{"id":48427,"date":"2025-05-03T14:05:51","date_gmt":"2025-05-03T18:05:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/?p=48427"},"modified":"2025-05-03T14:07:46","modified_gmt":"2025-05-03T18:07:46","slug":"mens-lacrosse-late-surge-sends-bu-to-patriot-league-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2025\/05\/03\/mens-lacrosse-late-surge-sends-bu-to-patriot-league-championship\/","title":{"rendered":"Men\u2019s Lacrosse: Late Surge Sends BU to Patriot League Championship\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Hannah Connors<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

With their championship hopes hanging by a thread, Boston University Men\u2019s Lacrosse (11-4, 6-2 PL) battled through a tightly contested game, relying on a late fourth-quarter push to edge out the Lafayette Leopards (10-6, 5-3 PL) 12-10 in a gritty semifinal showdown.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of hard work goes into the season,\u201d coach Ryan Polley said. \u201cIt\u2019s nice to see the guys make plays at a really critical time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Attackman Billy Irish was able to break the ice for Lafayette, tallying the first goal of the game, but the Terriers quickly answered back with midfielder Tyler Fox tying the game 1-1.<\/span><\/p>\n

Following, both teams exhibited sloppy play. Interceptions were made on both sides, and both teams struggled to pick up clean ground balls. This led to Lafayette dominating offensive zone time but not generating strong opportunities.<\/span><\/p>\n

Barnes\u2019 impressive five saves in the first quarter kept the Leopards to only two goals.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Terriers were able to respond one more time before the first quarter closed with a fake low-to-high shot from freshman attacker Timothy Shannehan.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Leopards went back-to-back opening the second quarter. Midfielder Nicholas Blalock put Lafayette on a fast break opportunity, and midfielder Joseph Duggan netted a behind-the-back goal, setting the score 4-2.<\/span><\/p>\n

The next ten minutes were a stalemate, but the Terriers broke through. With three minutes left, attackman Zach Travaglini put BU within one at\u00a0 4-3.<\/span><\/p>\n

This goal gave BU a crucial momentum boost, and the nation\u2019s top-ranked man-up unit capitalized. Attackmen Jimmy Kohr connected with Tommy Garofalo to bring the game back even.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lafayette answered once more with Blalock scoring his third goal of the game, putting the Leopards up with 30 seconds left in the half.<\/span><\/p>\n

Opening the second half, BU\u2019s aggressive ten-man ride forced a turnover, and Jimmy Kohr wasted no time capitalizing, burying the equalizer to tie the game.<\/span><\/p>\n

Shortly after, Shannehan put the Terriers up 6-5, marking BU\u2019s first lead.<\/span><\/p>\n

Subsequently, both teams went back and forth on goals. Ending the third quarter tied 7-7.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lafayette opened the quarter first, with a goal from midfielder Liam Sargent. BU, however, was able to maintain a greater amount of consistent possession to finish out the game.<\/span><\/p>\n

The turning point was a save made by midfielder James Lapina. With BU\u2019s net exposed during their ten-man ride, Lafayette fired toward the empty cage, but Lapina snagged the ball out of the net, denying the goal and keeping the Terriers alive.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt could have changed the momentum\u2026,\u201d Polley said of Lapina\u2019s play if the ball had gone in the net. \u201cGreat players make great plays at big times, and James did that.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Following this incredible display of athleticism, Lapina set up Travaglini to score a high-to-low goal, tying the game.<\/span><\/p>\n

After this goal, the Terriers never trailed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kohr scored on a man-up opportunity, and with quick momentum from a ground ball off the faceoff, Donald Varnerin gave BU its first two-goal lead of the game.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

BU\u2019s face-off unit thrived in the second half, led by standout freshman FOGO Madden Murphy. Over the past two games, Murphy has been instrumental in securing key possessions for the Terriers, winning 64.6% of his faceoffs (31-for-48).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s [Madden Murphy] really started to surge. He\u2019s given us some offense at the X, being able to pop a couple [balls] forward,\u201d Polley said. \u201cBut I just thought he battled.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Succeeding this goal, BU\u2019s confidence increased with two highlight reel-worthy goals from Ben Morris and Jimmy O\u2019Connell<\/span><\/p>\n

Morris toe-dragged two defenders to slip in his goal, and O\u2019Connell faked low and shot high, leaving the goalie looking at his feet instead of tracking the ball going into the top of the net. O\u2019Connell managed to accomplish this all while being on the ground.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

O\u2019Connell has been a stand-out player for the Terriers. He currently leads the team in points and is ranked 16th in the nation for points per game.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although Lafayette was able to record two more goals because of ill-timed penalties by BU, including a two-minute locked-in penalty, defensive efforts from players like Connor Kehm and Trey Brown kept the Terriers in contention.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ultimately, BU\u2019s late push allowed them to secure their victory and punch their ticket to the Patriot League Championship. The Terriers will face the Colgate University Raiders on Sunday, May 4th at 11:30 A.M. at West Point. Streaming will be available on CBS Sports Network.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEverything is on the line,\u201d Polley said.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Hannah Connors With their championship hopes hanging by a thread, Boston University Men\u2019s Lacrosse (11-4, 6-2 PL) battled through a tightly contested game, relying on a late fourth-quarter push to edge out the Lafayette Leopards (10-6, 5-3 PL) 12-10 in a gritty semifinal showdown. \u201cA lot of hard work goes into the season,\u201d coach […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1023,1026,1029,19],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48427"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24116"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48427"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48427\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48428,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48427\/revisions\/48428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}