BRUNSWICK, Maine - The No. 2 seed and No. 2-ranked Tufts University men's lacrosse team captured its 14th NESCAC title, knocking off top-seed and No. 1-ranked Bowdoin College 18-14 at Whitter Field in Brunswick, Maine.

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 within the last 16 years.

The Jumbos' second-quarter performance made the difference in the contest as Tufts outscored the 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 goal 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, and Garret 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. 

Tufts netted the opening four goals of the third quarter to increase its edge to 10 at 14-4 with 7:24 to play in the stanza. Chris Berry scored at 6:38 of the third, ending Bowdoin's scoreless drought of 20:02 of the contest. 

The Jumbos continued to push offensively. Henry Tweedy's 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 and became the all-time leading goal scorer in program history. 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 ranks 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. 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 balls, 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 off top-ranked RIT in the national semifinals en route to a national title.