MEDFORD, MA (April 26, 2025) -- The top-ranked and No. 1 seed Tufts University men's lacrosse team used a 13-0 run through 12 minutes of the second and third quarters to run away from No. 8 seed Williams College for an 20-11 win in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) quarterfinals on Bello Field Saturday afternoon.
The Jumbos (16-0) squad will now take on either fifth-seed Middlebury College or sixth-seed Bates College next Saturday at noon in the NESCAC semifinals on Bello Field. The two remaining teams, one of which will be Bowdoin College, will play in the other semifinal at 3 p.m. on Bello Field. The title game will be Sunday, May 4 at noon with the last two remaining squads.
Tufts held most of the play in the first quarter and finally got on the board with 5:44 to play in the frame after
Max Ettinghausen netted his 40th goal of the season off of an assist from
Brooks Hauser.
Beau Keough and
Garrett Kelly would each net unassisted tallies to finish the scoring in the first quarter, as the Jumbos took a 3-0 advantage into the second frame.
Sophomore
Will Emsing potted his 18th of the season to start the second quarter, but Williams responded with three straight scores including two from Jesse Shapiro to pull the Ephs (7-9) to within one with 6:06 to play in the opening half. That's when the Jumbos offense would put the hammer down, as Tufts scored six times over the final 5:03 of the second quarter, including two from junior
Jack Regnery to end the half with his 49th and 50th of the season to make it 10-3 at the break.
The run would continue into the second half, as Tufts scored seven goals in the first seven minutes of the third quarter to make it 17-3. In the third-quarter spurt, Regnery had three more before exiting the game for the duration. Williams would slowly creep back into the game with a 6-0 run late in the third quarter and into the fourth frame, but sophomore LSM
Logan Lee tallied his first of the season with 2:38 to go to put a cap on the win for Tufts.
The victory put Tufts into the NESCAC semifinals for the 18th time in program history, while the Jumbos extended their NCAA-leading win streak to 21 games. Tufts is in search of its conference-leading 13th NESCAC crown next weekend.
Regnery finished with a game-high seven points on five goals and two assists, needing just nine shots on goal to score five times. He added four grounders as well. Junior
Brooks Hauser collected six points on three goals and three assists, while
Charlie Tagliaferri had one goal and three assists for four points. Ettinghausen upped his season goal tally to 43 with four more on Saturday, and Emsing found the netting three times as well.
The Jumbos dominated the "X" all game, as junior face-off
Victor Salcedo was a perfect 13-for-13 with a team-high 10 ground balls. Senior
Parker Merril was an equally impressive 10-for-13 with eight loose balls, and sophomore
Lucas De la Paz won both of his face-offs as well. Tufts as a team was 28-for-35 for the game.
Senior
Joey Waldbaum contributed three caused turnovers, also picking up two grounders, and
Ben Clarke and
Michael Ayers each had three ground balls apiece.
Cam Delcristo and
Davis Owens each contributed two ground balls and a caused turnover in the victory.
Tufts was able to get all five goalkeepers into the game Saturday, as
Conner Garzone was once again stellar with nine saves and only three goals allowed in 36:33 of action.
Will Anderson also stopped two shots in just over four minutes in the cage.
The Jumbos earned a 63-41 edge in shots on Saturday, while also winning the ground ball battle 53-32.
Harrison Cross tallied four goals for the Ephs, and Shapiro finished with three goals and an assist. Senior Matt Wetmore made 18 saves in cage for Williams as well.
Final pairings for next Saturday's semifinals will be announced following Sunday's last quarterfinal match-up with No. 3 Wesleyan University and No. 6 Bates College.
--JUMBOS--
