BOSTON - Senior Jake Cates scored three of his four second-half goals in the fourth quarter to help the Boston University men's lacrosse team defeat Bryant, 13-8, on Saturday at Nickerson Field.

BU improved to 2-0 thanks to goals from seven different Terriers and a terrific effort on the defensive end. BU trailed Bryant (1-1) by two midway through the second quarter and faced back-to-back man-down situations, but the Terriers stopped both of them and that sparked a three-goal run to end the half and give BU a 7-6 lead. The Terriers never trailed again and eventually pulled away for good when junior Vince D'Alto completed his hat trick late in the third quarter to give BU a 9-8 advantage. BU outscored the Bulldogs, 4-0, in the final 15 minutes.

It was a wild day of weather at Nickerson Field, as a snow squall appeared out of nowhere midway through the third quarter and created whiteout conditions for a few minutes. Each team scored a goal during this stretch of play, with D'Alto securing the winner as part of the sequence.

D'Alto (3g, 1a) and Cates (4g) paced BU with four points apiece. Junior Louis Perfetto tallied one goal and two assists while sophomore Tommy Bourque added one goal and one assist. Senior Timmy Ley, junior Thomas Niedringhaus and sophomore Christian Quadrino also found the back of the net and freshman Jimmy O'Connell collected his first collegiate point with the assist on D'Alto's winner. Senior Matt Hilburn also notched an assist in addition to two ground balls and one caused turnover.

Junior Conor Calderone battled all game at the faceoff X, going 12-for-24 with three ground balls and the game's opening goal, his first as a Terrier. Calderone was outstanding in the final 15 minutes, as he went 4-for-5 in the fourth quarter to help BU pull away from the Bulldogs.

Defensively, juniors Roy Meyer and Patrick Morrison each had two caused turnovers, as did freshman Trey Brown, with Brown also adding a ground ball as part of his career day. Meyer led BU with six ground balls while Morrison added three ground balls. The Terriers combined for 13 caused turnovers for the second straight game.

Senior Matt Garber was excellent in the cage, making 14 saves and holding Bryant scoreless over the final 18:51 of the contest. Two of the Bulldogs' eight goals came while Garber was out of the cage on the 10-man ride.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Calderone opened the scoring just 12 seconds into the contest. Senior Jett Dziama picked up the ground ball off the faceoff and gave it back to Calderone, who ran from midfield into the Bryant box before firing a shot past Luke Caracciolo (five saves).
• The teams traded goals, with D'Alto's first goal of the game sandwiched between a pair of markers from Bennett Abladian.
• Bourque answered Abladian's second of the day to give BU a 3-2 lead before the Bulldogs got two goals, including a buzzer-beater, to take a 4-3 lead.
• D'Alto scored at 13:03 of the second stanza to tie the game again, but Bryant responded with two consecutive strikes to grab a 6-4 lead.
• After the Terriers' impressive defensive stand on back-to-back Bryant EMOs, Perfetto got the Terriers within one at 6-5 when he caught a rocket of a cross-crease feed from Bourque and quickly fired a shot past Caracciolo.
• Quadrino dodged his way to a terrific goal to tie the game at 3:42 before Hilburn found Ley for a wide-open look at the crease with 11 seconds remaining to send BU to the locker room with a one-goal edge.
• Aidan Goltz evened the score just 4:59 into the third quarter, but Cates' first of the day regained the lead for BU at 7:48.
• Marc O'Rourke made it 8-8, but that was the last Bryant goal of the night.
• D'Alto buried the winner in the middle of the snow squall with 2:40 left in the third quarter off a feed from O'Connell who was at X.
• Cates notched two straight goals to make it an 11-8 game with 10:19 to play before Niedringhaus secured his first goal of the season at 7:02.
• Cates capped the scoring into a vacant cage with 1:16 on the clock.

GAME NOTES

• This was the Terriers' ninth win over a ranked opponent and first since they took down No. 2 Loyola Maryland at Nickerson Field on April 6, 2019.
• Ley extended his goal streak to 24 straight games while Perfetto and D'Alto extended their point streaks to 19 and 17 games, respectively.
• Saturday was the third time Cates scored four goals in a game; he most recently did it at Bellarmine on Feb. 22, 2020.
• He first did it against another ranked opponent, scoring three of his four goals in the fourth quarter of a 15-13 win at No. 16 Army West Point on April 13, 2019.
• BU won the ground ball battle on Saturday, collecting 35 to just 26 for Bryant.
• The Terriers ride forced seven failed clears while BU went 18-for-21 in the clearing game.

UP NEXT

• BU will close its three-game homestand when it hosts UMass on Saturday, Feb. 26, at Nickerson Field.
• Opening faceoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.