MEDFORD, MA (May 16, 2024) -- The No. 8 Tufts University men's lacrosse team will continue its run through the 2024 NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse Tournament this upcoming weekend, traveling to Sea Gull Stadium on the campus of Salisbury University to take on St. John Fisher University in the tournament quarterfinals. The Jumbos are coming off a pair of big wins last weekend, knocking off Illinois Wesleyan 27-9 before besting Stevenson University 27-7. SJFU advanced to the NCAA Quarterfinals after knocking off host No. 7 Wesleyan University 15-13 and No. 5 St. Lawrence University 11-10.
Game Details
NCAA Tournament Website -
Bracket
Schedule:
Saturday, May 18
No. 1 Salisbury Univ. (21-0) vs. No. 16 Washington & Lee Univ. (15-5) - 4:30 p.m.
No. 8 Tufts (15-3) vs. RV St. John Fisher (14-7) - 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, May 19
Game 1 Winner vs. Game 2 Winner - 7:30 p.m.
Location: Salisbury, MD - Sea Gull Stadium -
Directions
Live Coverage:
LIVE STATS -
LIVE VIDEO
Against The Field
The Jumbos have experience playing two of the three teams coming to Salisbury this weekend, having battled St. John Fisher twice prior to this weekend while taking on the Sea Gulls six previous times. Tufts played St. John Fisher back in 2021 in the NCAA Second Round, earning a 19-15 win over the Cardinals while also knocking SJFU off in 2022 with a 22-8 win on Bello Field. Saturday's meeting will be the first not in Medford. Tufts has played Salisbury six times prior to this weekend, with five of the six coming in a national title game. The only other game that wasn't for the national crown was at RIT back in May of 2022, a 17-10 Tufts' win. Tufts and Salisbury are tied in the series 3-3, alternating wins and losses, with the last meeting coming last Memorial Day weekend in Philadelphia, a 17-12 win by the Gulls for the 2023 title. The Jumbos have never played W&L before.
Salisbury and Washington & Lee are meeting for the 10th time this weekend, with SU holding a 6-3 edge in the series. W&L fell to Salisbury 12-9 last year in the NCAA quarterfinals, while WLU's last win over Salisbury came in 2013, a 7-6 win in Sea Gull Stadium. St. John Fisher hasn't played Washington & Lee or Salisbury prior to this weekend.
A Look At The Jumbos (15-3)
Tufts looks comfortable on the road last weekend in the NCAA First and Second Rounds, bouncing back nicely from a 14-13 loss in the NESCAC quarterfinals to Hamilton College. Prior to that loss to the Continentals, Tufts had won five straight contests and look to keep this next win streak going this weekend. So far this NCAA Tournament, Tufts has scored the most goals and is firing the most shots per game, while the Jumbos have won 70 percent at the "X" through two games.
Through the entire season, Tufts' offense ranks second in the nation with 18.89 goals per game, while its scoring margin of 7.50 goals nightly is also first in the NESCAC and ninth in Division III. The Jumbos are currently ranked No. 3 in the country in ground balls per game with 47.39, and their clearing percentage of 90 percent is fourth-best in the country. Face-off man
Parker Merril has been strong this season, winning 62.6 percent on the ground to rank No. 37 in the country. Face-off partner
Victor Salcedo has also been strong, winning 58.9 percent of his bouts.
Offensively, when the Jumbos get to 16 goals for a game they are a perfect 14-0 on the season while sophomore
Jack Regnery became just the eighth player to eclipse 100 points for a season as he now has 102 after his huge weekend against IWU and Stevenson. Regnery has 68 goals and 34 assists this season, as he ranks 12th in the country in points per game with 5.72, while
Max Ettinghausen also has scored 51 goals to go with 20 assists.
Brooks Hauser has netted 44 goals while
Charlie Tagliaferri and
Garrett Kelly has found the net from the midfield 33 and 32 times, respectively.
Defensively,
Joey Waldbaum leads the team with 28 caused turnovers and his 65 ground balls are the most from a player not taking face-offs.
Ben Frisoli also has 19 caused turnovers and 41 ground balls, while
Michael Ayers returned to action last weekend and has 42 grounders and 18 caused turnovers in 14 starts.
