After exacting revenge against a sound Williams team in the quarterfinal round of the NESCAC tournament on Saturday, April 25, the Middlebury men’s lacrosse team was demolished by the Jumbos of perennial powerhouse and NESCAC rival Tufts University in the conference semifinals on Saturday, May 2.
Though Tufts was only the second seed in the tournament after an 8-2 regular season — considered a disappointment due to the high precedent their last few seasons have created — the reigning national champions took their play to a whole new level against the tenth-ranked Panthers, ultimately walking away with a 23-9 win.
Tufts came out of the box clearly ready to play, as four different Jumbos scored to open the contest following Connor Helfrich’s opening faceoff win and subsequent drive to the cage in the game’s first 11 seconds. Middlebury responded with a two goal run of its own, one each from workhorse Jon Broome ’16 and dynamic senior Joel Blockowicz ’15, to trim the early lead to two.
Though this trend of trading blows has worked in Middlebury’s favor in the past, Tufts was simply the better team on the day and refused to cede any more of the lead. In response, Tufts outdid their own incredible opening run by scoring the game’s next six goals.
Again tearing down trends that have dominated Middlebury’s entire season, Tufts refused to allow halftime adjustments to stop their relentless flow. After the two sides traded goals to open the third quarter, with one each coming from Tufts’ John Uppgren and Middlebury’s Henry Riehl ’18 in the first five minutes of the half, the Jumbos went on yet another back breaking run, this time to the tune of four straight.
Though Middlebury’s Kyle Soroka ’16 stopped the bleeding with a goal to end the third quarter, Tufts scored three more in the fourth. Due in large part to fantastic goalie play from Tufts’ Alex Salazar, who made 13 saves on the day, the Panthers were held to single digits for the first time since April 11 at Bates.
All in all Tufts was able to dominate Middlebury in every relevant statistical category. The Jumbos outshot the Panthers 57-46, controlled 19 of 35 faceoffs and held an 11-19 advantage in turnovers.
In other news, four Panthers earned All-NESCAC honors when the all-conference squads were announced on Thursday, April 30. Senior Cal Williams ’15 and sophomore Joey Zelkowitz ’17 were both first-team selections, while Broome and Blockowicz earned spots on the second team.
Despite the overwhelming loss to Tufts, the Panthers were one of four NESCAC teams selected to the upcoming NCAA tournament when the seeds were announced on Sunday, May 3. It is the program’s first national tournament bid since 2011, the year before the current senior class arrived on campus.
