The sixth and final seed in the Patriot League Tournament was up for the Boston University men’s lacrosse team to take Friday night at Nickerson Field, but the team was narrowly edged by the College of the Holy Cross, 12-10.
With the loss, BU (6-7, 3-5 Patriot League) fell short of its postseason aspirations, but the conference clash did not begin on such a sullen note.
Much like the Terriers have done all season long, they approached the opening draw and quarter with purposeful energy. Sophomore midfielder Cal Dearth, who finished with seven points on the evening, powered down the right side of the Holy Cross (6-7, 3-5 Patriot League) defense and dished a cross-field pass to sophomore attack Adam Schaal, who strongly finished at the 13:45 mark.
The momentum continued in BU’s favor for the game’s second goal when sophomore attack Pat Myers carried out a nearly identical play as Schaal’s opener just over a minute later. This time, Dearth was on the finishing end, and the Terriers ultimately ended the quarter with a 4-2 lead.
“We saw some things that we thought we could take advantage of and guys made some great plays,” said BU coach Ryan Polley. “Guys made some shots, and we got off to the quick start. They’re a good team, and we knew they would come back, though.”
Polley’s intuition proved to be spot-on, as the Crusaders dominated the second quarter. Before the halftime whistle sounded, sophomore goalkeeper Christian Carson-Banister was bested four times by three different Holy Cross attacks.
What was once a 4-2 lead for BU had quickly become a 6-5 halftime advantage for the Crusaders. A combination of factors altered the course of the first half, but Polley said the fact of the matter was BU had plenty of work ahead of it when the teams retook the field.
“It was more that they made some plays and we had a couple breakdowns defensively and they were able to get the ball inside,” Polley said. “They had a couple where we made a check, the ball rolls through to their guy and their guy made a great play to score. They’re a good team, so you have to give them all the credit.”
While the first half was defined by two drastically different quarters, the second half unfolded in a back-and-forth manner, in which neither team held more than a one-goal lead until the game’s final minute.
By the 5:27 mark of the fourth quarter, four different Terriers had etched their names onto the scoresheet, while three different Crusaders did the same. With the final five minutes of the game looming and the prospect of postseason play on the line, the score was tied up at 10.
Several more breaks fell the Crusaders’ way as the clock ticked down, and they carved out the game’s final two tallies. Despite the final score, Polley said he was immensely proud of the heart his team exhibited and affirmed that the loss did not occur because of a lack of effort, but a few plays falling in the wrong direction.
“We played hard, and I’m really proud of the guys for the intensity they brought,” he said. “Guys played hard, and I really don’t have any complaints with the energy and the effort. We scrapped ground balls, but they had some critical ones in the fourth quarter.”
With the result not falling their way, the Terriers now have one game left in the 2015 season when they take on Duke University on May 3. Before getting to that point, Polley spent some time reflecting on the growth and maturation his team has displayed insofar.
“Unfortunately, we weren’t able to [get in], but we made some great strides as a program,” Polley said. “Two wins [in 2014] up to six now, we won two conference games last year to three now, and we beat up a ranked opponent. There are a ton of positives this year, and we’re a little disappointed we didn’t make the tournament and give ourselves a chance, but at the end of the day, we showed improvement and we’re happy for that.”
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.
