Men’s lacrosse grinds out close win over Bucknell

On March 14, the Boston University men’s lacrosse team fell into an early 2-0 hole against Lafayette College. BU was able to regroup and score 12 unanswered goals en route to an 18-7 win.

Just one week removed from that victory, the Terriers (6-2, 3-1 Patriot League) found themselves in a similar situation Saturday against Bucknell University. Just over five minutes into the game, the Bison (6-3, 3-2 Patriot League) had already hit the back of the net twice while BU was still searching for its opening strike.

But, like the game against the Leopards (1-7, 0-5 Patriot League), that early deficit would not deter the Terriers from taking the victory.

In a largely back-and-forth contest, BU defeated Bucknell 11-9, with seven different players registering a goal in the process. Sophomore attack Ryan Johnston got the scoring going for the Terriers after Bison defenseman Brad Dotson earned a cross-checking penalty to give BU a minute with the extra man.

The Terriers worked the ball around the net before finding Johnston on the left side, who then whipped it past Bucknell goalkeeper Sam Grinberg with 6:43 to go in the opening frame. The goal was the first of four BU scored on the man advantage, converting on half of its chances that day.

Just over a minute later, BU equalized the score when freshman midfielder Hayden Ruiz notched his first of two in the game. The tie was short-lived, however, as 30 seconds later, midfielder Ryan Joseph, Bucknell’s leading scorer, beat sophomore goalie Christian Carson-Banister. With under two minutes left in the quarter, sophomore midfielder Cal Dearth passed the ball across the netmouth to classmate attack Adam Schaal, who promptly knotted things up at three apiece.

Dearth finished the game with five points, tallying two goals for himself while also doling out three helpers to his teammates.

“It was great,” Dearth said of his day. “I’ve been struggling with my stick a little, but I really dialed it in, and I have to thank my teammates for sure.”

In the second quarter, the Terriers picked up their first lead of the game. First, BU allowed Bucknell midfielder Thomas Flibotte a goal before scoring three goals in a row to take a two-goal advantage. Dearth and Schaal netted their markers just seven seconds apart, chasing Grinberg for the remainder of the half, though he returned for the start of the third quarter. Redshirt sophomore Sam Tenney capped off the BU run with a man-up number on newcomer Brac McKee. Bucknell scored once more to round out the half, but the Terriers went into the break with a 6-5 lead.

Talkow turned in another impressive campaign at the faceoff X on Saturday, winning each of his first nine matchups and finishing the day 20-for-23. His .705 win percentage ranks second in the country, just .001 percent behind United States Naval Academy sophomore Brady Dove.

With the score all tied and 7:54 to play, Carson-Banister went to work, keeping every Bison shot out of the netting to allow his team a chance to take the lead one more time. By game’s end, the Dallas native denied 11 shots on net.

“[I was] so proud of just how we grinded the win out,” said BU coach Ryan Polley. “Our guys just never gave up, and they just kept playing one play at a time, and I was really proud of the outcome.”

Two-and-a-half minutes after Talkow’s marker, Dearth earned his fifth point of the day, dodging a Bucknell defender to find open space and send a shot into the back of the net. Ruiz finished things up with his second goal just three minutes later as the shot clock was winding down, and the Terriers held on for the final minute-and-a-half to secure the win.

“We talk about it so much,” Polley said. “We’re not looking at 60 minutes. We’re just really trying to stay in the moment, do one possession at a time and then just string plays together, string goals together and string positive plays together.

“We just kind of strung plays together and kind of made plays at the end. [Bucknell is] used to winning those close games … they win the close games, and to play against an experienced team with a ton of seniors and upperclassmen and our young guys just kind of stuck to our plan and kept battling and did a great job.”