Terriers Clinch Playoff Spot with 14-10 Win at Colgate

Saturday, April 10

Hamilton, NY

12 PM

Boston University

6-2 (2-1PL North)

Colgate

2-5 (1-1PL North)

Boston U.

Colgate

Photo by: Mary Grygier

Terriers Clinch Playoff Spot with 14-10 Win at Colgate

April 10, 2021 | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score

HAMILTON, N.Y. - Sophomore Louis Perfetto recorded a career-high six points to pace the Boston University men's lacrosse team to a 14-10 win at Colgate on Saturday afternoon at Crown Field.

BU (6-2, 4-1 PL) clinched a spot in the Patriot League Tournament with the victory, its fourth straight playoff berth. Colgate (2-5, 2-3 PL) trailed, 14-4, in the fourth quarter before going on a 6-0 run to get within four late in the frame, but the Terrier defense came up with a stop on the Raiders' final possession to not allow Colgate to get any closer.

"It feels great to clinch a playoff spot, and it's fitting given that last season ended here," head coach Ryan Polley said. "The guys have withstood a lot of adversity and challenges this year. This was a complete team win. Not having Timmy (Ley) and Sean (Christman), two of our leaders and guys that have played almost every minute, we needed guys to step up today and they did. We were really good in a lot of different places. I couldn't be more proud of the boys."

Perfetto matched his career high with four goals and added a pair of assists to finish with six points. Sophomore Vince D'Alto tallied five points thanks to two goals and three assists while junior Matt Baugher and sophomore Donnie Howard each had two goals; Howard's were the first two of his collegiate career. Sophomore Thomas Niedringhaus, junior Jett Dziama, freshman Tommy Bourque and junior Matt Hilburn all found the back of the net as well, with Hilburn also adding an assist. Freshman Christian Quadrino added two assists for his second straight multi-point game and junior Jack Collins also had an assist.

"This was Louis' best game as a young college player," Polley said. "He learned from last week when he tried to do too much while Vince was out. Louis worked really hard in practice this week and today he let the game come to him. He's such a cerebral player and today he was pinpointed in his decision making. He shot the ball really well, was patient, and made a couple great reads. Vince was ready to go and was champing at the bit to get out there and play a great game. He has that scorer's mentality and he did a great job putting pressure on the Colgate defense. We forget these guys are sophomores, but they're really just getting through their first full season. Between the two of them, they were outstanding."

Junior goalkeeper Matt Garber was terrific for the Terriers, making 13 saves, including several sensational stops on 1-on-1 chances in front of the cage.

"Matt was really good in stretches," Polley said. "He was good in the first half to help us get that lead and then came up big when we needed a couple saves in the fourth quarter to secure the win. He's been great all year and continues to play at a high level. He was great in the clearing game as well. They did a nice job taking the opposite box side away and Matt had to make some good decisions to get us out. He's been a stalwart all year and we wouldn't be 6-2 without Matt."

Sophomore Roy Meyer had three caused turnovers, including two in the fourth quarter, as well as two ground balls in an impressive performance. Graduate student Nicholas Ellerton collected a career-best five ground balls while sophomore Patrick Morrison gathered four ground balls.

"Roy has been a beast all year," Polley said. "He causes so much havoc and constantly makes plays for us. He's such a heady player and acute with his stick. Roy can get the ball to space and he's great off the ground. He's really stepped up in place of Chase (Levesque) and Reece (Eddy) who are now pros. Roy is next in that line of great LSMs here at BU."

Freshman Brian Garrity got his first career start at the faceoff X for BU and was 12-for-26 with three ground balls. He went 6-for-9 in the second quarter to help BU go on that 7-0 run.

"Brian has been getting better each and every week," Polley said. "Coach Lattimore has really brought him along. He's gotten a few opportunities earlier this season and done a few good things. To have a full week to prepare and go in there knowing he was the number one guy was huge. Brian was good on clamps and won a couple tough 50-50 ground balls. Even on the clamps he lost, he did a nice job keeping the ball on the ground and fighting for it. Winning so many faceoffs to keep giving a hot offense the ball back in the second quarter was a big part of this win."

HOW IT HAPPENED

Colgate opened the scoring with a man-up marker.
BU answered with three straight goals, as Perfetto, Bourque and D'Alto all found the back of the net.
The Raiders got within one before the end of the first quarter and then tied the game early in the second stanza.
Hilburn began a 7-0 run with his third goal of the campaign with 10:45 on the clock.
Howard's first collegiate goal came just over a minute later to make it a 5-3 score.
Baugher bookended a D'Alto strike with a pair of goals to extend the lead to 8-3.
After Dziama made it a 9-3 advantage, Perfetto scored with 2.1 ticks remaining to send the Terriers to the break with a 10-3 lead.
Colgate opened the third quarter with a goal, but Garber made a fantastic save on a point-blank chance to keep Colgate from going on a run of its own.
Perfetto assisted on a Niedringhaus goal to make it 11-4 before scoring two straight goals of his own to give the Terriers a 13-4 lead.
Howard's second of the day extended the advantage to 14-4 early in the fourth, but Colgate went on a 6-0 run that was aided by ample man-up time to cut the deficit to 14-10 with 2:55 to play.
Colgate had a possession to get within three, but Meyer came up with a great caused turnover to give BU the ball back.
That proved to be the last possession for the Raiders, as BU drew a penalty on Colgate and was able to run out the remainder of the clock.

GAME NOTES

Perfetto's previous single-game high for points was five, which he achieved with four goals and one assist last season at Bellarmine.
D'Alto leads the Terriers with 38 points thanks to 21 goals and a team-high 17 assists.
Perfetto and D'Alto extended their point streaks to 14 and 13 games, respectively.
Baugher has notched six goals in his last three games.
Eight different Terriers found the back of the net.
Quadrino has recorded at least one point in all eight games to start his collegiate career.
Morrison has recorded 14 ground balls over the last three games.
Garber only allowed six even-strength goals.
BU scored on its only man-up chance of the contest.
The Terriers were 21-of-22 in the clearing game.