Men's Lax Wins 14th NESCAC Title With 18-14 Win Over No. 1 Bowdoin

BRUNSWICK, MAINE (May 3, 2026) -- The No. 2 seed and No. 2 ranked Tufts University men's lacrosse team captured its 14th all-time New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) title Sunday afternoon, knocking off top-seed and No. 1 ranked Bowdoin College 18-14 in action from Whitter Field in Brunswick.

With the win, the Jumbos earned the NESCAC's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament field, which will be announced Sunday evening at 9 p.m. on NCAA.com. All 14 of Tufts' NESCAC titles are from 2010.

The difference in the game on Sunday was the Jumbos' dominant second-quarter performance, that saw the Jumbos outscore the host Polar Bears (16-1) 8-1 in the period. Tufts trailed 3-2 after the first 15 minutes, but senior

Brooks Hauser and junior

Chase Beyer netted scores to give the Jumbos a 4-3 edge with 14:30 remaining in the first half.

Casey Ryan deadlocked the game at four for Bowdoin with an unassisted straight at 11:46, but the rest of the second frame was all Tufts. Senior

Jack Regnery put the Jumbos up 5-4 with a man-up goal from

Garrett Kelly, and Kelly scored the next two goals for Tufts to make it 7-4.

Regnery finished the second quarter with a flurry, netting three goals in the final 4:41 of the frame to give Tufts a 10-4 lead at the break.

The run continued into the third quarter for the Jumbos, as Tufts netted the opening four goals of the second half to increase its edge up to 10 at 14-4 with 7:24 to play in the stanza. Chris Berry ended the goalless stretch for Bowdoin with a score at 6:38 of the third, ending a scoreless drought of 20:02 of the contest.

The Jumbos continued to put the pedal to the floor offensively, as a

Henry Tweedy goal gave Tufts an 18-9 lead with 11:25 to play. Five Bowdoin goals down the stretch were not enough as the Jumbos closed out the title victory.

Regnery finished the game with five goals and two assists for the Jumbos, as he became the all-time leading goal scorer in program history on Sunday. Regnery was tied with Tufts legend John Uppgren and his 237 goals coming into the game, but his five goals put him into the top spot all-time. He is now 19th all-time in NCAA Division III history.

Junior

Will Emsing also tallied seven points on two goals and five helpers, while Kelly finished with four goals and two assists. Hauser added two goals and two assists, as he moved into No. 8 at Tufts in points all-time with his 240th Sunday. Beyer also netted three goals to help offensively.

Defensively, sophomore

Mack Leonhartt finished with two caused turnovers, while

Logan Lee added a caused turnover and three ground balls.

Jack Donovan also forced one mistake and had two ground balls.

Lucas De la Paz won 11 of his 18 face-offs on Sunday, leading the Jumbos with six ground balls, and

Victor Salcedo was 50 percent on his 18 draws while picking up four grounders and scoring once.

Sophomore

Jack Old made eight saves in net for the Jumbos, who outshot their hosts 47-34 for the game. Tufts also held a 31-24 edge in ground bals, and a 20-16 face-off victory edge. The Jumbos went a strong 3-for-5 with the extra man.

Ryan led the Polar Bears with three goals and two assists, while Berry and Hudson Greene each scored three times.

The win for Tufts over the No. 1 ranked team in the country was the first since May 18, 2014 when the Jumbos knocked of top-ranked RIT in the national semifinals en route to a national title.

--JUMBOS--