T12: Men's Lacrosse Enters National Rankings
June 23, 2015 | General
This summer, GoTerriers.com will once again count down the top 12 achievements of Boston University teams and student-athletes from the previous year. Check back each Tuesday and Friday as we reveal this year's Terrier Twelve.
Coming in at No. 12 in this year’s Terrier Twelve is the men’s lacrosse team earning the program’s first national ranking.
The Terriers improved immensely in their second varsity season, going 6-8 after a 2-12 inaugural campaign. BU was 6-2 at one point thanks to a four-game win streak, a stretch that was highlighted by an 18-11 win at then-No. 18 and eventual Patriot League champion Colgate on March 7, which was the first victory over a ranked opponent in program history.
Two weeks later, the Terriers topped Bucknell at home in dramatic fashion, a win that finally sealed their place in the national conversation. On March 23, BU entered the Cascade/Maverik Inside Lacrosse poll at No. 19, becoming the first second-year program in recent history to earn a spot in a national poll.
An additional milestone for head coach Ryan Polley’s young program was the team’s first win at Nickerson Field, a 13-9 triumph over Canisius on Feb. 14. The Terriers won their first two tilts of 2015, defeating Mercer, 17-6, on Feb. 7 at the Harvard Stadium Bubble.
A key to the Terriers’ success was its vastly improved offense under the guidance of assistant coach Drew Kelleher. After averaging just 7.21 goals per game in 2014, BU finished 2015 ranked 23rd in the nation at 10.71 goals per game. Three Terriers collected at least 40 points, led by midfielder Cal Dearth. The sophomore was a First Team All-Patriot League selection after scoring a program-record 42 points thanks to 19 goals and a program-best 23 assists.
Two freshmen burst onto the scene in 2015, as Jack Wilson and Ryan Hilburn tallied an identical 25 goals and 15 assists for 40 points. The 25 goals for each attackman was a single-season school record. Wilson, along with Dearth, also set a new school standard for points in a game when both players tallied seven at Vermont on Feb. 28. Dearth’s six assists that afternoon was also a school record, a feat he matched on April 17 against Holy Cross.
Sophomore Sam Talkow joined Dearth in becoming one of the first two Terriers to received year-end honors from the Patriot League. Talkow was a Second Team All-Patriot League honoree as one of the most dominant faceoff specialists in the country. He ranked first in the conference and fifth in the NCAA with a win percentage of .659, and Talkow also won an NCAA-best 26 faceoffs at Colgate. His 18 ground balls in that game was also the second highest single-game total of the season, and Talkow finished with 104 total ground balls.
Under the tutelage of assistant coach Justin Domingos, the Terriers improved their defense by one goal per game, allowing an average of just 10 per contest in 2015. Sophomore Greg Wozniak became the first BU long pole to score a goal and he finished 2015 with five points (3g, 2a). More impressively, however, was his play on the defensive end. He led the Terriers with 23 caused turnovers, and his average of 1.71 caused turnovers per game ranked 11th in the nation.
BU will have a good chance to earn a national ranking in 2016, as the Terriers graduated just one player from last season’s squad.
