PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Junior goalkeeper Joe McSorley made a career-high 24 saves to help lift the Boston University men's lacrosse team to an 8-7 victory at Providence on Sunday afternoon.

BU (1-0) won its season opener against Providence (0-1) for the fourth consecutive season. Trailing 6-5 after three quarters, the Terriers rallied to take an 8-6 lead and eventually hung on for the one-goal victory, the third straight one-goal triumph for BU over Providence.

"I'm proud of the way our guys battled and I'm impressed with the resiliency we showed," head coach Ryan Polley said. "We did a great job of getting stop after stop, especially in the third quarter when we gave them extra possessions. Our conditioning prevailed and guys dug in."

McSorley made 14 saves in the first half and followed with 10 more stops in the final 30 minutes, including several highlight-reel saves. He came one stop short of matching Christian Carson-Banister's single-game record of 25 saves that was set on May 4, 2014, against Duke.

"Joe was out of this world," Polley said. "He reminded me of that game Christian had against Duke when he just stared down shooters and made every save we needed. Joe saved his best lacrosse for the fourth quarter."

Sophomore Chris Gray paced the Terrier attack with three goals and one assist while senior James Burr tallied two goals and added an assist. Freshmen Jack Collins collected his first two collegiate goals while classmate Jett Dziama's first collegiate goal proved to be the game-winner. Senior Brendan Homire also added an assist, but his biggest play of the game came in the fourth quarter when he forced a turnover and collected the ensuing ground ball to allow the Terriers to run out the clock.

Sophomore Sean Christman went 8-of-11 at the faceoff X, but his best lacrosse came in the fourth quarter when he won four of the final five faceoffs of the game.

"Chris' goal early in the fourth quarter settled everyone down," Polley said. "I was pleased with our clearing in the fourth quarter, going 4-for-4, and I thought Sean did a great job in the fourth quarter. I was also proud of how we executed in the last two minutes to kill the clock and not allow Providence to get the ball back."

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Gray scored the first two goals of the game to give BU a 2-0 lead with 7;14 left in the first quarter.
• After Providence made it 2-1, Collins notched his first goal of the day to regain the two-goal edge for BU.
• Collins did the same again later in the quarter, as he answered a Friar goal just 20 seconds later to give the Terriers a 4-2 lead.
• Providence finished the quarter with a goal and then tallied the first two goals of the second stanza to take its first lead of the game at 5-4 with 9:50 on the clock.
• Burr picked out the top right corner with 5:56 to go in the frame to send the teams to halftime tied at 5-5.
• Sean Leahey scored the lone goal of the third quarter to give the Friars a 6-5 edge.
• Gray began the BU rally by completing his hat trick just 41 seconds into the final quarter.
• Burr gave the Terriers their first lead of the second half with 6:08 remaining in regulation.
• The senior then assisted on Dziama's first collegiate goal with 4:31 to go to push the Terrier lead to 8-6.
• Providence got a goal back with 2:32 to play and looked to have a chance to tie the game, but Homire kept a Friar from getting past the midway line, knocking the ball out of his stick and then picking up the ground ball.
• BU then ran out the remainder of the clock to seal the victory.

GAME NOTES

• In addition to his 24 saves, McSorley also recorded four ground balls.
• McSorley's previous career high for saves in a game was 16, set against Army West Point on April 7, 2018.
• Junior Nicholas Ellerton made his first career start at close defense and finished with two caused turnovers and two ground balls.
• Sophomore Nick Mohler also made his first career start on defense for BU, collecting one ground ball and one caused turnover.
• Sophomore Sean Christman recorded a team-high five ground balls.
• Junior Reece Eddy collected two ground balls and added a pair of caused turnovers in his Terrier debut.
• Homire and senior Quintin Germain also finished with two caused turnovers, with Homire adding three ground balls.
• Burr's next goal will be the 100th of his collegiate career.

NEXT UP: OHIO STATE

• The Terriers will travel to Ohio State on Feb. 9.
• Game time is set for 12 p.m.