Boston University’s men’s lacrosse escaped a comeback attempt in Friday afternoon’s Patriot League Championship semifinal matchup against Lehigh University with a 13-12 overtime win at Nickerson Field.
Sophomore midfielder Tommy Bourque’s overtime goal ended the Mountain Hawks (8-7, 5-3 PL) season and sent the Terriers (11-4, 7-1 PL) to their first-ever Patriot League championship matchup.
“I saw an open lane and took the shot,” Bourque said.
Friday’s win was also the first Terrier playoff game at Nickerson Field playing in front of the home fans.
“Everyone was super excited to play here in front of the fans,” Bourque said. “We just really embraced that playoff atmosphere today and I think it helped us get the win, too.”
Bourque’s overtime goal gave him his second career hat-trick and tied senior attack Timmy Ley with a team-high of three goals. Ley also recorded three assists, leaving him with a game-high six points.
Nine different Terrier players, including Bourque and Ley, contributed to BU’s 13-point win.
“We don’t really care who scores,” BU head coach Ryan Polley said. “We’re just looking for one person to score and assist and make it happen.”
Polley said that anyone could step up to lead the team offensively and “be MVP.”
“Honestly, if we have a really hard time figuring that out, we have the best shot at winning,” Polley said. “That came to fruition today.”
The Mountain Hawks were led by junior attack Justin Tiernan who scored a game-high four goals. Senior attack Tommy Schelling recorded a team-high five points off three goals and two assists.
The Terrier’s strong defensive performance was crucial in taking home the win. Junior defender and 2022 Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year Roy Meyer recorded five caused turnovers en route to the Terrier victory.
Senior goalkeeper and the 2022 Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Year Matt Garber also had a strong performance notching 11 saves.
With this win, the Terriers advance to the Patriot League Championship game and play the United States Military Academy on Sunday at noon at Nickerson Field.
“We feel accomplished that we got here but certainly we all know that Sunday is going to be a really hard task,” Polley said. “The work is certainly not done, but we obviously can’t get there without winning this game.”
The Terriers previously hosted the Army Black Knights on April 29 in the regular-season finale and lost the closely contested matchup 15-14.
“This was a big step,” Polley said. “Hopefully on Sunday we can take an even bigger one.”
