Jumbos and Jeffs Prepare for Rematch

As published in the March 11 edition of "The Tufts Daily."
On Saturday at 1 p.m., Tufts' national No. 1 men's lacrosse team will take to Bello Field and duke it out with Amherst in a rematch of the 2010 season-opener, in which the Jumbos dismantled the host Lord Jeffs 18-8. This year, on home turf, Tufts hopes to kick off the season with a repeat performance.

But standing in the Jumbos' way is a new Amherst coach and a squad determined to avenge last year's blowout. Jon Thompson — former head coach for Colby's program — has taken the helm for the maturing Jeffs, while Tufts alum Evan Crosby (LA '10), a defender from 2010's national championship team, joins Thompson to assist from an unfamiliar bench.

 Last spring, the Jeffs graduated their highest goal-scorer in attackman Thomas McDonnell (31 goals) and will look to last season's top point-scorers, junior midfielder Alex Fox (26 goals, 10 assists) and classmate and co-captain Evan Redwood, an offensive midfielder who recorded 20 goals and 16 assists, to match Fox's 36 points.

    

Last season, the Jeffs posted a solid 5-4 NESCAC record, and topped some of the conference's best teams, including Bowdoin. They struggled, however, in their March 13 matchup with Tufts. Although Fox and Redwood helped the Jeffs to an early 2-0 lead, the Jumbos went on to score eight straight goals in the first period.

The Jumbos, however, do not want to focus on last year's result, and prefer to set their sights on Saturday's game. Senior quad-captain attackman Ryan Molloy pointed out that despite last year's score, the Jumbos cannot take Amherst for granted.


"Last year we were just really fired up to get out there," he said. "In that game they had a few key injuries and they're a great team so they're definitely going to be more competitive this year and we have to be ready for that."

 This year, Amherst senior defender Parker Holcomb may assist junior Brian McFeely at the faceoff circle; *Holcomb led the team with 49 ground balls. Additionally, senior captain defender Gabe Mann must rally the Jeffs' defensive unit to face the NESCAC's most prolific offense.

While Amherst returns with the majority of its strongest starters, the Jumbos could have an advantage when it comes to depth. At every position, Tufts has experienced players who did not start in '10 but recorded impressive figures and made large contributions outside the record-books, including sophomore defensive midfielder Sam Diss, who played in every game last season.

"This year we really have to work on getting the chemistry going between the team and then I think we'll be a really solid defense," Diss said. "[Sophomore John] Heard played a lot last year and this year we also have [sophomore Div. I transfer] Matt Callahan. The guys who got playing time last year really got a head start coming into the season and that'll really help us come together and get things going."

Senior attackman Brian Donovan, who scored two goals in last year's win over Amherst, is recovering from knee surgery and will not play this Saturday, but explained that the young Jumbos' experience at all positions gives Tufts a large advantage.

"The best thing about our depth is that we can produce some really good mismatches on the offense," Donovan said. "Because we're so deep we can really go to anybody and target the weakest defender on Amherst and go there and not just rely on D.J. and Molloy."

 Amherst's Matt Cahn, a sophomore defender who played in 11 of the Jeffs' 14 games in 2010, gained substantial minutes, and will be a valuable asset to Thompson. Other Amherst defenders, however, excluding Holcomb and Mann, have significantly less collegiate experience than Tufts' defensemen — most notably pre-season All-American long-stick midfielder and senior quad-captain Alec Bialosky.

The Jeffs' veteran defenders will have to step up against Tufts' menacing lineup to prevent another rattling defeat. The Jumbos' well-rounded cast of scoring threats could both distract the Jeffs and spread their defense vulnerably thin.

"Offensively we're really just trying to diagnose the defense early," Donovan said. "We're really much more worried as a team about our Tufts offense rather than the Amherst defense. We're gonna try to go all out and just find the back of the net."

The No. 1 Jumbos certainly have the upper hand when it comes to firepower and experience, but Amherst's accomplished midfield and attack outfits proved in later games last season that they can hit a corner or two, as well.

"We know that we're getting their best game and they know that they're getting our best game so we're just trying to prepare for that," junior attackman Sean Kirwan said. "We're going to go out there like any other game to try to get to that 1-0."