CAMBRIDGE, MA (March 10, 2026) -- First-year attack
Eleanor Helm scored five times and dished out two assists, helping the No. 3 Tufts University women's lacrosse team to a 17-6 bounce-back win over host MIT in non-conference action from Jack Berry Field Tuesday.
The Jumbos and Engineers (1-2) played a seemingly close game for three of the four quarters, but the difference was the 7-0 split in the second quarter that turned the game from a 4-2 Tufts lead after 15 minutes to an 11-2 lead at the intermission.
Helm scored the first two goals of the game, both off helpers from junior
Schuyler Lloyd, and then set up sophomore
Neta Leschly to make it 3-0 after less than three minutes of the opening stanza. MIT would settle in as it scored two of the next three goals to make it 4-2 heading to the second quarter.
The second quarter started like the first, as Helm netted her third of the day to start the seven-goal barrage in the frame. Helm and junior
Sophia Claps each scored twice during the run, while senior
Allie Zorn had a goal and an assist to put the Jumbos up by nine at the break.
MIT netted the opening goal of the second half, but Zorn started a 4-0 spurt capped by a goal from first-year
Aynalie Charron to make it 15-3. Charron and classmate
Sonja Keneally each scored unassisted goals down the stretch to help aid in the win .
Tufts was efficient with its 38 shots on the day, putting 30 on cage while turning the ball over just eight times in the game. The Jumbos were successful on all but one of their 19 clears while holding clear advantages in ground balls (17-9) and draw controls (16-8).
Helm's seven points were the most in a game for a first-year player since
Margie Carden had seven points in a pair of games as a first-year back in 2022. She needed just six shots to get her five goals, while also picking up a ground ball and caused turnover a well.
Claps had three goals as well for the Jumbos, while Lloyd posted three assists. Zorn scored twice to go with her one assist and two ground balls, while Leschly and first-year
Marlo Stuart each had a goal and an assist. Stuart also picked up four draw controls.
Sophomore
Ava Olender and senior
Elsa Schutt both recorded four draw controls, while first-year defender
Sophie Haas had two ground balls and an caused turnover. Sophomore
Devon Chipman made five stops while allowing only two goals in the first half, while
Sophie Powless came in for the second half to make five saves as well.
Jullian Butler had two goals and two assists to lead MIT, while Pauline Vien had 18 saves in the game.
Tufts will now return home for its first weekend home game of the season, hosting No. 18 University of Chicago on Bello Field Sunday, March 15 at 11 a.m.
--JUMBOS--
