Middlebury College

The #15/seventh-seeded Middlebury men's lacrosse team dropped a 21-11 decision in Saturday's NESCAC Quarterfinal contest against #1/second-seeded Tufts.

 HIGHLIGHTS

• Will Emsing had a point-blank chance to push the Jumbos in front 35 seconds into the battle, but Panther goalie Hayden Kern extended his right foot to deny the opportunity. The save paid dividends, as J.D. Farkas found Logan White on the break for a shot that found the top-left corner to jump ahead 1-0.
• The Jumbos restored the tie with 11:11 showing. Jackson Redd weavedthrough a pair of defenders and smashed his shot into the right panel. 
• Jack Regnery and Nick George followed with goals just 58 ticks apart to give the hosts a 3-1 lead. 
• Tufts added another tally with 8:01 elapsed. Davis Owens remained on the offensive end following a clear and was left unmarked, capitalizing with a bouncer to build a three-goal advantage.
• Middlebury capitalized on another fast transition with 5:35 left in the opening stanza. Farkas found an unmarked White for a low-to-high finish from the right side. Misha Trupo diced the deficit to 4-3 less than a minute later, sidewinding a screamer into the right panel.
• The Jumbos parried with three consecutive tallies from Emsing, Garrett Kelly and Regnery for a 6-3 contest with 1:21 to go.
• White pulled the game back to within three (7-4) at the 14:49 mark, swimming by a Tufts defender and dunking an attempt on the edge of the crease.
• Chase Beyer and Emsing opened the second with back-to-back markers to extend the lead to five, but Cooper DeMallie fired in a feed from Charlie O'Connor with 11:30 remaining to stay within four.
• Owens added his second tally with 3:53 gone, faking and dodging a Panther before rustling the left panel (10-5). Just over two minutes later, Ged Gengras snuck into the teeth of the Jumbo player-down unit and quick-sticked a feed from Jackson Hanson for a 10-6 score.
• Tufts tallied the final three markers off the sticks of Brooks Hauser (5:37), Kelly (4:54) and Beyer (3:59) to hold a seven-goal advantage at the half.
• The hosts opened the third with a four-goal spurt, capped by a Regnery player-up finish with 9:54 remaining. 
• White and O'Connor each tickled the twine to shrink the margin to single digits. White faked and dodged a slide before plucking the top-left corner at the 7:56 mark, while O'Connor shoveled a loose ball into the net nearly four minutes later to make the score 17-8.
• Kelly and Owens each scored in the final 44 seconds to arrange a 19-8 line entering the fourth.
• Michael Muscarella made four saves across the final 12:07, while Middlebury outscored its foe 3-2 in the final session to close out the 21-11 decision.

NOTES

• White paced the Panther attack with five points on four goals and one assist.
• Kern tied his career-high with 19 saves across the opening 47:53 of action.
• Middlebury owns a 33-31-1 edge in the all-time series. 
• The programs battled for the 11th time in the NESCAC Tournament. It was their initial meeting in the quarterfinal round.

The Panthers await their NCAA Tournament fate when the field is announced on Sunday, May 3 at 9 p.m. ET.