FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - The Dickinson men's lacrosse team entered Gillette Stadium on Sunday evening with the moniker of "Cinderella" or "America's Team" depending on which one you preferred to use, as they squared off against top-seeded, undefeated and number one nationally-ranked Tufts University for the Division III National Championship. Unfortunately, for the Red and White their storybook and magical season came to a close on a sour note as the Jumbos collected back-to-back titles thanks to a 25-8 win.
- Tufts had the first two chances of the game, but Will Emsing and Brooks Hauser were unable to ask any questions of keeper Rocco Bognet.
- Dickinson's opening opportunity came at the 3:24 mark when Luke Whalen let one go over Connor Garzone's cage.
- The Jumbos would crack the board with 9:41 to play as Emsing caused a giveaway leading to him finding Hauser wide open for the finish. They continued to get things moving with tallies from Joey Kraft and Charlie Tagliaferri pushing the gap to 3-0 inside of the eight minute mark.
- Following a offering from Matt Thurston that bounced wide of goal, Michael Ayers saved the ball on the end line and got the Jumbos in transition resulting in Hauser netting his second.
- The Red and White tried to find the back of the net out of a timeout, but Garzone had the answer for Tommy Baldini leading to Garrett Kelly making it 5-0 at the 10:54 mark.
- Tufts continued to just keep on rolling as Emsing, Hauser and Jack Regnery all beat Bognet to hold a commanding 8-0 lead after one.
- It took 62-seconds for the home side to extend the margin to 9-0 when Jackson Redd slammed home a pass from Hauser.
- After a strike from Max Ettinghausen made it 10-0, Landen Hyatt finally got his hands free from the Tufts defense and ripped one past Garzone (11:51).
- Off a Bognet stop on Tagliaferri, the Red and White tried to gain some much needed momentum with Ethan Gess linking up with Ramsey Huggins.
- However, Tufts had six of the next eight opportunities with Joey Waldbaum ultimately taking advantage of a DC giveaway for an 11-2 advantage.
- Dickinson then took advantage of the ensuing faceoff win for Ben Trucksess as Charlie Baughan would setup Hyatt for the finish. Unfortunately, Hauser ripped one to the top of the goal and Emsing along with Ettinghausen opened the lead to 14-3 going to the break.
- There would be just one shot over the opening four minutes of the frame and it came from Cam Delcristo who solved Bognet, before Regnery added another.
- The Jumbos defense continued to lockdown on the Devils not allowing a shot until the 6:44 mark when Whalen had a chance blocked down and then off the loose ball pickup by Huggins he was turned away by Garzone.
- Bognet kept on battling making four stops on the group of Beau Keough, Emsing and Regnery, while at the other end Garzone shutdown Baughan twice.
- Tufts tallied three straight to extend things to 19-3, before Ethan Gess would bury a stepdown bullet from the right wing inside the final minute of the period.
- However, after Parker Merril collected the ensuing faceoff, Keough cashed in unassisted with just three seconds to play.
- The hosts continued to add on early in the period with Kelly striking unassisted.
- Then, DC tried to get the offense on track, but Preston Boyd was stopped by Garzone. Fortunately, Whalen found the groundball and scored, before a turnover caused by Evan Karetsos led to Luke Devlin hooking up Huggins to bring it down to 21-6 with 11:12 left.
- After a tally from Kelly, the defensive duo of Ethan Ferrant and Karetsos each forced a turnover which set the stage for Matt Thurston to finish off a beautiful diving goal from behind the net at the 8:08 mark.
- Following back-to-back stops on Baughan and Gess by new keeper Ben Friedman, both Ben Frisoli and Callum Wood pushed it to 24-7 with 4:28 left.
- A pair of chances for Carter Wilmot came up short against Friedman, which allowed the Jumbos to add one more to close out the game.
- Goals - Gess, Huggins and Hyatt (2), Thurston and Whalen (1)
- Assists - Baughan (2), Jack Murphy, Devlin, Gess, and Hyatt (1)
- Groundballs - Trucksess (6), Bognet (4), Capp Reynolds, Huggins and Karetsos (3)
- Caused Turnovers - Karetsos (3), Will McDonald (2)
- Faceoffs - Trucksess (12-32), Ryan Backus (1-3)
- Saves - Bognet (9), Ben Tompkins (0)
- Goals - Hauser (4), Kelly and Regnery (3)
- Assists - Hauser (4), Emsing (3)
- Groundballs - Merril (9), Panagopoulos, Salcedo and Tagliaferri (4)
- Caused Turnovers - Eleven players tied (1)
- Faceoffs - Merril (14-20), Salcedo (8-14)
- Saves - Garzone (10), Friedman (3)
