Holding Stevenson to four goals is no small feat, especially considering the magnitude of an NCAA tournament game. In fact, Tufts had not held an opponent to four goals since beating Amherst 16-4 in the 2016 NESCAC championship game. That season, the Jumbos went on to win their third national title.
The foundation starts with senior close defenseman Arend Broekmate, who D’Annolfo called the best defenseman in Division III. Then there’s senior short-stick defensive midfielder Luke Kurtz, who often guards the opponent’s top midfielder.
Now the focus shifts to repeating shutdown defense Wednesday against Amherst, which averages 18.37 goals per game, good for third-most nationally. The Mammoths are led by senior attackman Evan Wolf, the back-to-back NESCAC Player of the Year who was the sole Division III player named to this year’s Tewaaraton Award watch list.
Handling all that, D’Annolfo said, is just part of the annual gauntlet that’s the North section of the NCAA tournament bracket. A semifinal appearance would come against No. 1 RIT or NESCAC runner-up Williams.
“Amherst does some things that will keep you up at night, but we will do our best to have some contingencies,” D’Annolfo said. “It doesn’t mean we’ll be able to stop everything they do, but we can slow it down. At the end of the day, this game will come down to how well we can execute. We’re spending a lot of time focusing on us.”