The Panther men's lacrosse team ran into a buzz saw in the NESCAC Semifinals, as sixth-ranked Tufts jumped out to a 4-0 lead and never looked back on its way to the 23-9 win. Tenth-ranked Middlebury falls to 12-5 with the loss and will hope for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Jumbos (15-2) will meet Amherst in the championship game on Sunday.

Alex Salazar was stellar between the pipes for the Jumbos, recording many high-difficulty saves en route to making eight saves on 13 shots. John Uppgren had a game high seven points for the Jumbos, while Kyle Soroka posted four goals to lead the way for Middlebury.

Tufts exploded out of the gate, scoring four unanswered goals as four different players found the back of the net, and powered to a 14-3 halftime advantage. Connor Helfrich ignited the attack by winning the game's opening faceoff, driving down the middle of the field, and scoring just 11 seconds into play.

Middlebury responded to the 4-0 run with back-to-back goals by Jon Broome and Joel Blockowicz to cut the Jumbos' lead to within two goals at 4-2, but the Panthers could get no closer as Tufts scored another six goals before the next Middlebury tally.

After trading goals to begin the second half with Tufts' Uppgren and Middlebury's Henry Riehl  both scoring in the first five minutes, the Jumbos continued their dominant offensive effort by posting four unanswered goals in the next eight minutes of play. A well-placed shot by Soroka concluded the scoring in the third quarter providing Middlebury some momentum headed to the fourth.

Relentless on both offense and defense, Tufts led in shots (57-46), faceoffs (19-16), ground balls (42-39) and committed only 11 turnovers to Middlebury's 19.

John Jackson led Middlebury with eight ground balls and caused one turnover. Will Ernst made 10 saves in the losing effort for the Panthers, playing the first 38:55, while Gabe Weissmann made three saves in 21:05 played for the Panthers.

Brian Droesch finished with four saves in 11:23 of action for Tufts.