Box Score MEDFORD - For the fifth time in the last six years, the Tufts Men's Lacrosse team advanced to the NCAA Championship semi-finals after posting a 17-10 Quarterfinal victory over Amherst College Wednesday afternoon at Bello Field.
Ten different Jumbos scored goals led by three each from juniors John Uppgren and Garrett Clarke as Tufts improved to 19-2 overall. They will travel to RIT for the NCAA semi-finals on Sunday. The game time has not been announced. The Tigers were 18-7 winners against Cortland in the NCAA Quarterfinals today.
Amherst, led today by three goals and an assist from juniors Dylan Park and Michael Litner, ended its season at 18-3. The Lord Jeffs were playing in their first-ever NCAA Quarterfinal.
Visiting Amherst had the upper hand early as goals by junior Kane Haffey and Litner in the first three minutes gave them a 2-0 lead. Tufts would get the next two, by junior Ben Andreycak and Uppgren, but Amherst would regain a 3-2 lead when sophomore Matt Killian tallied with 5:36 on the clock.
From there, the Jumbos would initiate a game-changing run. The hosts scored the next seven goals, including four in the final 4:15 of the first quarter to lead 6-3 after one. They pushed the margin to 9-3 by netting the first three goals of the second period. The seven-goal run included two by Clarke and one from sophomore defenseman Tyler Olney.
Amherst went over 17 minutes without scoring before Park closed the half with a man-up goal at 3:08 making it 9-4 Jumbos at intermission.
The Lord Jeffs kept pace for most of the third quarter after Tufts scored twice early. Goals by senior Cole Bailey and Uppgren had the Jumbos leading 11-4, but Amherst got back within five as Park scored and assisted a Litner goal. However, senior Peter Gill's goal for Tufts with just 11 seconds left in the quarter gave the Jumbos a 12-6 advantage heading into the fourth.
Tufts had four of the first five goals in the fourth to take a commanding 16-7 lead. Junior Kyle Howard-Johnson scored an man-advantage goal and assisted another during this span and Gill had two helpers. Amherst answered by talliying the next three, with a goal and assist from Litner, but was still down 16-10 with 2:18 remaining. Tufts junior Jake Gillespie finished the scoring with 34 seconds left on the clock.
Despite 27 goals scored, the goalie play was good as junior Alex Salazar made 16 saves for Tufts and sophomore Cody Tranbarger finished with 18 for Amherst. Senior Cem Kalkavan recorded three caused turnovers and five ground balls defensively for the Jumbos, as Amherst's 25 turnovers were a key in the game. Junior Rob Butko caused a turnover and had three groundballs for the Lord Jeffs.
Gill finished with two goals and two assists for Tufts, which earned a slim 50-46 advantage in shots. Andreycak and Gillespie both scored twice. Junior Conor Helfrich won 16 of 27 face-offs for Tufts. Bailey had a goal, two assists and six groundballs in the game.
Moroney with three assists and Haffey with a goal and two assists added to the Amherst offense. Junior Charlie Gill finished with a goal and an assist with four groundballs.
The Jumbos won the groundball game 50-31.
This was the third meeting of the season between the Jumbos and Lord Jeffs. During the NESCAC season, Amherst defeated Tufts 12-6 on April 18 and eventually earned the #1 seed in the conference championship. However, Tufts returned to Amherst on May 3 and routed the Lord Jeffs 16-4 in the NESCAC title game. Today's win gives Tufts the season series over their conference rivals.
Tufts will play RIT for the fifth straight year in the NCAA Tournament. It will be the third time the teams have met in the semi-finals, all at RIT. The Jumbos won both of the previous semi-final games, 16-12 in 2011 and 21-11 last season. The teams have split a pair of NCAA Quarterfinal meetings, with Tufts winning 15-13 in 2012 and RIT taking a 14-5 final in 2013.
Game Photos by Kelvin Ma / Tufts
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