Fans were treated to three outstanding lacrosse games this weekend down in Medford, MA and unfortunately we let one slip away in the championship on Sunday. Credit Tufts for making some big plays when it counted but at the same time it was frustrating to not be able to hold on for the win. Overall I was proud of our team and how they competed, while we didn’t play our best in either game, our guys never stopped believing in each other and left it all on the field.

The first semifinal between Tufts and Bowdoin ended in spectacular fashion with Tufts scoring the game winning goal with .4 seconds left on the clock. Bowdoin had played a great fourth quarter to tie the game up at 10 after being down by 5 with 10 minutes to play. They got a stop on the defensive end and were set to clear the ball with 12 seconds left and to hopefully attempt one last shot before overtime. Bowdoin threw the ball back to the goalie as the clock started and he heaved the ball downfield towards his offensive players in front of the Tufts goal, the ball ended up being overthrown and went directly to the Tufts goalie however. The Tufts goalie immediately fired the ball to an attackman at midfield who whipped around and threw the ball to another cutting attackman who threw a few fakes and then buried the ball in the back of the net with less than a second to go. It was an amazing finish and the right call as I had time to look back at the scoreboard and see there was still some time left on the clock after the goal was scored.

As the first game was winding down you could see the dark storm clouds approaching the field and fortunately it didn’t go to OT as they wouldn’t have gotten it in before the lightening started. At first the Tufts officials thought the storm was going to move through quickly and that things were going to clear up by 3pm for the start of our game. We even went out onto the field and went through about 15 minutes of our warm up before they sent everyone back inside. At this point I was having flashbacks to our NCAA game in Ithaca back in ‘98 where we spent some time on the bus before going back out there and taking care of the Bombers! After spending a half hour inside the Tufts field house that must double as a sauna, we decided it would be a good idea to get the guys on the bus with some Gatorade and air conditioning for the rest of the storm. Finally, we were given the all clear sign again to go warm up and got the game started a little after 5pm.

As for the game, after being up at the half, we were held scoreless in the 3rd quarter and found ourselves down 8-6 heading into the 4th. Our comeback was sparked by a great ground ball from George Curtis in which he didn’t try to make the spectacular play and just moved it to the next guy on the field. The next guy was Griff McGoldrick and he found Billy Chapman on the crease to pull us within one. We would exchange goals from there and once again it would be George who came up with a big play as he picked off a clearing attempt by Trinity and took it straight to the hoop. We added a man up goal from Tim Cahill and another from AC to give us just enough of a cushion to hold on for the win.

The game on Sunday was an instant classic as it had all the drama you could ask for in a championship game and unfortunately we came out on the losing end. Tufts continues to be one of the best transition teams I’ve ever coached against and at the end of the day, they made one more play than we did. If you had told me going into the game that we were going to outshoot Tufts by 10, out groundball them, and win 17 of 26 face offs I would feel pretty good about our chances. Of course if you told me their goalie was going to make 22 saves I wouldn’t have been excited about that number!

After being shut out in the 3rd quarter for the 2nd day in a row our guys came storming out in the fourth quarter by scoring five in a row before Tufts answered. AC would score the first and last of those goals while McGoldrick, Englert, and Giammarco would all score in transition which sent our fans and bench area into a frenzy. After Tufts tied the game at 11 our guys responded and David Hild stuck his 4th of the game to put us up by a goal with 1:01 on the clock. On the ensuing face off Billy Chapman had the ball in his stick before having it checked out and a quick timeout by Tufts. When we resumed play we were able to get a big save from Ryan Deane that deflected out of bounds and then another shot was wide and backed up by Tufts. Finally with 13 seconds left on the clock Tufts went back to the same play and their 1st team all american middie, Matt Witko blasted one by Ryan from about 12 yards out with his off hand.

In overtime we stopped Hessler on the doorstep and had an offensive possession at our end but turned the ball over only to give up the game winner in transition.

Thanks to all of you who made it out to the games this weekend, because of your support it felt like we were the home team! It was great to see so many familiar faces after the games and I can only hope that the boys made you proud to be a Panther.