MEDFORD, MA (May 7, 2023) -- The No. 1 ranked Tufts University men's lacrosse team advances to the NCAA National Championship game next Sunday, May 28, after they defeat RIT 15-11 at Bello Field on Sunday afternoon in the NCAA Semifinals.
This was Tufts and RIT's sixth meeting in the "Final Four" and the eighth overall meeting in the NCAA Tournament between the two schools. Tufts had won three "Final Four" games and the Tigers twice. Overall, the Jumbos now lead the series 5-3 and are now 6-3 in "Final Four" games.
Tufts (22-0) will look to win its fourth national championship as a program when they take on No. 2 Salisbury University in Philadelphia at Lincoln Financial Field, home of the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles. Salisbury defeated Christopher Newport in the other NCAA "Final Four" matchup. This is the Jumbos' first trip to the NCAA National Championship game since 2016 when they lost to Salisbury 14-13 at Lincoln Financial Field. Tufts is 3-2 all-time in National Championship games with the wins coming in 2010, 2014, and 2015.
The visitors got the scoring started in the contest as Seth Grottenthaler cut through the defense and made it 1-0 at 13:06 of the game. After a failed Tigers clear,
Tommy Swank tied the game at 1-1 followed by a
Jack Regnery goal to give the Jumbos a 2-1 lead. RIT tied the game back up, but
Jack Boyden regained the Jumbos lead as
Kevin Christmas found him. Again, the Tigers tied the game at 3 and Tufts regained its lead when Regnery found Christmas for the 4-3 lead. The game would be tied at 4 going to the second quarter following another goal by RIT.
The defenses on both teams stood strong in the second quarter as it would be scoreless for nearly 10 minutes before
Charlie Tagliaferri broke the deadlock and gave Tufts the 5-4 lead with 5:31 remaining before halftime. During the defensive scoreless streak,
Kyle Adelmann forced two turnovers while
George Panagopoulos forced another.
Tufts' lead grew to 8-4 as they scored three goals in 25 seconds as Adelmann got it started with his second goal of the season by bringing the ball up on the clear and finding the back of the net. After a
Victor Salcedo faceoff win, Swank scored his second of the game to bring the Jumbo lead to 7-4 and then
Cam Delcristo scooped up the ground ball of a
Mason Kohn faceoff win and gave the Jumbos the 8-4 lead going to halftime. After the four-goal flurry, the defense continued to lock down RIT as they caused two more turnovers and shut them out allowing just two shots all quarter.
Swank's third and fourth goals of the game opened a six-goal lead for the Jumbos as his third goal was his 70th this season. In total the Jumbo defense held the Tigers offense scoreless for 24 minutes and 25 seconds before Luke Pilcher made it a five-goal game. Then off the ensuing faceoff win by Kohn, he found Boyden streaking open after a nice back-cut and Boyden finished it for an 11-5 lead. Grottenthaler scored his second off the game as the fifth goal from Swank came on the man-up with the assist to Boyden regained the Jumbos six goal lead. Christmas' goal with 4:20 left in the third gave Tufts its biggest lead at 13-6 with the Tigers then scoring the last two goals of the quarter to close the gap to five going to the final quarter.
The fourth quarter belonged to Tufts goalie
Conner Garzone as he made seven of his 13 saves in the final quarter to stifle any comeback bid by the Tigers. First it was
Ethan O'Neill who scored off a Panagopoulos assist to make it 14-8. Then with Tufts on the man-down, Garzone made back-to-back stops in succession on the doorstep of the crease denying the Tigers. RIT would score three of the final four goals as Boyden's third of the game sealed the game with 37 seconds left and secured the Jumbos place in the NCAA Division III National Championship game.
Swank scored five goals in the game while Boyden finished with four points, three goals and an assist. His goal in the first quarter broke the single-season points record at Tufts, which
Mac Bredahl set last year at 150. He also owns the record for most assists in a season with 86 assists this season.
Christmas also had four points, two goals and two assists, while O'Neil and Regnery both added a goal and an assist. Tagliaferri, Delcristo, and Adelmann all scored with
Louis Timmins, Kohn, and Panagopoulos having assists.
Michael Ayers had another stellar defensive game as he caused three turnovers and scooped up three ground balls.
Joey Waldbaum, Adelmann, and
Kristian Rosario all forced two turnovers.
Kohn dominated at the face-off "X," going 14-of-19 with 10 ground balls for the Jumbos, with Salcedo going 5-of-11 with two ground balls. Garzone made 13 saves in net to earn the win.
Tufts outshot the visitors 61-39 on the afternoon, while winning 19 faceoffs. Tufts picked up 40 ground balls during the game. The Jumbos were also 24-26 on clears and caused 11 turnovers.
For the Tigers, Grottenthaler finished with three goals and an assist for four points while Tj Hendricks scored two goals. Will Sterrett made 15 saves in net.
--JUMBOS--
