During its first Patriot League tournament, the No. 18 Boston University men’s lacrosse team was able to advance to the semifinals against the No. 12 United States Military Academy in Baltimore, Maryland.
Although junior attacker Jack Wilson and junior midfielder Hayden Ruiz collected three points, the Terriers (12-4, 5-3 Patriot League) fell 10-7 to Army (11-4, 6-2 Patriot League) and were unable to advance in their first postseason appearance.
BU head coach Ryan Polley said when the team realized its season was likely over, the scene in the locker room was a bittersweet one.
“We accomplished so much, but I’m not sure we played our best game against Army,” Polley said. “We played very, very hard and battled until the end, but we just left plays out there and made a couple of mistakes that were a little uncharacteristic of us, so I think we were disappointed in that regard, but there sure was a lot of pride in that locker room, and some guys were just upset that it was coming to an end.”
The Black Knights came out of the gate strong with four unanswered goals, three of which were unassisted, within a seven-minute span in the first quarter.
“It was a big moment for us,” Polley said. “We’ve been on national TV before, but never in a winner-take-all [game]. It was a big moment for us and I think we made some uncharacteristic mistakes defensively. I think just offensively, we had a couple of turnovers and we hit a couple of pipes and next thing you know we’re down 4-0. A lot had to do with Army, they made some great plays.”
After being shutout in the opening quarter, BU responded with three straight goals of its own, but was unable to tie or gain a lead for the remainder of the contest.
Senior attacker Cal Dearth was limited to just one goal by Army defender Johnny Surdick.
Army’s leading scorer, senior attacker Cole Johnson, ended the three-goal run after putting up a goal and assist to further the Black Knights’ stronghold of the game.
Senior goalkeeper Christian Carson-Banister’s five saves and a tally from Wilson with less than two minutes remaining brought the Terriers’ within two goals at halftime.
“He made some huge saves for us and I think he made the majority of saves he should’ve made,” Polley said. “Our defense kind of gave up some shots that were too high quality, but [Carson-Banister] played great, he played great in the Lehigh [University] game, so it certainly wasn’t on him that we gave up the 10 goals.”
While each team put up 11 shots in the third quarter, Army’s sophomore attacker Nate Jones and senior midfielder Avery Littlejohn each found the back of the net to double the Black Knights’ lead at 8-4.
An unassisted effort from sophomore attacker James Burr with 11 seconds remaining in the frame prevented BU from being shutout once again.
Seven turnovers and a poor performance at the faceoff X (1-for-5) plagued the Terriers in the fourth quarter as they tried to gain traction in the crucial game.
However, BU went 5-6 on clearing and 18-20 overall while keeping Army at 50 percent (4-8) in the final quarter and 12-17 throughout the night.
Army senior Avery Littlejohn collected the hat trick with less than seven minutes remaining in the game, but Burr was able to shoot the ball past Army’s sophomore goaltender AJ Barretto after a nice feed from Wilson.
In the past five games, Burr has tallied 14 goals and three assists to end the 2017 season with 31 points.
Wilson’s helper and two goals left his 42-game point streak in tact.
With three and a half minutes remaining in regulation, senior attacker and midfielder Ryan Johnston capitalized on the man-up opportunity for his third goal of the season.
After losing a faceoff and forcing a turnover, the Terriers opted for the 10-man ride, which proved unsuccessful as Johnson scored on the open net to seal the Black Knights’ victory.
While BU just missed a chance in the Patriot League championships, it recorded its best regular season record yet.
Though an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament is unlikely, BU will look to finish strong when it plays No. 3 Duke University on May 7.
“We’re just going to continue to work and get better,” Polley said. “It’s going to be an opportunity for the seniors to play in one last game and we’re all going to play hard for them. We’re going to try to win the game. It’s certainly a long shot that we’d be an at-large NCAA Tournament team, but stranger things have happened.”
Jordan Green contributed to the reporting of this article.
