Box Score 
Recap courtesy of Amherst College
AMHERST - Featuring two teams that have combined to win 12 out of the last 14 NESCAC Championships, Saturday's second semi-final matchup saw second-seeded Tufts University defeat third-seeded Middlebury College, 23-9, on Saturday afternoon at Amherst College's Pratt Field.
With the win, Tufts improves to 15-2 on the season and will face top-seeded Amherst (16-1) which advanced to its second straight title game following a 10-8 win over fifth-seeded Bates College. Middlebury (12-5) awaits a possible at-large bid to the NCAA Division III Championship.
Tufts will look to become NESCAC Champions for the sixth straight year as they take on the host Jeffs for the second time in as many years when the sides square off on Sunday at Pratt Field at 12 pm. The Jumbos are playing in the conference final for the seventh straight year and for the eighth time overall.
Junior John Uppgren had a game-high seven points for the Jumbos, while Kyle Soroka posted four goals to lead the way for Middlebury.
Tufts exploded out of the gate, scoring four unanswered goals as four different players found the back of the net, and powered to a 14-3 halftime advantage. Tufts documented one of its best single-half performances of the year, second only to their 15-goal performance in a 25-6 victory over Hamilton College. Conor Helfrich ignited the attack by winning the game's opening faceoff, driving down the middle of the field, and beating the Panther goalie just 11 seconds into play.
Middlebury responded to the 4-0 run with back-to-back goals by Jon Broome and Joel Blockowicz to cut the Jumbos' lead to within two points (4-2), however, the Panthers could get no closer as Tufts scored another six goals before the next Middlebury tally.
After trading goals to begin the second half, with Tuft's Uppgren and Middlebury's Henry Riehl both scoring in the first five minutes, the Jumbos continued their dominant offensive effort by posting four unanswered goals in the next eight minutes of play. A well-placed shot by the Panther's Soroka that concluded the point-scoring in the third period provided Middlebury with some much needed momentum as they went on to match Tufts and score a game-best four goals in the fourth.
Relentless on both offense and defense, Tufts led in shots 57-46, face-offs 19-16, ground balls 42-39 and committed only 11 turnovers to Middlebury's 19.
John Jackson was fantastic for the Middlebury in the loss, recording eight ground balls and causing one turnover. Will Ernst made 10 saves in the losing effort for the Panthers, playing the first 38:55, while Gabe Weissmann mad three saves in 21:05 played for the Panthers.
Junior Alex Salazar was stellar between the pipes for the Jumbos, recording many high-difficulty saves en route to making eight saves on 13 shots. Brian Droesch finished with four saves in 11:23 of action for Tufts.
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