No. 2 Men's Lacrosse Completes Second Half Comeback To Defeat Williams In NESCAC Action

MEDFORD, MA (April 5, 2023) -- The No. 2 Tufts University men's lacrosse team used a big second half to come from behind and defeat the Williams College Ephs Wednesday night at Bello field, 14-11.

The first quarter saw the two teams trade goals as Williams (5-3, 3-1 NESCAC) would race out to a 3-1 lead after a Harrison Cross goal. Tufts would respond with two of their own as Charlie Tagliaferri and Tommy Swank brought the two teams level before Williams added one late in the quarter to take a 4-3 lead after one. 

Williams would get their biggest lead of the night as they opened a 7-3 lead with 11:20 to play before halftime. The Jumbos would then tie the game back up at seven as they scored four goals in two minutes and 49 seconds. During that stretch Tufts got two goals from Swank and goals from both Jack Boyden and Kurt Bruun. The Ephs responded with two goals of their own as they took a 9-7 advantage going into the halftime break.

The third quarter saw Tufts outshoot Williams 15-8 and win all the faceoffs in the quarter as they would tie the game back up going into the fourth quarter. After Williams scored on the man up opportunity, Mason Kohn would win the ensuing faceoff to allow Tufts to set up its offense as Tagliaferri scored his third goal of the night with nine seconds remaining to make the score 10-10 headed to the fourth quarter.

Michael Ayers would give Tufts its first lead of the night as he took a pass from Bruun just 12 seconds into the quarter and buried it into the back of the cage to give Tufts an 11-10 lead. Williams would then tie the game at 11 before Tufts regained the lead on a Joe Murtha man up goal to make the score 12-11 Tufts. The defense would hold Williams goalless over the final 13:23 of the game as Tufts would get goals from Bruun and Boyden to put the game away and secure the 14-11 victory.

Tufts now moves to 10-0 on the season and are undefeated in NESCAC action. Swank had a strong game with four goals, two assists, six points along with a game-high 12 shots. Bruun also had six points with two goals and four assists, while Tagliaferri had three goals, one assists, four points.  

Boyden had two goals and an assist, and Kohn dominated at the faceoff "X" going 19-for-23. Garzone made 10 saves for the Jumbos on the night. 


Joey Waldbaum had a very solid game with four ground balls and two caused turnovers, and George Panagopoulos finished with two caused turnovers and two ground balls.  Tufts outshot the Ephs 52-35 Wednesday while also holding a 33-23 edge in ground balls. 

Will Doran registered a team-high five points on three goals and two assists, while Calvin Caputo tallied two goals and two assists. 

Tufts will be back in NESCAC action on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m., travelling down to Connecticut to take on Connecticut College.