Gillespie, Uppgren Score 6 Each in 22-15 Tufts Men's Lacrosse Win at Williams

Recap courtesy of Williams College
WILLIAMSTOWN - Seniors John Uppgren and Jake Gillespie both had six goals and two assists as the #3 Tufts men's lacrosse team held off Williams College for a 22-15 NESCAC win on Wednesday afternoon.

Ben Andreycak figured in five goals for the Jumbos

Tufts (8-1, 5-0 NESCAC) has now scored 46 goals in its last two games, both against NESCAC foes. They were 24-12 winners over Connecticut College on Saturday. Today, senior Ben Andreycak tallied three goals with two assists, classmate Garrett Clarke added three goals with an assist, and junior Zach Richman scored three times.

Tufts scored the first goal of the game on the first possession with Uppgren converting an Andreycak pass. Michael Fahey scored at 12:23 to even up the score for Williams. At 9:24 the Ephs took the lead with a goal from Jack Larousch, assisted by Tanner MacIvor.
Less than a minute later, Tufts evened up the score when Frank Hattler drove from the right wing and bounced one into the net. Less than a minute after that, Williams scored to go back ahead by one when Michael Fahey drew two defenders behind the net and then passed to an unguarded Peter Crane who rifled in a shot.

Uppgren scored in transition for Tufts to even up the score again at 3-3 with 6:57 on the clock. Then Tufts took the lead with a goal on isolation from behind the net with Andreycak scoring at 5:55. Tufts tried to extend their lead on a shot from right in front of the crease, but Miles McCarthy made a great save for Williams and started a fast-break that led to a goal for Thomas Fowler to tie the game again. With 58 seconds left in the quarter Tufts scored again on a fast-break with Andreycak tallying to take the lead going into the second quarter.

Both teams' offenses remained hot. Gillespie for Tufts scored the first goal of the quarter at 11:12. Two minutes later, he assisted a goal to Richman to go ahead by three (7-4). The Ephs scored the next two, with goals from Tanner MacIvor and Jack Lauroesch, to bring the lead down to one. Then, in the final two minutes of the quarter, Tufts scored three goals to Williams' one goal to take a 10-7 lead going into half time. Bryson Gilbert-Bono for Williams and Richman for the Jumbos traded man-up goals during the late scoring.

The Ephs scored the first goal of the second half at 12:17, when MacIvor drew a double team behind the net and found an open Lauroesch on the crease. The Jumbos answered at 11:07 with a laser shot by Clarke at 11:07. The Ephs responded with another when Lauroesch picked up a rebound on the crease and put it in the top of the net. Then Andreycak scored for Tufts, followed by Fowler for Williams, and then Gillespie answered for Tufts. Neither team had scored two consecutive goals in the period until Gillespie scored another for Tufts for a 14-10 lead. Tufts almost scored another at 3:00 when they had a one on one after a failed Williams clear, but McCarthy made two great saves and got the ball for the Ephs. Then, in transition, Fowler scored for the Ephs to bring the lead back down to three goals. With 1:52 Uppgren scored for Tufts to bring the lead back to four.

Tufts won the first face-off of the final quarter, but Ryan Hamilton caused a turnover to get the ball for the Ephs at 14:19. The following possession was a long one for Williams and it led to a goal for Fahey at 12:22. Williams won the next face-off and Crane passed to MacIvor for another goal to reduce the lead to two goals (15-13).

With 11:07 on the fourth-quarter clock, Tufts stopped the Williams run when Gillespie drew two Williams defenders and found Clarke for the goal. At 9:33, Uppgren scored another for Tufts in transition. Williams matched it on the following play, with MacIvor firing a shot, but it hit the post and rolled to Greg Plumb on the top of the crease who picked it up and fired to bring the lead down to three (17-14).

Tufts scored the next two, with goals from Gillespie and Uppgren again. Williams was able to match at 5:12 when MacIvor fired a pass to Gilbert-Bono for the score. Then it was another two-goal run for Tufts with goals from Gillespie and Uppgren again to push the lead to six goals (21-15).

Williams (5-4, 2-3 NESCAC) was led by Jack Lauroesch, who had four goals. Fowler had three while MacIvor scored two goals with three assists. McCarthy had 10 saves for the Ephs. Hamilton led the hosts with three caused turnovers while Brian Bissell grabbed seven groundballs and Riley Hoffman had five.

Tufts' Alex Salazar played also had 10 saves in the win. Kyle Howard-Johnson caused three turnovers and picked up four groundballs for the Jumbos. Defenseman Tyler Carbone was immense with seven groundballs. Senior Conor Helfrich won 19 of 29 face-offs.

The Jumbos travel to Hamilton College for NESCAC action on Saturday. Start time is 1 pm. The next game for the Ephs is Saturday when they will face Wesleyan at home.