The seventh-ranked Middlebury men's lacrosse team fell to #2 Tufts 19-15 on Saturday afternoon. The teams entered the contests as two of just six teams left in the nation with undefeated marks, as the Panthers suffer their first loss of the season. 

• Tufts opened the game with six goals over the first 12:15 of the contest.
• The visitors got on the board with 1:28 left in the first quarter. After a scramble in front of the net, William Ryan bounced a shot past goalie Connor Garzone to make it 6-1.
• Tufts increased its lead to 7-1 with 1:31 elapsed in the second quarter, but Middlebury answered with a goal 30 seconds later. Ryan tallied his second of the afternoon, ripping a shot inside the left post on the player-up advantage to bring the score to 7-2. 
• The Jumbos slowly pushed the lead to eight, rattling off three goals to take a 10-2 edge with 7:01 remaining in the half.
• Middlebury cut the deficit to six (10-4) with two goals inside the last 1:30. Cooper DeMallie got things going with a low shot into the right corner, before Patrick Jamin found nylon with 38 seconds to go.
• Tufts tallied a goal seven seconds later to head into halftime with a 11-4 advantage.
• The Jumbos began the third quarter with three unanswered goals over the first 4:51 to take a double-digit lead (14-4).
• With 5:33 elapsed, Ryan completed his hat trick. Tom Conley drove into the offensive zone and found Ryan who tucked his shot into the bottom left corner to cut the Tufts lead to 14-5.
• Less than a minute later, Will Zink found the back of the net with a turnaround shot through traffic to pull the Panthers to within eight (14-6).
• The Jumbos answered with two goals just eight seconds apart to regain a 10 goal lead (16-6) at the 7:32 mark.
• With 2:44 remaining in the third, J.D. Farkas made the score 16-7. The first year dodged a defender before slotting his shot past Garzone. Only 21 seconds later, Zink fired home a close-range tally to close within eight (16-8).
• Tufts added another goal with 1:45 to go, but DeMallie replied with a long-distance marker as time expired to make it 17-9 heading into the final stanza.
• Middlebury cut the deficit to seven (17-10) after just 2:15. Ryan collected a loose ball in front of the goal and slipped the shot past the Jumbo goalie for his fourth marker of the day.
• Tufts tacked on an 18th goal at the 6:43 mark, but the Panthers continued to battle. Farkas and Zink each netted a goal to bring Middlebury within six (18-12) with 3:47 left in the contest.
• Following a Jumbo's goal with 2:41 left, the Panthers rattled off three quick tallies from Jamin, Jack Sheehan and Billy Curtis over the final 1:39, but were unable to get any closer as Tufts hung on for the 19-15 triumph.

• Middlebury and Tufts played for the 59th time today. The Panthers hold a 33-25-1 lead in the all-time series.
• Zink (three) and Farkas (two) each earned a new career-high in goals scored during the game.
• This season's 7-0 start  was the best start to a season since 2008, when the Panthers won their first nine contests.