With Ryan Hilburn back, offense fires on all cylinders for men’s lacrosse

The Boston University men’s lacrosse team has reached double-digit scoring seven times this year, but this past weekend’s outburst might just be the best yet.

Despite dropping a 13-12 decision to No. 11 Loyola University Maryland last Saturday, the Terriers’ (8-5, 3-4 Patriot League) offense played as well as it has played since it became a program three years ago, BU head coach Ryan Polley said. Seven different players found the back of the net, and with freshman midfielder Brendan Homire out due to injury, vital cogs stepped up.

The attack trio of freshman James Burr and sophomores Jack Wilson and Ryan Hilburn combined for seven goals and four assists, while junior Adam Schaal didn’t skip a beat when he was shifted into midfield. After the Terriers scored 11 goals combined in their previous two games, Polley was pleased by his offense rediscovering its identity.

“We were just so efficient offensively,” Polley said. “Our sticks were clean, our decision making was terrific and, like I said, it was the best we’ve played. We shared the ball, we dodged hard, we shot the ball. It was really fun to watch.”

Carson-Banister returns to old form, lifts defense

While Greyhound (9-3, 6-1 Patriot League) stalwarts in senior Zach Herreweyers, junior Zack Sirico and freshman Pat Spencer found success last weekend, things could have gotten out of hand were it not for BU’s proven netminder.

Junior Christian Carson-Banister recorded 15 saves and now stops 53.8 percent of the shots that come his way. Perhaps most importantly, the Inside Lacrosse preseason All-American bounced back with aplomb after he was uncharacteristically pulled from action on April 9 against No. 20 United States Military Academy.

Polley said only one or two of Carson-Banister’s saves were right at him, and the rest were the result of confidence swiftly returning.

“Everything was high quality — seeing the ball great, reacting, getting his hands to the ball, having great position — and it was great to have him back,” Polley said. “We really expected him to bounce back, and he did. We’re really proud of him for that.”

In spite of losing streak, Terriers regaining identity

For BU to make its preseason goal of qualifying for the Patriot League Tournament a reality, the biggest game of its season awaits.

The Terriers will take on the College of the Holy Cross Friday night, and they have to win to join the conference tournament’s six-team field. Even though no result is ever guaranteed, Polley urged that his squad’s chances against the Crusaders (3-10, 2-5 Patriot League) are looking up after bouncing back from “two sub-par games.”

He noted that the clearing game still has to improve, but the all-around performance against Loyola was a sign of greener pastures to come.

“We got better in the goal, we faced off at a high level and our offense was excellent,” Polley said. “We felt Saturday that we got better, and we’re going to build on that. The offense is going to build on that, and we expect the defense to be prepared for Holy Cross. We expect CB to play well. We expect whoever faces off on Friday night to do a great job.”

Roster odds and ends

Outside of the well-documented injury to Homire, the latter portion of BU’s season has largely been free of physical woes. However, this past weekend’s matchup against Loyola revealed that two key elements are battling ailments.

Junior long-stick midfielder Henry Lee sat out through injury, causing junior defender Cam Pincus to pick up his minutes. The mainstay of the 2014 and 2015 seasons has seen spot time this year but picked up two ground balls against the Greyhounds.

Meanwhile, junior faceoff specialist Sam Talkow, who boasts the second-best draw percentage in the nation, didn’t see any game time. Polley said Talkow’s status is day-to-day, but the Terriers didn’t suffer at the X when senior faceoff specialist Elliot Burr stepped in.

“I thought Elliot did a great job, I thought our wings did a great job, and Loyola’s a good faceoff team and we did a really good job there,” Polley said. “We won 16 out of 28, so Elliot had a strong game and we’re excited by that.”