NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. - Junior Matt Garber made 17 saves in his first collegiate start to help lead the Boston University men's lacrosse team to a 15-12 victory at Merrimack on Saturday afternoon at Duane Stadium.

"Matt was tremendous," head coach Ryan Polley said. "At the end of the first quarter, we out-saved them 5-1 and the score was 2-2. Matt made some quality saves. He was tremendous. I'm really happy for Matt. He stepped up today and was a major reason why we won this game."

Junior Timmy Ley notched a career-best six goals and sophomore Vince D'Alto collected a career-best seven points thanks to three goals and a career-high four assists to pace the Terrier offense. Sophomore Louis Perfetto was also terrific as part of the Terriers' starting attack unit, as he tallied two goals and two assists in the win. Freshman Christian Quadrino started in the midfield and notched a goal and an assist in his collegiate debut, while classmate Tommy Bourque also found the back of the net in his first collegiate contest. Juniors Jake Cates and Matt Baugher both scored as well, with Baugher tallying his first goal as a Terrier. Junior Matt Hilburn secured an assist and was one of eight Terriers to record a point.

BU held an 11-7 lead after three quarters, but Merrimack stormed back to tie the game at 12-12 with 3:35 remaining in regulation. The Terriers called timeout and then scored on the ensuing faceoff, as senior Sean Christman won the draw and helped set up D'Alto's strike that proved to be the winner. Garber came up with an important save immediately following that goal to preserve the Terriers' advantage before Ley and Bourque finished the scoring.

"I thought we responded really well out of a couple timeouts we took today," Polley said. "During the first one, we talked about being aggressive and playing hard, and we made an adjustment to go on a nice run. In the fourth quarter, they had all the momentum having scored four straight, and we were about 50-50 on faceoffs at that point. For Sean to be able to pop that forward, draw a slide and hit Vince for a great shot, that calmed everyone down."

"Give a ton of credit to Merrimack They could have went away in the second half, but they had a great comeback. I'm really happy with our guys and how they responded. We talked about winning those last three-and-a-half minutes, and that's what happened."

Christman won 15 of the 29 faceoffs he took, collecting 10 ground balls in the process. Graduate student Nicholas Ellerton paced the BU defense with four ground balls and was one of three Terriers with two caused turnovers. Sophomore Patrick Morrison made his first collegiate start and totaled three ground balls and two caused turnovers, while classmate Roy Meyer had two ground balls in addition to forcing a pair of giveaways.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Goals by D'Alto and Quadrino wiped out an early 1-0 Merrimack lead, but the Warriors scored with five seconds to play to tie the game at 2-2 after 15 minutes.
• Merrimack then notched two more goals to open the second stanza and take a 4-2 lead.
• BU responded with two goals in a span of 28 seconds, as Perfetto and D'Alto found the back of the net.
• Ley then posted a run of three unanswered goals to give BU a 7-4 lead at halftime.
• The Warriors once again started a quarter on the front foot, as they tallied three markers in the first five minutes to tie the game at 7-7.
• Just like in the second quarter, BU answered with a run of its own. Perfetto started things at 9:11 of the frame, before Baugher and Ley added two tallies just 13 seconds apart to stretch the lead to 10-7.
• Merrimack battled back in the fourth quarter, scoring three straight goals to turn a 12-9 deficit into a 12-12 tie with 3:35 to go.
• A Terrier timeout stopped the Warriors' momentum, as D'Alto notched the winner off the ensuing faceoff.
• Garber made his most important save moments after D'Alto's goal, as his stop on a long-pole blast kept the Terriers in front.
• Ley's sixth of the day stretched the lead to 14-12 before Bourque scored into an open net from the Terrier sideline to seal the triumph.

GAME NOTES

• The Terriers improved to 6-2 in season openers, having won six of their last seven.
• Prior to his career day today, Ley had twice scored five goals in a game, most recently in an 18-11 over No. 2 Loyola Maryland on April 13, 2019 in which he also had six points (5g, 1a).
• Ley extended his goal scoring streak to 16 straight games.
• D'Alto had previously notched six points (5g, 1a) last year at Bryant before besting that today.
• Perfetto, Ley and D'Alto have already accounted for 33.3% of their combined point total from a year ago.
• He doubled his single-game best for assists thanks to his four helpers.
• Garber was just the third goaltender in program history to start a season opener.
• Christian Carson-Banister ('17) and Joe McSorley ('20) had started the previous seven.
• Twelve different Terriers combined to collect 31 ground balls.
• BU caused seven of Merrimack's 13 turnovers.

UP NEXT

• BU will play at Nickerson Field for the first time since Feb. 8, 2020, when the Terriers host UMass on Saturday, Feb. 27.
• Opening faceoff is scheduled for 12 p.m.