For its last Tuesday night game of the season, the No. 19 Boston University men’s lacrosse team was able to come back from its first loss of the season with a 13-8 win over cross-river rival Harvard University at Nickerson Field.
Despite the unfavorable weekend loss to Bucknell University, the Terriers (8-1, 2-1 Patriot League) were back in action after being paced offensively by three hat tricks from sophomore attacker James Burr, senior midfielder Cal Dearth and freshman midfielder John MacLean.
BU also put up a strong offensive performance against the Crimson (4-3) who boast attacker Morgan Cheek, ranked sixth in the nation for goals per game (3.14). However, senior defenseman Dominick Calisto limited Cheek to only one goal, his lowest this season, during the contest.
“I don’t really try to worry about who I’m playing week in and week out,” Calisto said. “I know [Cheek is] on the Tewaaraton Watch List and he gets all these accolades, but I try not to think about that [and] try to play my game.”
The Terriers more than doubled the amount of shots Harvard took, went nearly perfect on clears (17-18), and won 18 out of 25 faceoffs, which led to a tough battle for the Crimson.
BU head coach Ryan Polley was very pleased with the team’s overall performance, especially the defense stepping up and junior midfielder and faceoff specialist Joe Stucky’s performance at the faceoff X.
“I thought it was a really strong team victory,” Polley said. “I thought we were great in mostly every phase. The faceoff X, I think, was key for us. I thought Joe did a great job on the initial clamp and then he battled really well for ground balls.”
Things got underway as Harvard midfielder Carney Mahon netted a goal less than two minutes into the opening frame, but MacLean responded quickly for the Terriers.
Despite significant pressure from the Crimson’s defense, Burr was able to find the back of the net after his third shot on goal and Dearth gave BU a 3-1 lead.
Crimson attacker J.T. Palladino cut the Terriers’ three-goal run at the start of the second quarter. Dearth and Burr tallied two more goals for BU right after, which was followed with another goal from Palladino.
After a great pass from sophomore attacker Michael Laviano, Burr scored for the third time of the night and doubled the Terriers’ lead.
With top Harvard attacker Joe Lang scoring for the first time during the night and MacLean potting another, the teams ended the half at 7-4.
“He had a great game,” Polley said of MacLean. “We’ve been staying on Johnny to keep shooting the ball and shoot the ball with consistency and continue to kind of just let it go and not think about it. We think he’s been thinking about it a little too much, trying to be a little too perfect and tonight he just kind of shot it.”
While the third quarters have showcased some of the Terriers’ worst plays in previous games, BU came into the second half firing on all cylinders.
The Crimson got two balls past senior goalkeeper Christian Carson-Banister, who had eight saves overall, bringing Harvard to a one goal margin at 7-6.
Though the Terriers weren’t phased as Dearth secured a hat trick and Burr tallied his 10th goal of the season to give BU a lead that it wouldn’t relinquish.
The Crimson’s Mahon and Cheek kept Harvard on the scoreboard, but were unable to equalize. The Terriers were able to get four more goals past goalkeeper Robert Shaw, including an extra insurance by freshman defenseman and long-stick midfielder Chase Levesque in the last 46 seconds to complete the 13-8 victory.
This game marks the team’s last non-conference game of the season until it faces Duke University on May 7. Looking forward, Polley hopes that the team continues to improve during its next five Patriot League games.
“We’re excited about the Patriot League and that’s what we gear this whole season up for, but we’re just trying to get better and we know they’re all big [games],” Polley said. “We know they’re all important. We know this is kind of the seniors’ last chance at this so we just want to play well so we’ve got a huge one on Saturday against Lafayette [College].”
