The Panther men's lacrosse team jumped out to a 9-5 lead after the first quarter against Tufts in the NESCAC Championship game on Bello Field, but the fifth-ranked Jumbos scored 11 of the contest's next 13 goals en route to a 20-14 victory. Tufts improves to 16-2 and win its seventh-straight NESCAC title, earning the league's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament, while the ninth-ranked Panthers fall to 12-6 and are expected to receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament when the field is announced on Sunday evening.

Middlebury won a first-quarter shootout with the Jumbos, grabbing a four-goal advantage after the first stanza. Tim Giarrusso had four goals and an assist in the opening period, while Kyle Soroka scored twice. Tufts had taken an early 3-1 lead, but a pair of Giarrusso goals sandwiched around a John Jackson face-off win and goal put Middlebury up 4-3. After Tufts' Austin Carbone evened the score at 4-4, Middlebury posted five of the next six goals in the period.

Tufts clamped down on the defensive end, allowing just one goal over the next 20 minutes of action. The Jumbos scored nine of their own during that span and led 14-10 at 10:12 of the third quarter. Garrett Clarke, Zach Richman and John Uppgren all found the back of the net twice during the run for the Jumbos. Uppgren's goal at 1:12 of the second quarter tied the score 10-10 heading into halftime. Ben Andreycak scored at 11:50 of the third giving Tufts a lead it never surrendered.

Middlebury fought back to within two (16-14) at the end of the third quarter. The Panthers out-scored the Jumbos 4-2 in the final 10 minutes of the period, with Soroka scoring twice and Cedric Rhodes tallying a goal and an assist.

Tufts put the game away in the fourth quarter, blanking the Panthers while adding four more goals. Two came on man-up situations, while Michael Mattson assisted one and scored the other.

Giarrusso led the Panther offense with five goals and two assists, while Soroka finished with four scores and a helper. Jackson paced Middlebury with eight ground balls, while Joey Zelkowitz and Jon Hurvitz each scooped up four rollers. Will Ernst (12-6) made 19 saves, including seven in the third quarter.

Carbone and Uppgren both had three goals and two assists to lead Tufts with five points. After allowing nine goals on 13 shots in the first quarter, Alex Salazar (15-2) rebounded after the rough start in the Jumbo net and finished with 14 saves. Conor Helfrich took all 37 face-offs for the Jumbos and won 24, ending his contest with a game-high 12 groundballs.

The teams combined for nearly 100 shots with Tufts earning a 58-40 advantage. Middlebury finished with a 34-33 edge in groundballs.