The third-seeded Boston University men's lacrosse team will face second-seeded Lehigh in a Patriot League semifinal contest on Friday night at Ridley Athletic Complex on the campus of Loyola Maryland. Opening faceoff is set for 8 p.m., with the game being televised live on CBS Sports Network.
Top-seeded Loyola will host fourth-seeded Army West Point in Friday's first semifinal at 5 p.m.
BACK IN THE SEMIFINALS
- The Terriers have advanced to the Patriot League semifinals in all three of their postseason appearances dating back to 2017.
- BU is in search of its first trip to a PL title game.
HOW DID WE GET HERE?
- The Terriers raced out to a 7-1 halftime lead on Tuesday against Bucknell and held on for a 14-8 home win in a Patriot League quarterfinal contest.
- Sophomore Chris Gray notched five goals and four assists while senior James Burr tallied four goals and one assist.
- Freshman Timmy Ley notched a hat trick while senior Brendan Homire and freshman close defender Will Carson each added a goal.
- Redshirt junior Josh Williamson, junior Reece Eddy and freshman Blake Phillips added one assist apiece.
- Eddy also collected six ground balls and three caused turnovers while junior Chase Levesque picked up seven ground balls and three caused turnovers.
- Sophomore Sean Christman went 15-for-26 at the faceoff X with 12 ground balls.
- Junior Joe McSorley made eight of his 15 saves in the first half and stopped six shots in the fourth quarter to prevent a Bucknell comeback.
HISTORY WITH LEHIGH
- BU is 1-6 all-time against Lehigh, with the one triumph being a 10-4 home win in the 2017 PL quarterfinals.
- Four of the six losses have been by two goals or fewer, with no defeat being by a margin greater than four goals.
LAST TIME AGAINST LEHIGH
- BU and Lehigh were tied at the end of the first two quarters, but the then-No. 14/15 Mountain Hawks scored five goals in the third quarter en route to a 10-8 home win on March 30.
- Sophomore Chris Gray notched five points (3g, 2a), factoring on all three fourth-quarter goals during the Terriers' comeback attempt.
- Senior James Burr scored three goals while freshmen Timmy Ley and Jake Cates also found the back of the net.
- Senior Brendan Homire recorded two assists.
- Junior Reece Eddy caused four turnovers and gathered three ground balls.
- Freshman Will Carson caused two turnovers and had four ground balls while junior Nicholas Ellerton caused two turnovers and had two ground balls.
- Junior Joe McSorley made 11 saves.
BEST OF BU AGAINST LEHIGH
- James Burr leads the Terriers in goals (8) and points (12) against Lehigh.
- Chris Gray has recorded four goals and four assists versus the Mountain Hawks.
- Brendan Homire has notched five assists and seven ground balls against Lehigh.
- Michael Laviano (2g, 2a) has four points against the Mountain Hawks.
- Chase Levesque leads BU with 12 ground balls and seven caused turnovers.
- Thomas Schmidt and Drew Lukacs have both found the back of the net against Lehigh, with Lukacs adding two ground balls and three caused turnovers.
- Quintin Germain has forced five turnovers and gathered one ground ball against Lehigh.
- Joe McSorley has combined for 21 saves and allowed 17 goals across two tilts.
SCOUTING THE MOUNTAIN HAWKS
- Lehigh has lost two straight games and four of five since its win over BU on March 30.
- PL Faceoff Specialist of the Year Conor Gaffney leads the conference and is fourth in the nation with a .695 win percentage.
- First Team All-Patriot League honoree Craig Chick is third in the NCAA in caused turnovers per game (2.40).
- Second Team All-PL selection Lucas Spence leads the team in assists (26) and points (48) while Alex Tumminello is first with 27 goals.
- James Spence has started all 15 games in the cage and owns a .536 save percentage to go with a 9.48 goals-against average.
BU PLACES FOUR ON ALL-PL FIRST TEAM
- Senior James Burr, senior Quintin Germain, sophomore Chris Gray and senior Brendan Homire were all named to the All-Patriot League First Team on Monday, marking the first time four Terriers earned first-team honors in the same season.
