MEDFORD -- The 10th ranked Tufts University men's lacrosse team scored five goals during a 1:41 span late in the second quarter to break open a tight game and the Jumbos went on to earn an impressive 15-4 victory over #9 Western New England College under the lights at Bello Field on Tuesday night. WNEC is ranked first in New England and Tufts is #3 this week.

Sophomore D.J. Hessler (Monkton, MD) scored five goals with three assists to lead the Jumbos, who rebounded from their first loss of the season at Trinity (11-9) on Saturday. Senior Matt Harrigan (Darnestown, MD) had his best game of the year in goal, stopping 15 shots while allowing just four goals. The Jumbos improved to 9-1 overall, matching last year's victory total.

Hessler scored twice in the first 90 seconds of the game, then added a third goal with 29 seconds remaining in the first period to give Tufts a 4-1 lead after the first 15. The Golden Bears got the next two, by senior Brodie Savoie (Wilbraham, MA) at 8:18 of the second quarter and by junior Tim Santye (Skillman, NJ) at 5:36 to make it 4-3.

That's when the Jumbos took over. Hessler scored at 3:41, sophomore Matt Witko (Chappaqua, NY) was next at 2:56, junior Mike Droesch (Setauket, NY) tallied 11 seconds later at 2:45, junior Doug DiSesa (Wynnewood, PA) netted one at 2:25 and sophomore Alec Bialosky (Moreland Hills, OH) finished the run at 2:00 even. In a snap, it was 9-3 Jumbos.

Hessler set up two goals by classmate Ryan Molloy (Setauket, NY) in the third to extend the Tufts lead to 11-3. The Golden Bears ended a scoring drought of nearly 26 minutes when senior Chuck Cartelli (Yorktown Heights, NY) hit the twine at 9:40 of the fourth. Droesch, who scored two goals with two assists and finished with a game-high eight ground balls, then initiated a 4-0 Jumbo run in the final eight minutes that was icing on the cake.

Tufts finished with a decided advantage in face-offs, with Droesch and freshman Nick Rhoads (McLean, VA) both winning seven. The other statistical categories were very even. Tufts had a 47-44 edge in shots and 41-40 in ground balls. Neither team scored on five extra-man opportunities. Junior Evan Crosby (Yarmouthport, MA) scooped up five ground balls for the Jumbos. Molloy scored three goals.

The loss was WNEC's first in seven games. Savoie, with a goal and an assist, was the lone multi-point scorer for the visitors. Senior Matt McAnneny (Wakefield, MA) had five ground balls and junior Bill Greider (South Windsor, CT) won six face-offs.

Tufts travels to Middlebury College on Saturday (Apr. 11) for a battle between NESCAC's first-place teams. The Golden Bears host a The Commonwealth Coast Conference (TCCC) game against New England College on Thursday (Apr. 9).

* * * *

Score by Period       1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
WNEC................  1  2  0  1 -  4
Tufts...............  4  5  2  4 - 15
 
Attendance: 350
 
WNEC SCORING:
GOALS: Brody Savoie 1; Tim Santye 1; Patrick White 1; Chuck Cartelli 1.
ASSISTS: Nick Jez 1; Brody Savoie 1.
 
Tufts SCORING:
GOALS: D.J. Hessler 5; Ryan Molloy 3; Mike Droesch 2; Matt Witko 1;
       Clem McNally 1; Doug DiSesa 1; Nick Rhoads 1; Alec Bialosky 1.
ASSISTS: D.J. Hessler 3; Mike Droesch 2; Zach Groen 1; Kevin Williams 1;
         Matt Witko 1.
 
SHOTS BY PERIOD       1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
WNEC................ 12 12  8 12 - 44
Tufts............... 11 16 11  9 - 47
 
GROUND BALLS BY PRD   1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
WNEC................ 11 10  9 10 - 40
Tufts............... 13 10  9  9 - 41
 
FACE-OFFS BY PRD       1     2     3     4     Total
----------------------------------------------------
WNEC................  1-6   3-8   2-3   3-6  -  9-23
Tufts...............  5-6   5-8   1-3   3-6  - 14-23
 
CLEARS BY PERIOD       1     2     3     4     Total
----------------------------------------------------
WNEC................  5-7   5-6   7-9   8-9  - 25-31
Tufts...............  5-9   4-9   7-10  9-10 - 25-38
 
EXTRA-MAN OPPS         1     2     3     4     Total
----------------------------------------------------
WNEC................  0-1   0-2   0-0   0-2  -  0-5
Tufts...............  0-1   0-1   0-1   0-2  -  0-5
 
SAVES BY PERIOD       1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
WNEC................  4  5  4  2 - 15
Tufts...............  4  5  4  2 - 15
 
PENALTIES - WNEC 5/4:00; Tufts 6/4:00.

2009-04-08