No. 18 Terriers Defeat Harvard, 15-11

No. 18 Terriers Defeat Harvard, 15-11 | https://goterriers.com/

By Bean Town Times Reports

Mar 23, 2023

Graduate student Timmy Ley scored five goals and classmate Matt Garber made 13 saves as the No. 18 Boston University men's lacrosse team earned a 15-11 win over Harvard on Tuesday night at Nickerson Field.

BU (6-1) pushed its win streak to six games with a terrific team effort, never trailing and playing well in all facets of the game. Offensively, senior Louis Perfetto joined Ley with five points thanks to one goal and four assists. Sophomore Zach Travaglini scored a career-high two goals and recorded his second straight three-point game while senior Vince D'Alto (1g, 2a), graduate student Jett Dziama (1g, 1a), junior Tommy Bourque (2g) and graduate student Matt Hilburn (1g, 1a) all recorded multiple points.

Junior Dane DeGoler had a career day on defense, recording six caused turnovers and gathering six ground balls. He also provided the exclamation point on the win when he fired home his second goal of the season from his own end of the field with 1:01 remaining in regulation. Senior Patrick Morrison also had an incredible game on defense, collecting six ground balls and causing two turnovers. Dziama added four ground balls and one caused turnover to his two-point night as BU caused 16 of the Crimson's 23 turnovers.

Garber saved his best for the second half, making nine of his 13 saves over the final 30 minutes, including several crucial stops in the fourth quarter as Harvard tried to mount a comeback. Senior Conor Calderone had another great game at the faceoff X, going 16-of-27 and picking up 10 ground balls.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Ley and Bourque scored just 1:20 apart to give BU a 2-0 lead at 9:05 of the first quarter.
After Bourque's strike, neither team got anything going offensively until Andrew Perry's goal with 1:13 to play in the quarter cut the Terrier lead to 2-1.
BU opened the second quarter with two more quick strikes, as Perfetto converted a Hilburn feed at 12:07 before Travaglini came from X and scored just 24 seconds later.
Harvard scored two goals of its own to make it a 4-3 Terrier lead before Dziama and Sam King traded goals late in the quarter.
D'Alto gave BU a 6-4 lead with just 7.0 ticks remaining in the half, and the Terriers carried that momentum into the third quarter as senior Thomas Niedringhaus and Ley scored just 22 seconds apart to push the lead to 8-4 just 1:56 into the second half.
Harvard responded with two straight tallies to make it 8-6 with 4:40 to go in the third quarter, but Hilburn drove to the net and would not be denied his fourth goal of the season, giving the Terriers a 9-6 edge entering the final 15 minutes.
Hayden Cheek cut the deficit to 9-7 just 47 seconds into the quarter, but two straight goals from Ley in a span of 42 seconds restored the Terriers' four-goal cushion.
King made it 11-8 midway at 8:14, but another terrific individual effort from Travaglini and then Ley's fifth strike of the night fired up the Terrier bench and gave the Terriers their largest lead of the night at 13-8.
Harvard did not go away quietly, as the Crimson scored three straight goals to get within two at 13-11 with just 1:36 to play.
BU won the next faceoff, but after Harvard forced a quick turnover, the Terriers got the ball right back thanks to the strong efforts of Dziama along the Harvard sideline.
He then got the ball to DeGoler, who beat the 10-man ride with his second full-field goal of the season.
Bourque then iced the game with nine seconds to play, creating the 15-11 final.

GAME NOTES

Harvard entered the game with the best man-up offense in the country, but BU held the Crimson to an 0-for-4 mark on EMOs.
DeGoler matched his career high with six ground balls, previously setting that mark in the 2022 Patriot League semifinals against Lehigh.
His first goal of the season was a full-field goal that opened the scoring in the Terriers' 14-12 win at Bucknell on March 11.
Sophomore Trey Brown had two caused turnovers while senior Robert Gallop forced two giveaways.
Nine different Terriers scored a goal on Tuesday.
Garber's 13 saves were a season high.

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