BOSTON – For the first time in the program's nine-year history, the Boston University men's lacrosse team has reached the summit of the Patriot League as the top-seeded Terriers downed No. 2 seed Army West Point, 14-10, in the league title game on Sunday afternoon at Nickerson Field.
 
Led by senior Timmy Ley's five-point day (4g, 1a), five Terriers had multi-goal games and senior goaltender Matt Garber turned in a 15-save performance. Junior LSM Roy Meyer had an incredible performance, setting a career high in ground balls (7) and matching a single-game program record with six caused turnovers. Senior Will Carson, junior Jett Dziama and senior Blake Phillips each caused two turnovers apiece as part of a stellar defensive effort.
 
BU never trailed in the game with its decisive run coming late in the third quarter when the Terriers reeled off four straight goals to turn an 8-7 lead into a 12-7 cushion entering the final quarter.
 
Junior Louis Perfetto, who was named tournament MVP, recorded two goals and two assists as he had a hand in four of BU's first eight goals. He finished the weekend with nine points on four goals and five assists. Sophomore Tommy Bourque notched two goals and a helper while senior Matt Hilburn and sophomore James Corcoran potted two goals apiece.
 
The Black Knights (12-4) were paced by PL Offensive Player of the Year Brendan Nichtern, who tallied a game-best six points (2g, 4a), and Reese Burek, who led all players with five goals.

The No. 16 Terriers will now make their first NCAA Tournament appearance, traveling to fifth-seeded Princeton on Saturday.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Terriers opened the scoring less than three minutes into the contest on a behind-the-back effort from Ley off a feed by Perfetto.
• Army caused what would be the game's only tie less than five minutes later on a tally by Reese Burek.
• Bourque, who was the hero in overtime in Friday's semifinal, gave BU the lead for good with 5:20 left in the opening quarter.
• Hilburn gave the Terriers a 3-1 lead with 4:41 left in the first thanks to Perfetto's second assist of the opening quarter. 
• The second quarter was a back-and-forth affair but the Terriers prevented the Black Knights from stringing together consecutive goals during the entire first half and took a 7-5 lead into the break.
• Perfetto capped his four-point day with one of the biggest goals of the contest, scoring just 48 seconds into the third quarter off a Bourque assist to prevent Army from building momentum to kick off the latter half.
• The Black Knights finally strung together back-to-back goals with Burek completing his five-goal effort to make it a one-goal game at 8-7, but that's as close as they would get the rest of the way.
• BU's big four-goal run started when Ley found Hilburn at the right crease with 7:51 left in the third to make it 9-7.
• Corcoran found the back of the net soon after before junior Donnie Howard created the largest lead yet at 11-7 with his second goal of the season, coming with 4:45 remaining in the third.
• Ley capped off the run, giving the home team a 12-7 advantage heading into the fourth.
• Army ended a scoreless drought of nearly 11 minutes on a tally by Nichtern 2:25 into the fourth, kicking off a 3-1 run that cut the BU lead to 13-10.
• The Terrier ride forced four failed clears in the fourth quarter and the BU defense came up huge down the stretch to keep the Black Knights off the board for the final 9:21 en route to the victory.
• Bourque scored what would be the game's final goal with 8:23 to play.

GAME NOTES

• The 12 wins matches the program record set in 2017.
• BU finished its home schedule with an 8-2 record.
• BU held a 49-39 shot advantage for the contest.
• The Black Knights doubled up the Terriers in faceoffs, 18-9, and held a 35-32 edge in ground balls.
• BU, the national leader in caused turnovers per game, forced 14 of Army's 24 turnovers on the day.
• Meyer is just the third Terrier to record six caused turnovers in a game. He matched the record set by Greg Wozniak (2017 vs. Army) and Reece Eddy (twice in 2019).
• He leads the nation in total caused turnovers and caused turnovers per game, and enters the NCAA Tournament with a program-record 54 caused turnovers this season.
• Ley extended his goal scoring streak to an NCAA-best 38 games with his four goals and finished the tournament with seven goals and four assists.
• D'Alto pushed his point streak to 31 games and his goal scoring streak to 29 games.
• Bourque stretched his point streak to five games and has now recorded 14 goals and six assists for 20 points over the last nine games.
• D'Alto (75 points) and Ley (74 points) are now second and third, respectively, in the BU record book for points in a season.
• Perfetto (30g, 35a), Ley (43g, 31a) and D'Alto (45g, 30a)
• The Terriers had just one man-up opportunity all game and cashed in on it with Perfetto's first goal of the contest.
• BU was 22-of-27 on clears and broke up seven of the Black Knights' 22 clear attempts.
• Wyatt Schulper made 12 saves in goal for Army.

UP NEXT

• The Terriers secured the Patriot League's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament and will travel to New Jersey to face fifth-seeded Princeton on Saturday at 12 p.m.