Men’s Lacrosse: Terriers Face UMass Lowell at Nickerson

By: Marisa Ingemi

The Boston University Terriers will take to the field for the second time this season on Friday afternoon when they face the UMass-Lowell Riverhawks in a rescheduled contest.

Originally scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday, the game was rescheduled to be played at 12 p.m. on Friday due to weather this weekend. This is the first time the Terriers will ever face UMass-Lowell, a program two years younger than BU.

BU came out with a victory last weekend at home when it defeated Providence, 9-5 at Nickerson Field. Freshman James Burr came out with a two goal effort, matched by sophomore Jack Wilson. Junior Sam Talkow won 16 out of 18 faceoffs taken.

This will be the first game of the year for UMass-Lowell, coming off of a 1-13 season. Three freshmen led the team in scoring in 2015, Jon Phillips the leader with 28 points overall. The Riverhawks also boast a roster being built with Canadians, led by Phillips and joined by Sean Tyrell, Cory Highfield, and Keenan Koswin.

The head coach of the Riverhawks, Ed Stephensen, built up the program in Binghamton in 2001 and was brought to UMass-Lowell to do the same thing.

A young program, just one senior, Kyle Strong, is listed on the Lowell roster. Projected to finish last in the America East conference, the Riverhawks are still a few years away from becoming a contending team.

Meanwhile, BU is a young program itself, but still much farther ahead than UMass-Lowell is. The Terriers have players listed as preseason all conference players and one of the best players at his position in the country in Talkow.

This is a game that BU should look at to continue to build itself up before conference play begins. There’s no such thing as an easy victory, and this will have challenges of its own, including BU working on clearing and trying to close out a game. BU was nearly shut out in the fourth quarter against Providence last week, and if it wants to continue to win contests, the Terriers will have to learn how to close these games.

Faceoff against the Riverhawks is at 12 p.m. on Friday afternoon and can be seen live on the Patriot League Network.