Men’s Lacrosse Falls to Navy on Final-Minute Goal

By: Liam O’Brien

BOSTON – One year ago, the Boston University men’s lacrosse team stunned Navy with a goal in the final minute to garner a 8-7 road win in Annapolis, Maryland.

The scene was similar on Saturday afternoon at Nickerson Field, only it was a player in a blue jersey who poured in the deciding score.

Navy (2-2, 1-0 Patriot League) junior midfielder Greyson Torain scored the game-winning goal with 59.1 seconds remaining before tacking on an empty-netter with six ticks left to give his team a 10-8 win in the Patriot League opener for both squads.

Torain mixed up BU (2-2, 0-1 PL) sophomore defenseman Malcolm Glendinning with a split dodge on the deciding goal, switching the stick to his left side before unleashing a bounce shot that scooted past Terriers sophomore goaltender Joe McSorley.

“Navy made the plays and we didn’t,” Terriers Head Coach Ryan Polley said. “It came down to the last play, and [Torain], who is a great player, just dodged our zone and made a shot. The made one more play than us.”

McSorley made a collection of stunning saves en route to 12 for the day, but Navy was able to get to their shots throughout the game and make life tough for the goaltender. The Midshipmen were paced by a scintillating five-goal effort by senior attack Jack Ray and outdueled BU 9-3 at the faceoff dot in the second half.

“Ray had a really big game against our zone,” Polley said. “Getting on that low corner and being tough to move. He made some nice plays and some nice shots.”

The Terriers hopped out to a blazing start. Using their zone defense to limit Navy from gaining any offensive momentum, BU poured in three goals in the first 12 minutes of the game to take a 3-0 lead.

Senior midfielder Hayden Ruiz and freshman attack Chris Gray gave the Terriers a 2-0 advantage with on-the-run rips before senior attack Ryan Hillburn punctuated a rebound chance with a one-hander off a carom.

However, Ray and the Midshipmen responded in tune. He garnered a hat trick in short order, putting in a trio of goals in just over five minutes to boost Navy’s comeback. After a laser from Torain fromwith 9:47 remaining in the first half, the Midshipmen somehow found themselves controlling the tilt with a 5-3 lead.

BU flipped the script coming out of halftime, going on a four-goal surge to regain the lead behind a plethora of impressive stops by McSorley. Hillburn started the scoring less than two minutes into the half with a man-up bounce shot before senior attack Jack Wilson tied the game on a silky smooth backhand in front of Kern.

Wilson then proceeded to assist on Burr’s go-ahead tally just 4:24 later, and less than two minutes ensued before BU sophomore midfielder John MacLean channeled his inner Kevin Durant and landed a jump shot into the top corner of the goal.

But Navy, and Ray for that matter, was not done. The New Jersey native scored his fourth goal of the game with 1:08 remaining in the third quarter to cut the BU lead in half before Midshipmen senior attack Dave Little picked up a loose ball in front of the net and tied the score at the beginning of the fourth.

“Got to give a lot of credit to Navy,” Polley said. “They took our best punch twice. They scrapped. We gave up two critical rebound goals that got it to 7-7.”

Wilson gave BU the lead yet again with a stinging shot from the left wing, but Ray fought back again with his fifth goal to knot the scoreboard at eight with 7:49 to play.