George Panagopoulos has started every game on defense for Tufts, picking up 25 loose balls, and
Cam Delcristo also has 11 tallies from his shortie spot. Connor Garzone is stopping 52 percent of this shots in cage for Tufts.
Head coach
Casey D'Annolfo is trying to get back to the NCAA Championships game for the second straight season, as his career winning percentage of 86.9 percent is third-best in Division III among active coaches.
St. John Fisher's File
The Cardinals are riding high after last weekend's pair of wins over Top 10 foes in Wesleyan and St. Lawrence University. St. John Fisher has won five straight games coming into this weekend, claiming the Empire 8 crown with a 20-8 win over Nazareth University back on May 4. The thing that has lifted the Cardinals over the last few weeks is the play from its defensive unit, as they have allowed less than 10 goals per game over their five-game win streak.
Looking at the Cardinals, they are 14-1 this season when scoring 12 or more goals while going 0-6 when being held to just 10 or more scores. The offensive unit has been led by Matthew Kemmis and his 85 points on 55 goals and 30 assists. The Cardinals have a deep attack with six players with 20 or more goals, as Timmy Salit, Sean Donaldson and Brady Mason all have 31 goals on the year. Jordan Leuze has tallied 24 goals to go with 26 assists as well, and Ethan Kesselring has notched 28 strikes as well.
The face-off duo of Logan Grom and Aidan Smith have won 53 percent of their face-offs, combining for 282 wins on the year, while Ben Hammond is stopping 53.9 percent of the shots on goal this year. Jack Cornell has a team-high 48 caused turnovers, picking up 64 ground balls.
Head coach Dave Dobbins is in his seventh season with the Cardinals, posting an 84-35 record at the helm.
Gulls & Generals
Salisbury is the country's only remaining undefeated team coming into the weekend, going 21-0 so far this season including a 13-0 record at home in Sea Gull Stadium. In fact, Salisbury hasn't lost on its home turf since falling to Cabrini University back on May 19, 2019. The streak currently sits at 57 straight games. Salisbury comes into the weekend ranked first in clearing percentage and ground balls, while also leading the nation in scoring margin and scoring offense, turnovers per game and points.
Graduate student Jude Brown recently broke the all-time NCAA record for assists in a career while coming into the game with 120 points on 40 goals and 80 helpers. The offense around Brown isn't too shabby, as Brice Bromwell has 53 goals and 31 assists, and Luke Nestor has tallied 56 goals as well. Jack Dowd has 44 strikes, and Riley Strub and Ty Keaton each had 41 goals as well. John DeFazio has a team-high 51 caused turnovers to go with 92 ground balls, while Brice Stevenson and Reaan McNemar have also each started all 21 games on defense for the Gulls. Blake Malamphy has posted a 65.8 percent face-off win rate, scooping up 182 ground balls on the year. Goalkeeper Nicholas Ransom leads the country in goals against average with 6.52, stopping 57 percent of shots.
The Generals are coming off wins last weekend against Lake Forest College and the University of Lynchburg, and have rebounded from dropping two straight coming into the NCAA Tournament. Washington & Lee comes into the week with the 15th-best scoring offense in the nation, tallying over 16 goals per game while the Generals are also top 15 in assists, ground balls, points and scoring margin. ODAC Rookie of the Year Tyler Spano has been strong at the "X," as he has won 66.8 percent of his draws while adding nearly nine ground balls per game. Hillis Burns leads the team with 3.94 points per game, while James Haley has 41 goals and 34 assists for 75 points. Alex Brown is the finisher in the offensive set-up, tallying 70 goals to just three assists.
Chris Datz and Jed Heald each have 25 caused turnovers on the season, while Matthew Ezzell also has 16 caused turnovers this year. Head coach Gene McCabe is in his 18th season with the Generals, winning 67.8 percent of his games en route to a 219-104 record in Lexington.
Up North
The other NCAA Sectional this weekend will be hosted at No. 3 RIT, with the Tigers taking on Christopher Newport while NESCAC foes Middlebury College and Bowdoin College will square off in the other quarterfinal at RIT this weekend. The remaining two teams after this weekend will play May 26 at 1 p.m. inside Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, PA.
--JUMBOS--
