After a disappointing loss against the United States Military Academy last weekend, the Boston University men’s lacrosse team will return to Nickerson Field this Saturday to face No. 2 Loyola Maryland at the program’s second Lax-a-Palooza.
Having topped the Patriot League men’s lacrosse preseason poll for the fourth consecutive year since joining the league, the Greyhounds (7-4, 5-1 Patriot League) tallied all 16 possible first-place votes to garner a total of 128 points in the preseason poll.
The Terriers (9-3, 3-3 Patriot League) will seek the final victory needed to secure a spot alongside the Greyhounds in the 2017 Patriot League tournament.
BU head coach Ryan Polley has no qualms about his team’s ability to respond to its tough loss to Army (10-1, 6-0 Patriot League) last weekend in which the Terriers held the lead in the final five minutes before the Black Knights scored two goals in less than a minute.
“We responded by having a good week of practice and obviously, we’re disappointed that we played a strong game against a strong team but couldn’t finish the game,” Polley said. “Nothing really changes from week-to-week we just work hard, prepare and try to practice well and play your best game on Saturday. We’ve been happy with the way our team has responded after all of our losses this year.”
The Greyhounds’ sophomore attacker and Patriot League Preseason Offensive Player of the Year Pat Spencer will be menace to the Terriers’ defense this weekend.
Having tied the school’s single-season record with 89 points in 2016, Spencer led the team with 52 assists and totaled 37 goals, tying for team-high honors.
It will be imperative for the Terriers to put up a strong defensive performance against Loyola’s leading goal scorer, but Polley insists that his team must focus on themselves rather than opponents.
“[We will] support when necessary,” Polley said. “He’s a great player, but we’re going to continue to worry about ourselves and play the defense that we play. Their offense is obviously very strong, with a lot of seniors on it and Spencer, they’re going to be very hard to defend. It’s going to be a tough team for us, but we’re ready for challenges.”
While Spencer’s offensive power is a force to reckon with, the Terriers wield two players, junior attack Jack Wilson and senior midfielder Cal Dearth, who are tied for the team lead in goals scored this season.
Wilson, Dearth and Spencer have each tallied 23 goals this season, and the Terriers’ extra leading goal scorer grants them superior offensive depth that the Greyhounds cannot match.
However, the Greyhounds’ power play percentage of 0.400 reflects a significantly higher success rate in man-up opportunities compared to the Terriers’ 0.341, despite BU having been dealt 11 more power play opportunities than Loyola.
Saturday’s match will exhibit both teams’ offensive talent and most likely produce a high-scoring game between the two evenly matched opponents.
BU is responsible for slightly more turnovers, counting 169 this season compared to 138 by Loyola. Possession will be key in Saturday’s matchup for the Terriers to have a chance to outscore the Greyhounds.
“At the end of the day, if we can limit our turnovers, it forces teams to have to clear the ball,” Polley said. “That really hurt us when we turned the ball over in transition [against Lehigh]. And the game-tying goal that Army scored was a transition goal. It’s very important for us to be efficient on offense and make sure we clear the ball and not give team’s second opportunities and value the ball on offense so we don’t create transition opportunities [for other teams].”
