It was a chaotic start to the NCAA Division 3 championship game in Charlottesville, Va., on Sunday, with Tufts and RIT trading turnovers, not goals, for the first few minutes of the game, but eventually Tufts broke the deadlock with a high-crease hammer from Will Emsing (Norwell, Mass.).
RIT would strike back and even take the lead with two successive goals, but Tufts would outscore the Tigers 4-3 in the first quarter. The Jumbos would then use juice goals from long-pole Davis Owens early in the second quarter to set the stage for a breakout run. Four straight goals from the Jumbos, two from Garrett Kelly, and single tallies from Peter Kraemer and Brooks Hauser, would put the Jumbos up 11-6 going into halftime.
From there, the Tufts offensive machine took over, scoring spectacular goal after spectacular goal to not only widen the distance between itself and RIT, but also take command of the momentum and close out its third NCAA championship in a row with a 17-11 win.
Here are five keys to the Jumbos' historic victory.
