As reported over the weekend, we pulled one out against a young but very talented Amherst squad on Saturday but couldn't make up for a lousy 3rd quarter on Sunday against the Jumbos.

On Saturday we got out to a fast start against the Jeffs and took an 8-3 lead into halftime. A few man up and 6v6 goals gave us the early lead until we got our transition game going in the 2nd quarter and stuck three straight by Tim Giarrusso, Jon Broome, and then Joel Blockowicz. Credit Amherst for battling back in the 3rd, their goalie made some nice saves and we didn't finish on a couple of easy ones that would have loosened us up a bit. We took 15 shots in the quarter but just couldn't get one to go; they ended up outscoring us 4-0 in the quarter to close it to 8-7. Then off the opening face-off of the 4th quarter they came right down and scored on a fast break to tie the game at 8. The good news was there was never any sense of panic on our sideline or from our players, we came up with a few stops and eventually Andrew Metros found Jon Broome in transition to give us the lead for good. Scott Redmond would add another off an assist from Metros to make it a 10-8 final. The game ball went to junior George Curtis who has really elevated his game over the past few weeks. George is primarily a defensive midfielder but ended up scoring our first goal of the game and then had a great assist to Jon Broome later in the first quarter. He also came up with some big ground balls and had a pretty memorable defensive play as he stood up Amherst's biggest offensive middie on one possession by doing his job and getting up on his strong hand. Overall it was a gutsy NESCAC road win against a team we haven't beaten since our NESCAC playoff game against them back in 2010.

After spending the night in Worcester we took on the Jumbos in Medford on Sunday afternoon in front of a good sized crowd, we love getting a chance to play down in Boston with all the families and alums that are able to make it to the game. If you show up to one of our Tufts games as a spectator, they never disappoint plenty of action and you can count on a few big runs by either team. As a coach, I love the way Tufts plays and look forward to our games with them each year.

We came out firing and were helped out by a few big saves from Nate early on in the game. We jumped out to a 4-1 lead before they scored with no time left on the clock to end the quarter; we lacked a little poise to end the quarter and will certainly learn from that experience. After Tufts tied it up at 4 we scored three of the next four goals to take a 7-5 lead. At that point we were playing with confidence, getting stops on the defensive end, and generating some great looks on offense. Then all of a sudden we lost our composure and Tufts scored two quick ones to close the half and make it 7-7. They took it to us to start the 2nd half by scoring 7 of the next 8 goals as we played about as small as you could imagine during that stretch and ended up being down 14-8 with just under 10 minutes to play. Less than a minute later we took advantage of being a man up with a goal from Scott Redmond and started a five goal run that ended with a Stew Kerr blast with 24 seconds remaining on the clock cutting it to 14-13. Unfortunately we weren't able to come up with the draw and Tufts ran out the clock. After our disastrous 3rd quarter, I was proud of the way our guys competed in the 4th and put ourselves in a position to steal one at the end. Make no mistake, while Tufts is now 8-2 on the year, their only two losses both came by a goal to Conn and Hamilton when 27 of their players were suspended for the first two games of the year. By my count, all 14 of their goals and all 7 of their assists against us on Sunday came from guys that didn't play against Conn or Hamilton in their losses; this is a very talented and obviously deep Tufts team.

Coming out of the weekend there's plenty to be excited about with our squad this year. We have some playmakers on defense that we're trying to get involved in our transition game going forward. We have a big time goalie and hopefully a team that believes they can play with anyone in the country. Another bright spot on the weekend was the play of senior Andrew Metros. Andrew is a gifted athlete and when he's on, he's about as dangerous a player as you'll find in the middle of the field. He put a lot of pressure on the Amherst and Tufts defenses this past weekend and hope he'll continue to play with that confidence as we hit the home stretch.

Time to get ready for the Bantams as they'll be in town on Saturday and naturally, are playing their best lacrosse of the season. This is a classic case where you shouldn't let the record of the team fool you; they're 4-7 on the season but just beat Bowdoin and Colby this past weekend and have some very good players at both ends of the field. It looks like they're figuring some things out and will be a handful this weekend. We wouldn't expect it or want it to be any other way. Wish us luck!