The hockey team's reign as the only undefeated team in the ECAC Northeast lasted for only two short days, as the Jumbos fell to conference rival Worcester State, 5-4, on Tuesday night. The loss dropped Tufts to 8-1 in the conference (10-3 overall) and puts it in a dogfight for the conference title.

The loss to Worcester State, a team which is just 5-4 in conference play, followed a win over a far more talented squad, Johnson & Wales. The Jumbos had ended Johnson & Wales' undefeated record with a 6-5 victory on Sunday night.

"After Sunday's big win, we weren't as prepared," sophomore center Mike Carceo said. "It's disappointing - everybody has been writing us off all year, and to lose an average team is frustrating after beating Johnson & Wales."

In the Worcester game, both teams came out flat in the first period. The Lancers scored first by way of an Andy Hewitt goal with just over two minutes remaining. The Jumbos evened up the score less than two minutes later, as senior tri-captain Dan Mahoney scored on an assist by senior Justin Picone and junior Jason Boudrow.

"We didn't play that well in the first period," Mahoney said. "They were really taking it to us for most of the period."

The second period went in similar fashion, with Worcester State scoring first and Tufts getting the equalizer from Boudrow on an assist from sophomore Rob LaQuaglia. Though the Jumbos raised their controlled play for much of the period, they could not take the lead.

"We really outplayed them, but we weren't getting any breaks," Mahoney said.

But the Jumbos did go ahead in the third period, tying the score tying the score at three after an early goal by freshman Tim Havern and going ahead on Mahoney's goal with just over ten minutes remaining.

In a matter of less than two minutes, though, the Jumbos would relinquish their lead and fall behind again.

Worcester's Steve Prebola and Chris Susi both scored shortly after Mahoney's goal, putting the team ahead 5-4.

"For the second and third period we would have the pressure on them, and they would go down and get an easy goal," Mahoney said. "They didn't sustain any offensive momentum, but they scored. It was frustrating."

After going up 5-4, Worcester State never let up, fueled by some clutch saves by goalkeeper Paul Sundeen. The sophomore finished the game with 33 saves, compared to 25 by Tufts freshman Ben Crapser. Despite many scoring chances, and the overall dominant play of Tufts' offense, the Jumbos felt they should have played better and refused to make excuses for the loss.

"We missed a few opportunities, but we didn't play our best game," Carceo said. "[Sundeen] wasn't spectacular, but he did make some big saves. They slowed us down. It was difficult to get anything going."

"They were grabbing and clutching a lot," Mahoney said. "They were cheap like that, but we had our chances, and we didn't put the puck in goal."

The frustrating loss will not stay in any of the player's minds for long, and if anything, will motivate the Jumbos to take each game seriously.

"It is a bit of a wake up call," Mahoney said. "We realize that we have to play our best in every single game. We're pretty frustrated, but at the same time, we control our own destiny. If we can win out in the league we will still finish first."

Next on tap for the Jumbos is conference rival Lebanon Valley (7-1-1 in conference play), which holds one of the top records in the conference. Team defense will be the focus in tomorrow's game, as the Jumbos yielded just 15 goals in their first seven games, but have since given up 30 in six games.

"I think we have to go out and focus on the things that made us successful in the first semester, like playing strong defense," Mahoney said. "We will go out on Friday and focus on defense and at the same time be disciplined. We had too many penalties last night."

The puck will drop tomorrow at 6:00 p.m. at the Harvard ice arena, the closest to Medford the team will play for the rest of the season.