BOSTON - Nine different Terriers found the back of the net to help lead the Boston University men's lacrosse team to a 16-9 win over No. 19/20 Loyola Maryland on Saturday afternoon at Nickerson Field.

BU (8-3, 5-1 PL) secured a spot in the Patriot League Tournament with the win, its third consecutive victory over Loyola (6-5, 3-3 PL). Graduate student Timmy Ley led BU with six points thanks to two goals and four assists while senior Vince D'Alto paced the Terriers with four goals. Senior Louis Perfetto tallied one goal and three assists for four points as the Terriers' potent attack unit combined for seven goals and seven assists on the afternoon.

Sophomore Brenden Kelly scored a career-best two goals while graduate student Matt Hilburn and senior Thomas Niedringhaus also had two goals apiece. Senior Miles Lipton and junior Tommy Bourque each had one goal and one assist while graduate student Jake Cates found the back of the net in his return to the starting lineup.

Defensively, BU won 40 ground balls, with the the starting close defense unit of sophomore Trey Brown (5), junior Dane DeGoler (5) and senior Patrick Morrison (4) combining for 14 ground balls. Graduate student Jett Dziama and senior Roy Meyer each had five ground balls as well. DeGoler, Morrison and senior Walker Ker led the Terriers with two caused turnovers apiece.

Senior Conor Calderone was great at the faceoff X on Saturday, as he went 15-for-27 with five ground balls. He went 6-for-8 in the first quarter as the Terriers built a 6-2 lead. Graduate student Matt Garber made seven saves, including a sensational one-on-one stop in transition during the second half, to preserve the victory.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• BU needed just 46 seconds to open the scoring when Hilburn shook his defender and uncorked a shot past Luke Staudt.
• D'Alto ripped home his first goal of the day at 13:02 to push the lead to 2-0 before Loyola answered at 10:59 to cut the lead in half.
• That's as close at the Greyhounds got, though, as BU scored four goals in a span of 2:46 to take a 6-1 lead.
• D'Alto's second of the day started the run, as after the BU ride forced a Loyola turnover at midfield, D'Alto converted off a feed from Ley in transition.
• Bourque made it 4-1 with a man-up goal before BU rattled off two goals in 19 seconds. Lipton beat his man off the dodge and took a hit as he scored to extend the lead to 5-1 before Ley scored on the ensuing EMO to make it 6-1.
• Loyola closed the first quarter with a goal and then scored three of the first four goals of the second stanza to cut the BU lead to 7-5.
• Kelly gave BU a lift when he notched his first goal of the day with 3:53 to play in the quarter to make it 8-5. Perfetto caught a high pass with just one hand and then rocketed a pass through the Loyola defense to Kelly at the right post.
• Ley then closed the half with his second strike of the afternoon.
• Niedringhaus bookended a 3-0 BU run to open the third quarter, as the Terriers extended their lead to 12-5.
• After Payton Rezanka got a goal back for the Greyhounds, Cates collected his second goal of the season on an EMO to regain the Terriers' seven-goal cushion. Sophomore Zach Travaglini secured his seventh assist of the season on the goal.
• That became an eight-goal advantage with just five seconds left as Perfetto found D'Alto for a goal as time was winding down.
• Loyola tallied twice to make it 14-8 with 12:14 to play, but D'Alto ended that rally with his final marker of the afternoon at 9:34 of the frame.
• Loyola converted on an EMO with 7:11 on the clock, but Hilburn made sure he both started and ended the scoring as he potted his sixth goal of the season to create the 16-9 final.

GAME NOTES

• The Terriers have now made each of the last six Patriot League Tournaments.
• BU has averaged 16 goals in its three consecutive wins over Loyola.
• The Terriers improved to 4-0 at Nickerson Field this season.
• All six of the Terriers' shots on goal against Staudt went in; Staudt entered the day ranked fifth in the NCAA with a .561 save percentage.
• BU was 3-for-4 on its man-up opportunities while Loyola went 1-for-2 on its EMOs.
• The Terriers held Loyola to just 16-of-21 on clears while BU was 18-for-22 in the clearing game.
• BU has held its conference opponents to just a .770 clearing percentage this season.
• Sophomore goalkeeper Will Barnes played the final 3:03 for the Terriers and made the only save required of him.

UP NEXT

• BU will host its final home game game of the regular season next Saturday when the Terriers welcome Lehigh to Nickerson Field for Senior Day.
• Opening faceoff is scheduled for noon and the game will be televised live on CBS Sports Network.
• It is the first game of the Terriers' Lax-A-Palooza doubleheader, as the women's lacrosse team will face Bucknell at 4 p.m.