Box Score

MEDFORD, MA – A historic season for the Union men's lacrosse team (13-5, 4-2 Liberty League) came to an end this afternoon, as the Dutchmen fell 6-5 to defending national champion Tufts (16-2, 8-2 NESCAC) in the second round of the Division III NCAA Men's Lacrosse Tournament at Bello Field.

 

Junior attack Ted McKenna scored twice for the Dutchmen, and junior goaltender Sean Aaron made 19 stops to lead Union.

 

Tufts' leading scorer Sean Kirwan had two goals and an assist and freshman goaltender Patton Watkins made 18 saves for the host Jumbos.

 

The Dutchmen held Tufts, which came into the contest averaging 13.29 goals per game, to their lowest goal total of the season, but could not solve Watkins on the other end of the field. Union outshot Tufts 44-35 for the contest and held a 32-31 advantage on ground balls. The Jumbos held an 8-6 advantage on faceoffs.

 

Trailing 6-5 in the final minute of play, the Dutchmen had a chance to tie the game, but shots from senior attack Brendan Kinnane and freshman midfielder Jonathan Andrews sailed wide before Tufts regained possession and ran out the clock.

 

Union controlled the pace of the play from the outset, outshooting Tufts 26-18 and owning a 15-10 advantage on groundballs in the first half. The Jumbos recorded three special teams goals, two man-down goals and one man-up goal to help the hosts take a 4-3 lead heading into the half.

 

Tufts' Alec Bialosky opened the scoring with a man down goal at 13:22 of the first quarter, but Union rallied for two quick goals from Nate Greenberg and Ted McKenna to take a 2-1 lead. Greenberg scored at 12:02 on a low shot, and McKenna added his first at 10:38, taking a pass from freshman midfielder Jonathan Andrews and beating Watkins high.

 

The Jumbos converted on a man-up opportunity at 1:24, as Kirwan scored to tie the game at 2-2 after one quarter of play.

 

Tufts, which entered the game with just one man-down goal on the year, added its second of the game with 6:01 to play in the second half, as Sam Diss split the Union defense to put Tufts up 3-2. Union's Derek Mayer scored just under a minute later at 5:03 to tie the game at 3-3, before Tufts' Matt Witko beat Aaron low with 2:30 to give the Jumbos the lead heading into halftime.

 

With both defenses clamping down in the second half, the Tufts' Kirwan scored with 0.7 seconds left in the third quarter on a broken play to give the Jumbos a 5-3 lead heading into the final frame.  

 

Union's Rob Santangelo scored at 13:59 of the fourth quarter on a wide angle shot to cut Tufts' lead to one. The Dutchmen had several chances to even the score, but Tufts scored the game's next goal, as Kirwan fed Ryan Molloy on the break, who fired the ball past Aaron with 9:01 remaining in the fourth quarter.

 

McKenna scored his second of the game and team-leading 31^st of the season with 2:05 to play, but the Dutchmen were unable to score the equalizer in the game's final moments.

 

Tufts advances to the quarterfinals and will play the winner of the Cortland State-Stevens Institute of Technology game which is set to begin tonight at 6:00 p.m.