MEDFORD, MA (May 6, 2023) -- The No. 1 ranked Tufts University men's lacrosse team scored the last five goals of the game to pull away late from No. 8 Amherst College in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) semifinal, 20-13 at Bello Field on Saturday afternoon.
The Jumbos (17-0) scored the first goal of the game as
Tommy Swank got the scoring started with
Jack Boyden finding him on the crease. Bayard DeMallie tied the game for the Mammoths as Tufts would score the next three goals to open a 4-1 lead. Boyden found Swank again to make it 2-1 with
Kurt Bruun and
Charlie Tagliaferri both scoring unassisted goals.
Jake Bennett scored back-to-back goals to pull Amherst within one before the combo of Boyden to Swank connected again as the Jumbos led 5-3 going into the second quarter.
Conner Garzone was big in net for Tufts as he made four stops in the quarter including stuffing DeMallie with time winding down.
Boyden scored the next three goals to open the second quarter as the Tufts lead would grow to 8-3.
Sam Frisoli and Bruun assisted Boyden on two of the goals as his third goal forced Amherst to take a timeout. Following back-to-back goals by Amherst got them to withing three, the Jumbos took advantage of a man-up opportunity as Boyden found Bruun this time to make it 9-5 Tufts. Bennett added a third goal as Tufts took a 9-6 lead going to halftime.
Amherst was on the man-up to start the third quarter after a penalty on Tufts at the end of the second quarter, as Tanyr Krummenacher found Alex Giacobbe to cut the Jumbo lead to two. In total the two teams scored 11 goals in the third quarter as Tufts outscored Amherst 6-5. Bruun got the Jumbo lead back up to three with his third goal of the game with Bennett scoring his fourth to make it 10-8 Tufts.
Jack Regnery scored the next two goals for Tufts as the lead grew to 12-8 with less than nine minutes left in the third quarter. Following a Krummenacher goal, the Jumbos scored three goals in 15 seconds of game action. Boyden scored the first goal and on the ensuing faceoff,
Mason Kohn won it and found the back of the net for his fifth goal of the season for a 14-9 Tufts lead.
Next it was
Cam Delcristo who got on the board after a faceoff win by
Parker Merril to give the Jumbo a six-goal lead. The Mammoths would get two goals back and the Jumbos took a 15-11 lead going into the fourth quarter.
After end-to-end action to start the fourth quarter, Bob Gross scored two goals in a row to cut the Jumbo lead down to two with just under nine minutes to play.
Joey Waldbaum then led a fast break after causing a turnover and picking up the loose ball, found Boyden who put it in the back of the new to get the Jumbo lead back up to three at 16-13.
Tufts took advantage of another man-up opportunity as Boyden found Swank again for his team leading 57th goal of the season. It was Delcristo again who gave the Jumbos a five-goal lead as he picked up a ground ball in front of the cage and scored to bring to make it 18-13 Tufts. Boyden added another goal along with a
Max Ettinghausen man-up goal to give the Jumbos the winning margin of 20-13.
Boyden led the way in goals and points, as he scored six goals and added six assists for 12 points. In the previous matchup earlier this season between the two teams, he had 13 points.
Bruun had six points with three goals and three assists, while Swank added four goals. Delcristo and Regnery each scored twice as Kohn, Ettinghausen, and Tagliaferri scored once.
Waldbaum was stellar defensively as he caused six turnovers and scooped up six ground balls with an assist.
Kyle Adelmann caused two turnovers and had three ground balls.
Kohn dominated at the face-off "X," going 12-of-19 with eight ground balls for the Jumbos, with
Parker Merril going 9-of-17 with two ground balls. Garzone made 11 saves in net to earn the win.
Tufts outshot the visitors 61-44 on the afternoon, while winning 21 faceoffs. Tufts picked up 48 ground balls during the game and went a perfect 4-4 on man-up opportunities.
For the Mammoths, Bennett had seven points, six goals and an assist while Krummenacher had four points, one goal and three assists. Mitch Likins finished the game saving 14 shots.
The Jumbos will return to action tomorrow as they will face off against Middlebury College at 12 p.m. in the NESCAC Championship game at Bello Field.
--JUMBOS--
