Men’s Lacrosse: Terriers Come Back in 2 Overtimes to Win

By: Marisa Ingemi

If there was a tone to start the season on the right foot, Boston University found it on Saturday.

Trailing 7-3 in the third quarter, the Terriers rode a five goal run to defeat Providence College on the road, 8-7 in double overtime. BU drew two penalties in the overtime periods, including a one minute tripping call, to give them multiple chances.

Off the opening draw of the second overtime, sophomore midfielder Brendan Homire was found open in the slot where he twisted around to fire off his back foot and past Friars goalie Tate Boyce.

Providence opened the scoring early and held the Terriers to one goal in the first quarter, coming from junior attack Jack Wilson, and went up 3-1 in the second. Two tallies from Cal Dearth and the first career goal of freshman John MacLean had the game knotted at three heading into the half.

However, that’s when the Friars found a groove. Led by a hat trick from freshman Brandan Kearns, Providence jumped ahead 7-3. BU wouldn’t score again until 42 seconds left in the third quarter when Ryan Hillburn found the back of the net on a man advantage.

Hillburn, who scored twice with two assists, lived up his nickname of “Sparky” as he sparked a Terrier run that would lead to a victory. Midfielder Hayden Ruiz followed up his strong preseason with two goals, along with a goal from Homire, to tie the game at seven. It was Ruiz’s second goal with 1:33 remaining in the game that sent the game into overtime.

BU had several chances to score in the first overtime, with MacLean getting two chances himself; one was saved by Boyce and the other he missed just high over the crossbar.

Carson-Banister made 16 saves and shut out the Friars from 5:23 on in the third quarter. The senior goalie had his most saves in a game since 2/16/16 vs High Point where he made 18 stops.

Sam Talkow was out as a game-time decision which left Joe Stucky to take the draws. He went 8-for-16 in his first career start as a FOGO, with Greg Wozniak and Thomas Schmidt each losing one face-off. On the other end, Alex George won 10 of 16.

Ruiz and Hillburn each ended up with four points while Homire had three and Wilson had two. Wozniak and Dominick Calisto each had three groundballs and Dearth, Henry Lee, and Cam Pincus each caused a turnover.

The win against Providence snapped a five game losing streak the Terriers were on to end last season, and it sets a tone for 2017 with a comeback victory. Providence took one too many penalties, and BU remained disciplined throughout with just three fouls the entire game compared to seven for the Friars.

It’s the kind of win a program can build off of in year four.

BU next plays at UMass Lowell next Saturday in the second game of a four game road trip to open the season. The Terriers defeated Lowell at Nickerson Field last season in the second game of the year.

Next time out, BU will need to focus once more on clears, as they went just 5-for-8 to begin the game as they struggled with Providence’s 10-man ride. They also turned the ball over 17 times, which is a bit more than a potential top-20 team would hope for.