It had been a long time coming for the Boston University men’s lacrosse team, but Wednesday night signified the first postseason victory for BU’s (12-3, 5-3 Patriot League) head coach Ryan Polley and his team.
The Terriers had stellar offensive performances from senior attacker Cal Dearth and sophomore attacker James Burr, as they rode a dominant effort to a 10-4 win over Lehigh University in the Patriot League quarterfinals.
The pair scored seven goals combined on the night, with Dearth collecting a hat trick while Burr emerged for his second consecutive four-goal performance. Dearth also posted a pair of assists while Burr chipped in a helper as well.
“[Dearth] made his plays,” Polley said. “When you think about it, we have so many seniors who are on this team who are giving us so much.”
Now, BU will look to prove that its playoff success was more than just a fleeting moment when it travels to Baltimore for a Friday night Patriot League semifinal showdown against the No. 2 seed United States Military Academy.
“[We] have a lot left in the tank,” Polley said. “We are going to rest up, and certainly we have a really tough task ahead of us playing West Point.”
The Black Knights (10-3, 6-2 Patriot League) will serve as a brutal test for the Terriers after enjoying a successful 6-2 in-conference campaign.
BU is 0-4 in the all-time series against Army, who finished the season with the highest average margin of victory (3.4) in the league while also recording the second-highest average goals per game (11.23).
The Black Knights’ offense has been a strong force throughout the season. They tied for the conference lead in average shots on goal per game (24.77) and racked up an average of 16.92 points per game.
Despite having a substantially stout defensive front, which allows just 8.2 goals per game, the Terriers struggled to limit Army’s aggressive offensive approach in their lone meeting of the season on April 8.
The Black Knights ripped 11 goals past senior goaltender Christian Carson-Banister, who was recently named Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Year. Tewaaraton Award Watch List senior attacker Cole Johnson contributed to Army’s scoring barrage with four points.
Limiting Johnson will be the most challenging task for BU’s defense, as the he ranks third in the Patriot League with 3.5 points per game while sitting sixth in the conference in goals.
For Polley, the opportunity to hand Army their third conference loss of the season could hinge on the Terriers ability to prevent the Black Knights from securing any second chance points.
“We were not great in the clearing game [on Tuesday],” Polley said. “We were able to score on a 10-man ride, but we have to be better than 18-for-24. That is not good enough when you get to championship weekend.”
While containing Army’s offensive pace will be important in sustaining the momentum that the Terriers are riding, thanks to Tuesday’s shellacking of Lehigh (7-7, 4-4 Patriot League), the team will need to improve their efficiency at the faceoff-X.
BU was less successful in the faceoff battle and went 6 for 12.
Junior midfielder and faceoff specialist Joe Stucky has done an admirable job taking faceoffs but he will need to put up a strong performance against Army’s senior midfielder Dan Grabher, one of the conference’s most formidable faceoff specimen.
Grabher took home the honors of Patriot League Faceoff Specialist of the Year by winning 149 of his 235 faceoff attempts on the season, ranking fifth in the NCAA with a win percent of 0.637. Grabher also ranks within the top 10 all time Patriot League in faceoff wins.
“We are going against the best faceoff guy in the league,” Polley said. “[He is] the Specialist of the Year. That is going to be key. [Stucky] is going to bounce back and battle, and we need to continue to have great wing play. We are going to work on that.”
