The men's lacrosse team picked up its fourth consecutive victory Saturday, recording a 7-4 win against the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The team improved its record to 4-1, its only defeat coming in its opening game in overtime.
UMass was the national runner-up last year and though it has started sluggishly this season - it fell to 1-4 after the loss to Brown - Head Coach Lars Tiffany '90 cited the Minutemen as one of Brown's traditional lacrosse rivals.
"They had many members returning from the national finalist team," Tiffany said. "They are tough and gritty - something we are trying to define Brown lacrosse as."
Though the Bears jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first quarter, the Minutemen were applying pressure throughout.
"The UMass offense was quick in the first quarter," Tiffany said. "We survived the onslaught early though, and the rest of the game they were pressing, trying to make the perfect shot."
The reason that UMass had to make the perfect shot was because goaltender Jordan Burke '09 was up to the challenge early on. He had seven of his 16 saves in the first quarter alone. His teammates recognized it was Burke's excellence that kept them in the game.
"It was a defensive battle," said defenseman Cole Erickson '10, "But the deciding factor was Jordan Burke. He played out of his mind."
Tri-captain and midfielder Alex Buckley '07 added that credit should be given to the whole defense, but "Jordan Burke really bailed us out."
In front of Burke, the rest of the defense was strong as well, allowing just four goals, and only two in six-on-six situations. Buckley and Tiffany both praised the strong play of defensive midfielders Mike Cummins '08 and Brian Asher '08.
"I love how the D-middies played," Buckley said. "It is hard to get credit at that position. They are always on the field, but spectators don't see them."
Tiffany added that the defensive midfield was "often tested, but remained up to the challenge. They were also great in transition from defense to offense."
On the offensive end of the field, the Bears came out firing. Unfortunately, the accuracy of those shots was not as strong as Brown desired. Brown had seven shots but one goal to show for their first-quarter effort.
Tri-captain and attackman David Madeira '07 was frustrated with the inability to find the back of the net at the outset. "We had a lot of shots in the first quarter, but not a lot dropped," he said.
Shooting, especially at the beginning of games, has been one area where Brown still needs to improve as the season rolls along.
"We are coming out peppering teams early on," Madeira said. "As the season goes on, shots will start falling early on and we will be a scarier team."
Buckley was disappointed too. "It comes down to shooting, and we can shoot the ball a lot better," he said. But Tiffany said he was not terribly worried.
"We have a good shooting team. I believe in our shooting," Tiffany said. "Our last few opponents have had very good goalies. We have asked the men to be a little more precise, and that means you miss the cage a little more."
Despite the combination of mediocre shooting and strong goalie play from the Minutemen's Doc Schneider, the Bears found the net seven times and never trailed on the day. They received three goals and an assist from Madeira, who was coming off a phenomenal five-goal performance against Bellarmine University last Tuesday.
Madeira broke a 2-2 tie late in the second quarter to give the Bears a 3-2 lead going into halftime. Attackman Jack Walsh '09 and midfielder Thomas Muldoon '10 added goals early in the third quarter to give Brown a commanding lead in the low-scoring affair. Muldoon also added two assists, continuing his strong freshman campaign.
The other two Brown goals came from fellow midfielder Zach Caldwell '10.
"Caldwell stepped up and had a good game," Madeira said. "He is good at dodging from the midfield." That dodging was particularly important against UMass because it played a lot of man-to-man defense and employed very few slide packages to help out in one-on-one match ups.
Despite the tremendous start, the Bears aren't letting up. They need to shore up areas like shooting and face-off play, where UMass had a 10-5 edge. More importantly, the Bears need to keep up the general hard work that has gotten the team where it is thus far.
"We can't get comfortable being 4-1," Buckley said. "We can't take the mindset that we are good."
The Bears will bring that gritty mindset with them when they open up the Ivy League schedule next Saturday at Dartmouth.
