielder Matt Witko, Camels sophomore attackman John Lyons scored with 3:55 remaining to close the gap to one.
With less than five seconds left, Watkins, facing a man-up Conn. College unit, made one of the biggest saves of his short collegiate career. The freshman stuffed Doran's top left-corner shot, securing possession, and the win, for the Jumbos.
Watkins finished the day with a stellar 13 saves, while John Lenehan backed up a staunch Conn. defense with 15 of his own.
Junior midfielder Nick Rhoads won eight of 15 faceoffs for the Jumbos, and Rhoads and senior quad-captain Alec Bialosky led the Jumbos with three groundballs each.
A strong Jumbos defense stepped up in the wake of Tufts' offensive frustrations and tied its season-low for goals allowed.
"The main thing that our defense did a great job at was communicating," Watkins said. "We played great fundamental defense. Everyone slid early to the middies dodging down the lanes and we recovered really well. If you do that over and over again they're not going to get any inside shots."
The Jumbos will play at No. 10 Middlebury next Saturday in its next-to-last conference matchup of the season.
