No. 1 Tufts scored the last six goals of the first half and had a four-goal barrage early in the fourth quarter to easily defeat No. 3 Stevenson, 18-12, Tuesday night in a Division III lacrosse game at Mustang Stadium.
The Mustangs (3-2) had seemed to be on the mend after an season-opening 17-10 loss to RIT followed by three straight wins against Messiah, Western New England and Roanoke, but they were no match for the Jumbos (5-0).
Stevenson couldn't slow Tufts' multifaceted offense, and the the Mustangs also lost their composure. Stevenson was penalized 12 times — a total of nine minutes, 30 seconds — and the Jumbos scored on three extra-man opportunities.
"We had too many mistakes on top of mistakes," said Stevenson head coach Paul Cantabene. "We'd make three great plays and then made three or four mistakes. We'd get called for a foul or a push and we kept hurting ourselves. We're just not at a point where we're consistent enough to play with the good teams yet."
Junior attackman John Uppgren led Tufts with five goals and two assists. Sophomore midfielder Zach Richman also had four goals and for the Jumbos. Stevenson was paced by senior midfielder Colin Dabney, who finished with three goals. Three other Mustangs had two goals each.
Once Tufts built a six-goal lead at the half, Stevenson got within five goals twice, once as midfielder Taylor Morgan scored 30 seconds into the third quarter and then again, 12-7, when attackman Stephen Banick scored with 14:07 remaining in the game.
But after Banick's goal, the Jumbos erupted for four straight in the next four minutes, including two from Richman.
"They did a good job of passing the ball and moving and they finished their layups, which we didn't always do," Cantabene said. "We didn't do a good job of pressuring the ball and a couple of times we got caught ball watching."
Stevenson outshot Tufts, 12-4, in the first quarter but the Jumbos led, 2-1, at the end of the period on goals by Peter Gill and Jake Gillespie.
Gill, a midfielder, scooped up a loose ball in front of the Mustangs goal and scored a few second later, with 7:44 left in the first period, and Gillespie, also a midfielder, scored off a low bouncer after the restart following a Stevenson faceoff violation. His goal came nine seconds after Gill's.
Stevenson's first goal of the game came on an extra-man opportunity with 2:34 left in the period as Dabney scored on a high-bouncing shot from about 17 feet out.
Tufts took control of the game in the last 7:18 of the second quarter as the Jumbos scored six straight goals.
Tufts scored just about every way possible during that span, from settled situations to fast breaks to extra-man opportunities. The Mustangs couldn't stop Uppgren, who had two goals and an assist during that stretch, or Richman, who had two goals.
Most of the damage was done from behind goal, where Stevenson couldn't keep up with a quicker Tufts team and lost Jumbo cutters who pounded goalie Ben Richards from close range.
Richman, fellow middie Kyle Howard-Johnson and attackman Ben Andreycak scored goals in the final minute of the second quarter to give Tufts a 9-3 lead at halftime.
In the first two quarters, the Mustangs were penalized six times for 4:30 and Tufts scored two extra-man goals.
Cantabene acknowledged he will take a hard look at his goalie play this week. Richards finished with nine saves but his counterpart, Tuft's Alex Salazar, had 19.
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