Box Score BEVERLY - Senior co-captain Cole Bailey scored five goals with four assists and junior John Uppgren added four goals and four assists to lead #3 Tufts Men's Lacrosse to a 22-6 victory at #8 Endicott College Tuesday night.
The win was the Jumbos' first at Endicott Stadium since 2009. The Gulls had defeated Tufts 12-10 there in 2013 and 9-8 in 2011. Tonight, Tufts scored the game's first eight goals and never looked back.
In two games now since suffering their lone loss of the season against Bates a week ago the Jumbos (12-1) have outscored two opponents 47-12.
Tufts finished with advantages of 61-47 in shots, 54-35 in groundballs and 20-11 on face-offs. Junior Conor Helfrich had 17 wins on draws. Tufts also got 20 saves from goalies Alex Salazar (16 in 52+ minutes) and Jon Conley (four saves).
Will Jennings scored four of Endicott's goals as the hosts dropped to 10-3.
Uppgren scored two goals with two assists in the first quarter as Tufts raced out to an 8-0 lead. They out-shot the Gulls 21-5 and had a 19-7 lead in groundballs for the period.
Jennings led off the second with a man-up goal for Endicott at 13:20 and scored again less than a minute later making it 8-2. However, Tufts had five of the next six to lead 13-3 on Bailey's goal with 1:28 to go until halftime. Endicott's Kyle Weber scored with just five seconds remaining until halftime making it a 13-4 score.
Bailey tallied two goals with an assist for the Jumbos in the second quarter and Salazar had seven saves in the Tufts net as Endicott had a 15-10 margin in shots.
Jennings again had the first goal of the period in the third and it was 13-5. However, the Jumbos cut off any momentum with authority as they scored the next nine goals to put the game away. Bailey and Uppgren led the run with two goals and two assissts each.
Defensemen Cem Kalkavan and Blake Wood added to the Jumbos' strong defensive effort with three groundballs apiece.
Ian Knechtle caused a game-high three turnovers for Endicott, as well as picking up eight groundballs. Nicholas D'Elia finished with five GBs, while goalie Cameron Bell made 10 saves in a little more than three quarters of play. Kenny Sturgess wrapped up with nine saves in the final 12 minutes as Tufts finished strong.
With two games left in the NESCAC schedule and first place on the line, Tufts plays at Amherst on Saturday at 1. Both teams are 7-1 in the league. The Gulls get right back at it with a Commonwealth Coast Conference game at Gordon tomorrow at 7.
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