Box Score MEDFORD – In a stellar defensive effort, the third-ranked Tufts University men's lacrosse team posted a 13-5 victory over non-conference rival Endicott College on Tuesday night at Bello Field.
The visiting Gulls (1-3) scored three of their five goals in the last four minutes when Tufts (5-0) was substituting with younger players. Jumbo junior goalie Mason Pollack (17 saves) and starting defenders Arend Broekmate, Jack Donohue and Jack Walton led the effort which held the Gulls to just two goals in first 56 minutes of action. Endicott had plenty of possession time, but Tufts continually cut the Gulls' attack off or Pollack made saves. His 17 stops came on 20 shots on goal for a sensational .850 save percentage before he was relieved by freshman Walker West with three minutes left.
Endicott senior goalie Patrick Dean was also outstanding, finishing with 17 saves as well.
More than eight minutes had elapsed before the game's first goal was scored by Tufts senior Ben Connelly off an assist from junior Matt Treiber. Senior Nick Katz increased the Jumbo lead to 2-0 at 4:23 of the first, but Endicott's A.J. MacDonald chopped the lead in half with 1:57 to go in the quarter and it was 2-1 at the first break.
Tufts strung together three goals in the opening three minutes of the second quarter to lead 5-1. The strikes came from Connelly, Treiber and junior Nick Shanks. However, Endicott would keep the Jumbos off the board for the rest of the quarter and added sophomore Jack Sutherland's goal at 4:40 to stay within 5-2 at the half.
The Jumbos opened the game up by outscoring the Gulls 4-0 in the third quarter. Sophomore Max Waldbaum had two of the goals including one at the 2:11 mark which put Tufts up 9-2 heading into the fourth.
Tufts continued its run to seven goals in a row with the first three in the fourth. Tallies by Broekmate and defensive middie Luke Kurtz, and a man-up goal by Waldbaum pushed the advantage to 12-2 at the six-minute mark.
Endicott would score three of the final four goals by senior A.J. MacDonald again, along with junior Ben Clark and senior Derek Yannone after his late face-off win with seven second remaining.
The face-off battles were good all night as Endicott edged the Jumbos 11-10. Yannone had all of the Gulls' wins in 21 attempts while Tufts freshman Kyle Helfrich took 8 of 13.
Treiber finished with two goals and two assists to lead Tufts offensively. Senior co-captain Danny Murphy recorded three assists and Waldbaum scored three times. Broekmate and freshman Matt Lane both had three ground balls for the Jumbos. Tufts finished with small edges in shots (39-33) and ground balls (28-23) in the team categories.
MacDonald with his two goals and Clark with a goal and assist had multi-point games for the visitors. Sophomore James Loughran recorded two caused turnovers and five ground balls for Endicott.
Tufts plays at Colby on Friday night in NESCAC action. Endicott will host Springfield College on Saturday.
