Box Score Recap courtesy of Trinity College
HARTFORD – Senior co-captain John Uppgren scored four goals and assisted on eight others for a 12-point game as Tufts held off Trinity 17-16 in New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) men's lacrosse action this afternoon on Sheppard Field.
Tufts improves to 5-1 overall and 3-0 in the league. Trinity falls to 2-5 overall and 1-3 in the NESCAC.
Uppgren's 12 points and eight assists are both tied for the second-most in a single game in Tufts history. The first team All-American had become the Jumbo program's all-time goals leader last Saturday versus Colby and currently has 180. He's 15 points shy of tying the all-time scoring record at Tufts.
Today, the Bantams came back from a 16-11 deficit after three quarters, and senior captain attackman Robert DeSimone scored for Trinity with 35 seconds left to make it a one-goal game. However, the Bantams could not get off a shot in their final possession in the closing seconds.
DeSimone opened the final quarter with a goal 26 seconds after the opening face-off, and Trinity sophomore attackman John Careviello made good on a two-man advantage with a goal at the 11:33 mark to pull the Bantams to within three goals at 16-13.
Tufts senior attackman Connor Bilby broke a 4:13 scoring drought for both teams with 7:20 on the clock, converting on the eighth assist of the game by Uppgren. Caraviello answered by feeding Trinity sophomore attackman Jack Sharrio and junior Stefan Pappas for goals in the final 6:10 of the contest, before Sharrio assisted DeSimone on the contest's last tally.
Tufts briefly controlled the ball after the ensuing face-off, but Trinity junior defenseman Henry Pierandri picked up a ground ball deep in the Jumbo end. Tufts prevented Trinity from setting up offensively in the closing seconds however, and the Bantams ran out of time.
Tufts had taken a 4-2 lead after one quarter, as senior midfielder Jake Gillespie scored twice for the visitors. The squads combined for 13 goals in the second frame, with each scoring three unassisted tallies in the first six minutes to make the score 7-5 before the Jumbos went on a 5-1 run over the next 6:16 of the game. DeSimone scored the last goal before intermission at the 1:52 mark and Tufts led, 12-7, halfway through the game.
Pappas scored back-to-back unassisted tallies less than a minute apart, and DeSimone assisted rookie attackman Ben Knaus on another Trinity goal to cut the home team's deficit to a pair at 12-10 with 8:01 left in the third quarter.
Four straight Jumbo goals in a 3:20 span pushed the Tufts lead up to 16-10, but a Caraviello goal with 19 seconds on the clock closed the third frame.
Trinity finished with a 55-45 shooting edge and Tufts committed 23 turnovers, but the Jumbos won 27 of 38 face-offs and had a 43-24 advantage on ground balls.
Uppgren led all scorers with four goals to go with his eight assists, while Gillespie scored four times, and senior attackman Ben Andreycak added a hat trick plus two assists for Tufts. Jumbo Conor Helfrich took every face-off and scooped a game-high 16 ground balls, while classmate Alex Salazar made 19 stops in goal.
Caraviello paced the Bantam offense with four goals and two assists, while DeSimone scored four times and assisted on a fifth goal, and Pappas totaled five points on three goals and two assists. Senior goalie Henry Coote finished with 14 saves, while Pierandri led the Trinity defenders with four ground balls and two caused turnovers.
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