Not even the postponement of a contest could disrupt the No. 15 Boston University men’s lacrosse team’s beginning to the 2017 campaign.
Despite having their contest against Colgate University pushed back from Saturday to Monday afternoon due to frigid temperatures in upstate New York, the Terriers (7-0, 2-0 Patriot League) responded with the intensity that has summarized their season to date, emerging for a commanding 18-7 victory to extend their undefeated start.
After falling behind in the first five minutes of the contest, following a goal by the Raiders’ (2-4, 1-2 Patriot League) Duncan Hoskinson, BU was quick to overcome its lackadaisical start to tie up the ballgame. With 9:34 left on the opening period clock, Terriers’ senior defenseman Henry Lee wound up from the left side of the net and whipped a shot past Colgate’s goalie Brandon Burke for his second goal of the season.
Five minutes later, junior midfielder Hayden Ruiz gave BU its first lead of the contest, barreling his way into the teeth of the left side of the defense before twisting to his right and firing a rip over Burke.
“We feel good about this week,” said BU head coach Ryan Polley. “We put together some strong practices and never lost focus. We are not going to get ahead of ourselves, we have to [continue to] do what we do. [I] have to give all of the credit to the upperclassmen for leading this team, and we are also getting great contributions from some of our underclassmen.”
The second quarter resulted in more of the same for BU. With 13:43 remaining, junior attacker Ryan Hilburn received a pass behind the net and took off to his left, rushing his way to the right side of the cage before whipping it past Burke.
The Terriers were not finished with their dominance in the first half. With two minutes remaining, Hilburn struck again firing a left-handed rip past Burke for a 9-1 advantage heading into halftime.
The onset of the third quarter resulted in more Terriers momentum, as senior midfield Allen Winkoff noticed an empty net in Colgate’s defensive zone and whipped a 60-yard shot directly into the net with 12:38 to go in the quarter. About 50 seconds later, freshman John MacLean utilized a roll dodge to evade a defender and rip a left-handed shot past Burke.
The lead continued, as sophomore attacker James Burr bounced a jump shot into the net with 10:44 remaining in the stanza for his sixth goal of the year, giving BU a 12-1 lead. Two minutes later, Ruiz found Hilburn cutting around the right side of the crease. The junior found the stick of his classmate with ease, and Hilburn notched the hat trick with a lefty attempt.
With seven minutes left in the third, senior midfielder Cal Dearth jumped onto the stat sheet with his 14th goal of the year. After being fed at midfield by Wilson, Dearth sprinted into a two-on-one situation before taking a rip of his own into the top right corner of the net.
Finally, with 6:11 to go in the third, Colgate stopped the bleeding as a rare Carson-Banister errant pass resulted in a goal by Griffin Brown, ending a streak of 14 Terriers’ tallies.
BU responded, however, as sophomore attacker Michael Laviano ripped home his first goal of the campaign past Raiders backup goalkeeper Connor Mullen with just over two minutes left in the quarter.
The Terriers then opted to replace Carson-Banister with freshman goalkeeper Joe McSorley. The Maryland native struggled to begin his stint, allowing goals by Colgate’s Anthony Abbadessa and Brown in his first two minutes in the net. With nine minutes left, the Raiders extended their scoring streak to three consecutive goals, as Nicky Petkevich smoked one past McSorley. The netminder allowed a pair of goals in the final seven minutes as well.
Senior attacker Michael Carbone put an end to the Colgate surge, restoring the gap to 16-5 with a left-hand shot less than two minutes later. With 4:40 remaining, senior attacker Ryan Johnston recorded his first goal of the season, scoring directly in front of the crease to hand BU a 17-6 lead.
The Terriers refused to take their feet off of the gas pedal, as a roll dodge freed up Laviano for a right-handed rip with 2:33 remaining, which he placed behind third-string goalie Cyrus Scott.
Watched the entire game.
Score was 15-1 before Colgate scored their second of only 7 goals.
Was BUs defense at the game? Because you didn’t mention them once.
They have been a pretty important part of this 7-0 start and yet you didn’t even recognize their
existence.
Odd.