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Tufts’ season only started four days ago. The Jumbos already appear to be in midseason form.
Ranked fourth in the USA Lacrosse Division III Men’s Top 20, Tufts defeated second-ranked Christopher Newport 18-10 in a non-conference game Wednesday in Medord, Mass.
The game was even more lopsided than the score indicates. The Jumbos scored eight unanswered goals and led 17-5 at one point. Their relentless full-field pressure played a prominent role in the blowout. CNU committed 24 turnovers.
Eleven different players scored for Tufts, led by Jack Regnery’s five goals.
It wasn’t the only top-10 showdown of the day. The other game proved much more competitive.
Ninth-ranked RPI staged a furious fourth-quarter rally on the road to beat seventh-ranked Middlebury 14-12.
The Panthers led for most of the game and were up 11-8 going into the fourth quarter. The Engineers erupted for three goals in a span of 58 seconds to tie the game.
It was tied at 12 with less than two minutes remaining. Erik Ojert scored his third goal of the game to give RPI the lead and faceoff specialist Angelo Venuto took the next draw all the way to the cage to score just seven seconds later.
Middlebury had multiple chances to answer, but RPI goalie Joseph Perry stopped Russell Thorndike for his 19th save and then Thorndike had a shot blocked with 20 seconds left.
Also Wednesday:
Matt DaSilva is the editor in chief of USA Lacrosse Magazine. He played LSM at Sachem (N.Y.) and for the club team at Delaware. Somewhere on the dark web resides a GIF of him getting beat for the game-winning goal in the 2002 NCLL final.