A week after beating NESCAC foe Bates on a heroic last-second shot, men’s lacrosse carried their stellar play over to another conference tilt against Tufts, ranked sixth among Division III lacrosse teams.
The Cardinals were able to sustain the momentum they gained at the end of the Bates game, scoring right out of the gate to take a 1-0 lead over Tufts. Gabe Kelley ’11 started off the game right, scoring after just 12 seconds of action. Kelley had an outstanding overall game, finishing with two goals and five ground balls.
The Jumbos, however, soon sent an emphatic answer to Kelley’s goal, embarking on a 4-1 run that lasted for the rest of the first period and put them up 4-2 to start the second. They added another goal just a minute and a half into the second, increasing their lead to 5-2.
The Cardinals showed their resiliency, dominating the rest of the first half with two more goals that decreased the deficit to one. Wes stepped back onto the field after halftime and scored once again to tie the game at five apiece. The teams traded goals twice over the next six minutes, and the ending looked to be a close one, with the teams tied at 7-7 halfway through the third.
Then the Jumbos showed why they are ranked sixth in the country. Tufts racked up five unanswered goals in under five minutes, ending the third quarter with a 12-7 lead. The Cardinals again showed supreme resiliency in the fourth, fighting back valiantly with a 4-2 run, but it was too little, too late. Tufts left Middletown with an important 14-11 NESCAC victory, avenging a 14-10 Wesleyan win in the NESCAC championship game last May.
Although Wes did outscore the Jumbos 4-2 in the fourth, the Cardinals never got any closer than three goals. Lonny Blumenthal ’10 was the leading scorer for the Cards, netting three goals and an assist, and three players, including Kelley, John Froats ’12, and Teddy Citrin ’12, scored two goals each. Goalkeeper Mark Simmons ’13 also stood out through the first 40 minutes, accumulating 16 saves, until Tufts’ onslaught in the third forced him to the bench in favor of Grant Covington ’12.
The loss dropped the Cardinals to 5-4 (1-3 NESCAC), putting them into a seventh-place tie in the conference standings, although they are only one game out of fourth place. If history is any indication, however, the Cardinals’ current conference record is not cause for concern. The 2005 team started out 0-4 in conference play, including a 15-7 loss to Middlebury and 9-3 defeat at Bowdoin—both teams that have defeated Wesleyan thus far in the early going, Bowdoin by an 11-7 score and Middlebury by a 12-5 count—but won its last five NESCAC games, advanced to the NESCAC tournament title game, and received the first NCAA tournament bid in program history, winning at Springfield before falling to Middlebury in a quarterfinal contest. Tufts, meanwhile, continued an undefeated season, improving their record to 7-0 and 4-0 in the NESCAC.
The Cardinals will look to get back to their winning ways when they travel to Trinity this Wednesday for a 4 p.m. contest. Trinity is currently tied with Wesleyan in the NESCAC standings at 1-3 and has lost its last 12 games against the Cardinals, dating back to 2000.
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