No. 16/15 Terriers Edged by Lafayette, 11-10

BOSTON – The No. 16/15 Boston University men’s lacrosse team lost a heartbreaker on Saturday at Nickerson Field, as Lafayette beat the final horn to defeat the Terriers, 11-10.

BU (7-5, 4-2 PL) forced a Lafayette (5-6, 2-5 PL) turnover in the final minute and called timeout following a successful clear with 34 seconds to play. On the ensuring possession, graduate student Vince D’Alto had his shot saved and Lafayette cleared the ball down the field to Peter Lehman, who just got his shot off in time. The referees reviewed the goal and it stood to give Lafayette its first-ever win over the Terriers.

D’Alto led the Terriers with six points on two goals and four assists. Classmate Louis Perfect notched four points (2g, 2a) while junior Brenden Kelly and sophomore Jimmy Kohr scored two goals apiece. Graduate student Jake Cates and freshman Luke Davis were the other goal scorers while senior James Corcoran added an assist.

Defensively, graduate student Roy Meyer and sophomore Connor Kehm each recorded four ground balls, with Perfetto leading all Terriers with five ground balls. Brown led BU with three caused turnovers while graduate student Patrick Morrison forced a pair of giveaways. In addition to his goal, Davis caused two turnovers and added a ground ball. Junior Matthew Fritz went 8-of-15 at the X with a pair of ground balls. Junior Will Barnes finished with 12 saves, including four in the fourth quarter.

Prior to the game, the Terriers honored their seven seniors: Corcoran, Tim Barrett, Tommy Bourque, Dane DeGoler, Brian Garrity, Mario Hemann and Tommy Jepson. All seven seniors saw the field on Saturday.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Lafayette opened the scoring at 11:10 of the first quarter and then doubled its lead with 4:39 on the clock.
• BU responded on the ensuing faceoff, however. Meyer picked up the loose ball and pushed it to D’Alto, who then found Perfetto for the goal.
• Kohr then ended the quarter with his first goal of the day when he dodged from X and beat Joe Doherty (12 saves).
• Jacob Freeman restored the Lafayette lead at 10:28 of the second quarter, but Kohr answered again just 46 seconds later off a pass from D’Alto.
• Liam Sargent quickly gave the Leopards their lead back and it remained 4-3 until D’Alto converted a feed from Perfetto at 4:51.
• Kelly then took advantage of a man-up chance with 1:26 remaining in the first half to give BU its first lead of the game.
• The Leopards scored twice in a span of 29 seconds to take a 6-5 lead just 1:53 into the third quarter.
• BU countered with two goals of its own, beginning with a terrific individual effort by Davis. He knocked down a Lafayette pass, picked up the ground ball and raced down the field before scoring his second goal of the season to tie the game with 12:21 left in the third.
• Kelly then struck with 10:28 on the clock to give his team a 7-6 lead.
• Charlie Cunniffe bookended a Perfetto goal to create an 8-8 score heading into the fourth quarter.
• Cates bounced off a defender and uncorked a rocket past Doherty for a 9-8 lead with 12:07 to go.
• D’Alto then made it 10-8 with 7:30 left, but Lafayette rallied with two goals in just over a minute to tie the game with 4:38 remaining.
• With time winding down, Lafayette strung together a lengthy possession and got a valuable shot clock reset to keep the ball for an additional 60 seconds, but Davis forced a turnover and Kehm recovered the loose ball to give BU a chance to win it in the final seconds.
• The Terriers’ plans were dashed, however, when Doherty denied D’Alto and Lehman beat the buzzer.

GAME NOTES

• Perfetto became the first Terrier to ever put together three seasons with 60+ points.
• He ended Saturday with 63 points on 34 goals and 29 assists.
• BU held Lafayette to a 14-of-20 clearing performance but the Terriers were just 18-for-26 clearing.
• Both teams went 1-for-3 on EMOs, were 12-of-24 at the faceoff X and got 12 saves from their goalies.
• The Terriers collected 39 ground balls to just 26 for Lafayette.
• BU caused 13 of the Leoaprds’ 19 turnovers.

UP NEXT

• BU will begin a two-game road stretch to end the regular season on Saturday, April 20, when the Terriers travel to Lehigh.
• That game will be nationally televised on CBS Sports Network at 12 p.m.