Playing in its third straight road game of the season, the Boston University men’s lacrosse team will travel to the University of Vermont on Saturday afternoon for a non-conference matchup.
Coming into the game, the Terriers (2-2, 0-1 Patriot League) will be looking to end their two-game losing streak, which was furthered Wednesday thanks to a 7-4 defeat on the road at Providence College.
In the game against the Friars (2-1), BU struggled to get its offensive going for the first time all season. Prior to Wednesday’s contest, the Terriers had put up 13.3 goals a game and were firing on all cylinders, only to have their offensive prowess stalled by the Friars’ stingy defense.
The Terriers attempted 35 shots in that game, but only 22 of them were on target. BU coach Ryan Polley said he was surprised to see his unable to execute more consistently offensively.
“We need to shoot a little better and be a little more efficient on offense,” he said. “Providence’s goalie did a great job, but we were pretty static in our six-on-six situations. The offense has been fairly productive all year, and against Providence, a combination of things hurt us. We didn’t get deep enough or close enough to the cage. We had some poor shot selections and struggled a little bit.”
Although the Terriers’ offense was unable to replicate its strong early form, the defense stepped up in a major way against Providence. In what was the second lowest goals-against total of the year, Providence only bested sophomore goalkeeper Christian Carson-Banister seven times.
The defense absorbed a lot of pressure from the Friars, which helped BU register 29 ground ball pickups and limited Providence to 31 shots. Polley said seeing that level of defensive play was extremely encouraging, especially because several key players stepped up under pressure.
“The defense was tremendous [against Providence],” he said. “Even the goals we gave up in the second half were frankly turnovers that the offense did, which led to them giving up transition. In a six-on-six setting, our defense was outstanding, specifically our goalkeeper Christian, [sophomore] defenseman Jake Dansey and [sophomore] defenseman Cam Pincus. Our defensive midfielders had a great game too.”
Looking toward BU’s next opponent, the Catamounts (0-3) have struggled to start off the year. In the early portions of the season, they lost to then-No.14/17 Pennsylvania State University and No. 20/NR Colgate University, but most recently dropped a 12-9 decision to Providence.
While the Catamounts have been unable to break into the win column, all three of their defeats were by a narrow margin and the team has only played one home game. Adding up all the different elements, Polley said Vermont’s record is deceiving and does not indicate their ability to play top-level lacrosse.
“We know Vermont is a very talented team,” he said. “We’ve been watching film as a coaching staff and remarking at how talented they are and how skillful they are. They’ve lost to two ranked teams and Providence, who beat us, so I don’t think we can go up and automatically win. Nothing will be handed to us.”
Snatching a win from the Catamounts on their home field is difficult within itself, but several strong offensive presences should make the job challenging. Attack James Barlow leads the team with an impressive 10 goals through three games and is supported by fellow attack Cam Milligan, who has five goals and four assists to his name.
As dangerous as Barlow and Milligan are, another attack should cause the Terriers the most worry on Saturday. Ian MacKay, the 2014 America East Rookie of the Year, has four goals and three assists to start off the year. Although MacKay is just behind Barlow and Milligan in terms of points, his pedigree and offensive instincts make him the Catamounts’ top threat to other teams.
“They have an unbelievable player named Ian MacKay who is a Canadian from The Hill Academy,” Polley said. “In my opinion, he was the best freshman we played last year. He’s been a little bit snake-bitten in the last two games, but he is a real crafty player who can get a shot off whenever he wants. It will be a challenge for us to contain him.”
Considering the form of BU and Vermont, both teams will be rearing to buck their losing trend and get a victory. For BU, the out-of-conference game carries added significance though, as it has the potential to push the Terriers above the .500 mark.
Conscious of this, BU will be looking to get back to its winning ways, but Polley said what is most important is that continue to improve as they prepare for the rest of their Patriot League slate.
“There’s a lot of lacrosse left to be played,” Polley said. “We still have 80 percent of our Patriot League schedule left to play, and that’s really what we are gearing up for. Win or lose against Vermont, we are more concerned about playing better than we did in our last game and getting better overall.”
Jonathan's a New Englander who writes about sports, features and politics. He currently covers men's hockey at BU, worked as Sports Editor during the spring 2016 semester and is on the FreeP's Board of Directors. Toss him a follow on Twitter at @jonathansigal.