- For Homire and Gray, it was their second career all-league honor.
GRAY NOMINATED FOR TEWAARATON AWARD
- Sophomore Chris Gray was one of 25 men nominated for the 2019 Tewaaraton Award.
- He leads the nation with 108 points (48g, 60a) and is second in the NCAA with 60 assists.
- Gray has notched 64 points in the last nine games, including 10 points on April 20 and nine points on Tuesday against Bucknell.
- He has not been held to fewer than five points in each of the last 15 games and has collected at least four points in all 16 tilts.
- Gray broke his own single-season point (71) and assist (41) records.
- He is the program's all-time leader in assists with 100, and he also has 79 goals for 179 career points.
GRAY MADE PLENTY OF HISTORY ON TUESDAY
- Sophomore Chris Gray became the first Patriot League player to notch 100 points in one season, having already surpassed 2012 Tewaaraton winner Peter Baum's record of 97 points set in that award-winning campaign.
- He also moved into 10th all-time in the league's all-time assist leaderboard with his 100th career helper.
- Gray is the 18th different NCAA player to notch 100 points in a season.
- It was Gray's second nine-point game in three conference tournament appearances.
BURR IN MIDST OF BRILLIANT SEASON
- Senior James Burr is second in the country with a program-record 54 goals.
- He is also fourth in the Patriot League and 10th in the nation with 69 points, which is a new career high for Burr.
- He became the program's all-time leading point producer on April 13, surpassing Cal Dearth's mark of 170 points and finishing the day with 175 points.
- He has scored at least two goals in all 16 games this season.
- Burr has found the back of the net in 33 straight games, the longest active streak in the country, and is the program's all-time leader in goals with 151.
- He has also notched a goal in 24 straight conference games in a streak that started on April 8, 2017, at Army West Point.
BURR AND GRAY A DYNAMIC DUO
- No other pair of men's lacrosse players has more points than sophomore Chris Gray and senior James Burr.
- The dynamic duo leads the country with 177 points between them.
DEFENSE CAUSING HAVOC
- The Terriers average a nation-leading 11.94 caused turnovers per game.
- They have 191 total caused turnovers, which leads the entire country.
- BU has caused 50 turnovers over its last four games and has averaged 12.5 caused turnovers over that span.
- The Terriers also boast a top-20 scoring defense in the nation, at 10.06 goals allowed per game, which ranks fifth in the PL and 16th in the NCAA.
- Junior Reece Eddy is tied for fourth in the country and tied for second in the Patriot League with 33 caused turnovers.
ALWAYS HAPPY TO HELP
- The Terriers lead the NCAA with 141 assists this season.
- They are second in the conference and seventh in the nation with an average of 8.81 assists per game.
- Sophomore Chris Gray is responsible for 42.5% of the Terriers' assists.
RIDERS ON THE STORM
- BU is seventh in the country in opponent clearing percentage.
- The Terriers have held opponents to a clear percentage of just .747 this season.
- They were excellent against Bucknell, holding the Bison to a 21-of-34 night in the clearing game.
WINNING THOSE BATTLES
- BU ranks second in the nation and first in the conference with 610 ground balls.
- The Terriers average 38.75 ground balls per game, which is fifth-best in the country and second behind only Lehigh in the PL.
- BU averaged 44.75 ground balls per game in each of its four victories during the month of April, including 53 ground balls in the Bucknell win on Tuesday.
MCSORLEY MAKING A DIFFERENCE
- Junior goalkeeper Joe McSorley, who was named to the Academic All-Patriot League Team on Wednesday thanks to his 3.77 GPA in the Questrom School of Business, has been terrific in the cage this year.
- He owns a .552 save percentage, which ranks third in the conference and 11th in the country.
- His 10.08 goals-against average is 19th in the country, as is his average of 12.31 saves per game.
- His play of late has been strong, as he has averaged 15.75 saves over the last four games and has posted a 3-1 record, including a win over then-No. 2 Loyola Maryland in which he held the Greyhounds to just two second-half goals.
