MEDFORD, Mass. – Jumbos junior attack Kurt Bruun scored six goals as Tufts University held off a late rally and held on for an 18-14 win over the Amherst College men's lacrosse team in a NESCAC matchup between two nationally ranked teams on Sunday afternoon at Bello Field. The game was originally scheduled to be played on Saturday but postponed by a day due to weather.

The defending NESCAC champion Jumbos, ranked third in the nation in the latest USILA Division III poll, made it a 3-0 start to the season and opened at 2-0 in NESCAC play.

Juniors Brock Gonzalez and Tanyr Krummenacher each scored a career-high five goals for the 18th-ranked Mammoths, who fall to 1-1 after two NESCAC games to open the season. Amherst will keep it in the conference when they return to action on Friday (March 18) for a meeting with Bates at Stevenson University in Owings Mills, Maryland.

GAME HIGHLIGHTS:

* The Mammoths came out strong to start the game. After junior midfielder Jack Boyden opened the scoring for Tufts, Gonzalez and senior captain PJ Clementi scored less than a minute apart to give the Mammoths a 2-1 lead. Jumbos senior captain Camden Kelleher quickly responded to tie the game but Amherst took the lead again on Gonzalez's second goal of the game. The Tufts defense clamped down for the last eight minutes of the first quarter and the Jumbos scored five unanswered goals, bookended by two from Bruun, to take a 7-3 lead.

* Each side scored four goals in the second quarter and the Jumbos held an 11-7 lead at halftime.

* The Mammoths scored the last two goals of the third quarter with a man-up goal from Krummenacher cutting the Jumbos lead to two.

* Krummenacher scored three more goals in the first 10 minutes of the fourth quarter, cutting the Tufts lead to 15-14 with 6:10 to go but the Jumbos snuffed out the comeback and scored the last three goals of the game to secure the win.

BY THE NUMBERS:

* Gonzalez added two assists to go with his five goals for a career-high seven points.

* Sophomore attack Jake Bennett scored his first two collegiate goals, notching his first in the second quarter and adding another in the third.

* Clementi scored twice to open the season with back-to-back multi-goal games.

* First-year goalie Mitch Likins made his collegiate debut, coming on in relief in the second quarter and making 15 saves, including several spectacular saves in the fourth-quarter when the Mammoths trailed by just one goal.

* Sophomore Conner Garzone made 15 saves in goal to earn the win for the Jumbos.

* First-year Nicholas Kopp won 19 of 33 face-offs he took as the Mammoths had a 19-16 edge at the X.