The Boston University men’s lacrosse team will look to keep its excellent play going as it faces off against Bucknell University in its second-consecutive Patriot League game Saturday at Nickerson Field.
The conference matchup will be BU’s second straight before it goes on a two-game road trip.
Things have been going well for the Terriers (5-2, 2-1 Patriot League), as they have won their past three games by a combined 24 goals. Their last game was a 17-8 win over Lafayette College, in which BU scored 12 consecutive goals in the first half. Sophomore attack Pat Myers led the way, notching a career-high five points in the win. Sophomore attack Adam Schaal and freshman attack Ryan Hilburn and combined for seven points against the Leopards (1-6, 0-4 Patriot League).
BU coach Ryan Polley said the win streak has been a result of a complete-team effort.
“It’s been a complete team effort,” he said. “We’re getting contributions from a lot of guys, one through 43 … This week, they’ve been doing a great job at giving us a great look, so really up and down our roster, we’ve been getting contributions from everyone. Our balance on offense has been great, and our defense has been good, so we’re really turning into that complete team we know we can be.”
Although the Terriers have been playing excellently overall, the team has still been having issues with turnovers. So far this season, the team has been averaging 15.71 turnovers per game, second worst in the Patriot League. Polley has expressed his concern with this part of his team’s game.
“That’s been a big focus of ours, just taking care of and valuing the ball,” he said. “We’re being aggressive and scoring at a good clip and taking risks on offense, so that’s inherently going to bump up our turnovers. But those unforced turnovers where we just have a lack of concentration and drop the ball for no reason or throw it over somebody’s head, happens a bit too often. So limiting those is always a focus.
“We did great at Lafayette,” he continued. “We only had 13 turnovers. I’d like to see our turnover percentage a little bit higher, but only having 13 in a game is definitely a step in the right direction.”
The Terriers’ turnovers will certainly have to be limited if they wish to keep up with the Bison (6-2, 3-1 Patriot League). Bucknell only has 12.29 turnovers per game while causing 7.43 turnovers a game. The Bison could cause problems for the Terriers if BU is unable to hold onto the ball.
The Bison are led by senior David Dickson, who leads the Patriot League in assists with three per game and is second in the league in points per game. Polley said he is aware of what his team has to do to continue winning games against tough opponents.
“Just got to continue to take it one play at a time and not get caught up in the standings or who Bucknell beat,” he said. “Bucknell is a great team. We’re certainly going to have to play a great game to play against these guys and be in the game, but we play a lot of great teams, so we’re just going to focus on one play at a time and try not to get ahead of ourselves and just put a series of plays together and that’s really going to be the focus … Defensively they’re excellent, so we have to have a great shooting day and make good decisions.”
Nick is currently writing for the Boston Hockey Blog. In the past, he has served as associate sports editor, and has covered men's and women's cross-country, women's soccer, men's basketball, and men's lacrosse for the Daily Free Press. You can keep track of Nick's exciting life by following him on Twitter at @nikfraz14
