Year one was full of learning moments, year two demonstrated maturation and, with its third season of NCAA play set to commence this weekend, the Boston University men’s lacrosse team has its sights set on far greener pastures.
With nearly its entire roster returning and a growing reputation amongst lacrosse’s inner circles, the Terriers want to affirm that their gradual improvements are no mistake. Picked to finish sixth out of nine Patriot League teams, head coach Ryan Polley said he hopes his team keeps a narrow “one play at a time, one game at a time” approach.
Junior attack and captain Ryan Johnston takes that to heart, and, with a young label no more, said he feels the Terriers are primed to make a statement on Nickerson Field and afar.
“You come into the big culture shock of Division I lacrosse and the first thing you want to do is compete for a National Championship,” he said. “This year, through our leadership and coaches, everyone is buying into our goals and what it actually takes to compete. That’s the biggest difference that I think will show through as long as we stick to our process as a team.”
Slated against the likes of No. 3 Duke University and No. 11 Loyola University Maryland, junior faceoff specialist Sam Talkow said BU felt honored in years past to play against such traditional powerhouses. This year, however, BU isn’t letting intimidation or reputation creep in.
“Now it’s not really us looking up to those guys,” junior goalkeeper Christian Carson-Banister said. “We feel like when we go out there, we can beat any team that we play. That mindset is essential to have any form of success, and this year throughout the team, we finally have that.”
Junior midfielder and captain Patrick Donnelly noted that BU has players who “have been there and have a lot of experience in big games”, and that will be invaluable throughout the season’s inevitable ups and downs.
It bodes well that Talkow and junior midfielder Cal Dearth, both of whom were named to the preseason All-Patriot League Team, are primed for strong seasons, but the buck does not stop there. The attack trio of sophomores Jack Wilson and Ryan Hilburn and junior Adam Schaal will also bring back their combined 115 points from a year ago.
But what Polley said excites him the most is the group of youngsters who will soon don a scarlet and white jersey for the first time. After searching for diamonds in the rough in 2013 and 2014, Polley and his staff feel they’ve amassed a group that is ready to contribute right away and bring a strong work ethic every day. With four US Lacrosse All-Americans in its freshman class, BU now has elite talent that eluded it in years past.
“It really shows that whatever class you’re in, it’s the guys who put the time in who are going to get the playing time,” Talkow said. “We’re at the point where the younger guys look up to the older guys, and there’s a big enough age difference there and it’s good to see the freshman are buying in just as much as we did our first year.”
After narrowly missing out on the Patriot League Tournament last year, the Terriers don’t want that sort of bitter taste to return. They said they feel each quarter will be a dogfight and many games will come down to the wire. Through a measured and confident approach, they know where they want to end up.
“You set goals and we’d obviously love to find ourselves in the mix in the Patriot League at the end of the year,” Donnelly said. “You’d love to look past that and look at those second level goals, but for us, the main thing is the Patriot League and taking it as seriously as we can. From there, it’s taking it one day at a time and seeing where we can find ourselves.”
Right in the thick of a strong Patriot League, the Terriers shied away from predicting exactly where they’ll sit come the end of April. But with two years of experience under the team’s belt, Johnston hopes BU “can hopefully take the next step.”
Polley reiterated Johnston’s aspirations, assuring that results will come if BU doesn’t look too far down the road.
“We were so good last year at staying in the moment, staying focused, playing one game at a time, and for a young team, I give a lot of credit to the guys,” Polley said. “We’re very proud of the progress we made, but in order to not take a step back, we need to keep that same mentality of staying focused and playing one game at a time.”
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.
