After rattling off three Patriot League wins in the middle of March, the tide has turned for the Boston University men’s lacrosse team, as it dropped its third straight conference clash when it emerged on the wrong side of an 8-6 result on Saturday against No. 19 Loyola University Maryland.
The loss also pushed BU’s (6-6, 3-4 Patriot League) winless streak to four, but things did not start off so sour. After a period of good offensive possession to start the game, freshman attack Ryan Hilburn ardently pursued a loose ball behind the Loyola (7-6, 5-2 Patriot League) cage.
The West Chester, Pennsylvania native snatched up the ground ball and, with great poise, dished to freshman attack Jack Wilson, who fired home his team-leading 22nd goal of the season just 1:09 into the game. However, the Terriers’ first quarter quickly went downhill from that moment onwards.
By the quarter’s end, Loyola had fired 17 shots on goal, midfielder Tyler Albrecht and attack Zach Herreweyers got the best of sophomore goalkeeper Christian Carson-Banister twice and BU faced a daunting 5-1 deficit.
“They’re too good of a team to give up five goals at the start, and we just made careless plays,” said BU coach Ryan Polley. “We continued to make some careless plays, and it’s frustrating. We just have to be better. I’m pretty disappointed in how we came out of the gate and gave up a 5-1 lead.”
Despite overt disappointment from the first quarter, BU charged back in the second quarter through goals from sophomore attack Adam Schaal and freshman midfielder Greg Farris. Both players got the best of Greyhound goalkeeper Grant Limone, who finished the game with 17 saves from a tight angle on the right side.
However, Loyola responded quickly through Herreweyers’ third goal of the game and a near-range finish from midfielder Jay Drapeau with 10 seconds left in the half. Just as the Terriers were starting to find their game again, Loyola reestablished a four-goal lead, and the Terriers went into halftime with a 7-3 deficit in front of them.
Polley said his locker room message was to keep on competing, and that was exactly what the Terriers did in the second half. Loyola attack Zack Sirico got an early goal for his team, but from that point onwards, the half unfolded entirely in BU’s favor.
Sophomore midfielder Cal Dearth and Hilburn each scored in the third quarter to make the score 8-5, and lockdown defense from sophomore defenseman Dominick Calisto halted Loyola’s potent offense. Through a combination of patient offense and precise defense, BU inched its way back toward a tied game.
“We had the ball most of the time in the third [quarter], so getting stops was a momentum swing,” Calisto said. “They could’ve gone up three or four goals up on us, and we played really good defense and gave our offense an opportunity. That’s all you can really ask for.”
Motivated by a strong third quarter performance, the Terriers continued to probe and attempt to narrow the deficit. Their efforts were rewarded when Dearth fired home a goal at the 6:41 mark, but little else went BU’s way during the game’s final quarter.
The Terriers ultimately attempted 15 shots on goal, picked up seven of the quarter’s 13 ground ball opportunities, and sophomore midfielder Sam Talkow won both draws. Despite all of those encouraging signs and copious amounts of time in the offensive third, Limone continued to stymie BU, and the 8-6 scoreline remained intact until the final whistle.
“We had some great looks, and guys have to convert shots that at least make Limone work,” Polley said. “We had some six-yard shots that missed the cage and those add up. Our guys need to realize that every possession matters and every shot matters and they can’t lose their concentration. We have too good of an offense to score six goals.”
With the loss to the Greyhounds, BU now has one final conference game on the docket. It will take on the College of the Holy Cross on Friday. The game will bear significance beyond a typical Patriot League clash.
If BU gets the win against the Crusaders (5-7, 2-5 Patriot League), it will book a place in the Patriot League Tournament. To make that a reality, the Terriers will be focused on putting the Loyola result behind them and approaching the game with their patented “one play at a time” approach.
“We’ll still just do it one practice at a time and one play at a time,” Polley said. “We can’t get ahead, as much as the season comes down to that one game. We’ve been successful because we’ve been able to go one play at a time, and we’re not going to abandon that because that game means so much.”
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.
