Following Saturday’s last-minute 10-8 loss to the United States Naval Academy in its first taste of Patriot League action, the Boston University men’s lacrosse team looked to get back in the win column as it traveled to Smithfield, Rhode Island Tuesday night to take on Bryant University.
Despite being down two goals in the third period, the Terriers (3-2, 0-1 Patriot League) overcame the Bulldogs (2-3) 8-7 in overtime after a tally from sophomore midfielder John MacLean.
MacLean finished the night with four goals and is now second on the team with nine behind junior attack James Burr’s 10.
BU head coach Ryan Polley noted that the biggest issue in having a short week is the loss of some prep time that his team usually would have had.
“You really don’t get the normal amount of time to prep for the team and go over everything they do,” Polley said. “You really only have one day of prep. We usually have five days if you play Saturday to Saturday games.”
The Terriers and the Bulldogs traded goals in the first quarter and entered the second tied at two.
Bryant broke the tie just 48 seconds into the second stanza, but senior attack Ryan Hilburn answered back three minutes later, knotting the game at three.
Bulldogs senior midfielder Tom Kennedy added one more goal during the quarter for his team to take a 4-3 lead after the first 30 minutes of play.
Senior attack Jack Wilson recorded a point on all three of BU’s goals in the first half.
The Terriers’ sophomore goalkeeper Joe McSorley stopped seven shots while his counterpart junior Kevin Beimfohr did not record a single save.
Entering the contest, McSorley averaged 12 stops per game, which topped the Patriot League and had him 10th in the nation.
“He’s really made the saves we’ve needed him to make,” Polley said. “He’s a really good goalie and he steals two or three [goals] a game … He’s really kind of bounced back. His first start he really struggled in the Providence game and since then he’s been lights out.”
MacLean ended a two-goal run by Bryant after scoring his second of the contest with 13 seconds left in the third quarter.
This marker cut the Bulldogs’ lead to 6-5 heading into the final quarter of regulation.
After going 8-for-22 at the faceoff X against Navy (2-2, 1-0 Patriot League), BU entered the matchup with a .462 faceoff percentage.
The Terriers’ woes continued against Bryant as they went 4-for-19 at the faceoff dot against graduate midfielder Kenny Massa.
“We knew there was going to be a battle there, we knew they were going to be good there,” Polley said. “… We got to be better than 4-19, we’ll continue to work at that. It’s a little bit on the faceoff guys [and] it’s a little bit on the wing play.”
Burr tied the game up for BU once again less than five minutes into the fourth quarter.
With 3:28 left in regulation, senior attack Cam Ziegler put an end the the Terriers’ run with his second goal of the game and put the Bulldogs up by one.
MacLean was able to tie the game up 81 seconds later to complete the hat-trick and force an overtime period.
However, MacLean didn’t stop there, and found the back of the net for his fourth of the night to win the game for the BU.
“We knew it was going to be a dogfight,” Polley said. “It’s a midweek game. We knew it was going to come down to probably the last possession and be a one-goal game.”
