Tufts Lacrosse Stuns Top Seed to Reach NCAA Championship: Highlights, Score & What’s Next

Fans of Tufts lacrosse have plenty to talk about this Memorial Day weekend as both the men’s and women’s programs take center stage on the national stage of Division III lacrosse. Just 37 miles separate the Tufts campus from Gillette Stadium, where head coach Casey D’Annolfo’s unbeaten men’s team (22-0) puts its 27-game winning streak—the longest active run in all of NCAA lacrosse—on the line against Dickinson College in Sunday night’s national championship (7 p.m. ET). The Jumbos, already owners of four titles, are chasing their first back-to-back crowns since the 2014–15 seasons and looking to become the first squad in program history to finish perfect from opening faceoff to final whistle. Tufts arrives with every starter back from last year’s title run and a statistical résumé that would make most Division I programs blush: 17.9 goals per game (No. 5 nationally), 9.2 goals allowed (No. 1 in the NESCAC) and a plus-8.7 scoring margin that ranks seventh in the country. Junior attackman Jack Regnery, the NESCAC Player of the Year and newly minted National Player of the Year, sits sixth nationally in goals per game (3.95) while graduate goalie Conner Garzone’s 907 career saves headline a veteran defense that scoops up 43.8 ground balls a night. The matchup is a study in contrasts. Dickinson (17-5) comes in battle-hardened after consecutive NCAA Tournament upsets of No. 2 Salisbury and No. 3 RIT behind a stingy defense led by first-team All-American Evan Karetsos. The Red Devils win face-offs at a 58 percent clip and have conceded fewer than 10 goals in four straight playoff games, setting up a classic strength-versus-strength showdown under the lights in Foxborough. While the men hunt history, the Tufts women were minutes away from making some of their own. The top-ranked Jumbos sprinted to a 4-0 lead in Sunday’s afternoon final before falling 10-9 to Middlebury, the four-time defending champion, in Salem, Va. Senior superstar Margie Carden scored twice, pushing her school-record season total to 71 goals and career mark to 268, while goalie Pascale de Buren turned away 12 shots to keep Tufts within striking distance. Despite the heartbreak, a 21-2 campaign and a third national-runner-up finish since 2021 underscore the program’s ascension under head coach Courtney Shute. Taken together, the two deep postseason runs highlight a golden era for Tufts lacrosse: • Men’s team: 13 wins over ranked opponents, 10 USA Lacrosse Magazine All-Americans, and the nation’s sixth-best clearing unit (90.6 %). • Women’s team: school-record 158 draw controls by Genna Gibbons, three NCAA All-Tournament selections, and victories over six Top-10 foes. • Combined record: 43-2, best in the nation among schools sponsoring both men’s and women’s lacrosse. The surge in visibility is already translating to recruiting buzz, social-media engagement and gameday attendance. Last spring’s men’s final in Philadelphia drew 15,156 fans, the fifth-largest crowd in program history, and Sunday’s prime-time slot in an NFL venue could push the figure higher. Add in a women’s roster that returns All-Americans Ella Lesperance and Nicola Donlan next season, and the forecast in Medford stays bright. Key story lines to watch Sunday night: • Pace of play: Tufts averages 52 shots per game; Dickinson’s defense forces 10.3 turnovers per outing. • X-factor: Senior face-off ace Parker Merril vs. Dickinson specialist Ben Trucksess, whose 154 ground balls lead the Red Devils. • Home-field edge: 16 Jumbos grew up in Massachusetts, while Dickinson travels 400-plus miles from Carlisle, Pa. Whether the men finish the job or not, 2025 has already cemented Tufts as a Division III lacrosse powerhouse. A title would simply add the exclamation point—and give the university its 14th NCAA team championship. Stay tuned as Jumbo Nation descends on Gillette Stadium, hungry to see history written in blue and brown.