HOBOKEN, NJ (March 22, 2025) -- The No. 1 Tufts University men's lacrosse squad was forced to play catch-up for the fourth straight game, but that's just what the Jumbos did as they knocked off No. 12 Stevens 9-6 in non-conference play from DeBaun Athletic Complex.
Saturday's game marked the fourth consecutive contest that the Jumbos trailed at halftime, but this time it was the defensive unit's outstanding play that helped fuel the rally.
Tufts allowed five first-quarter goals but after the opening 15 minutes, things swung completely towards the Jumbos as the host Ducks scored just once over the final three frames. In the second, senior
Max Ettinghausen got the offense going with an unassisted score a game after posting his 100th goal of his career on the game-winner against Christopher Newport Thursday.
Junior
Brooks Hauser tallied at the 6:20 mark of the second quarter to make it 5-2, and junior
Beau Keough netted his first of the game with three minutes left in the half to send the game to halftime with the Ducks up 5-3. Tufts forced six Stevens' turnovers in the second quarter.
The defense continued to stifle the Ducks in the third quarter, as
Conner Garzone made four saves in the first five minutes of the period to keep the Tufts' deficit at two. Minutes later, senior
Charlie Tagliaferri made it 5-4 to pull to within one and junior LSM
Ben Frisoli tied the game at five with an unassisted score.
Tagliaferri netted a man-up goal with just under five minutes to play to give the Jumbos their first lead of the day, and Ettinghausen netted another from Tagliaferri 47 seconds later to push the Tufts' lead to 7-5.
In the fourth quarter,
Garrett Kelly finished the eight-goal run for Tufts with 11:59 to play in regulation with an unassisted score. Stevens' finally got back on the board as is ended a 36:10 scoreless stretch with just under 10 minutes to play on a Tommy Robertozzi goal.
Garzone would stop five shots down the stretch for the Jumbos, and Kelly added another score for insurance to seal the win. The nine goals were the fewest in a game since 2019, while it was the first time Tufts won a game with single-digit goals since knocking off Stevenson University March 19, 2013 in a 7-6 win.
The 15 total goals were also the fewest in a Tufts game since that Stevenson win over 12 years ago. Tufts posted a 50-40 shot edge on Saturday, while also finishing 22-of-23 on clears and winning the ground-ball battle, 45-29.
Garzone finished with 13 saves, and has now stopped 56.1 percent of his shots this season. Senior
Michael Ayers was dominant defensively with three caused turnovers and six grounders, while
Joey Waldbaum also added four loose balls.
Junior
Harrison Stockdale tallied three ground balls, and Ettinghausen finished with four ground balls in addition to his three points on two goals and an assist. Tagliaferri had two goals and an assist and two ground balls as well for Tufts. At the "X,"
Parker Merril was 6-for-9 with five ground balls, and
Victor Salcedo won seven of his nine draws as he tallied five grounders as well.
Matthew Pergola had two goals for the Ducks (5-3), while Cooper Foote stopped 17 shots for Stevens in the loss.
Tufts (6-0) will look to keep its unbeaten streak alive Tuesday afternoon on the road, heading to Schenectady, NY for a battle with Union College in non-conference play.
--JUMBOS--
