BOSTON — Senior James Burr collected a career-high nine points as the Boston University men's lacrosse team stunned No. 2 Loyola Maryland with an 18-11 victory on Saturday afternoon at Nickerson Field.
BU (9-4, 4-2 PL) and Loyola (9-3, 5-1 PL) entered halftime tied at 9-9, but the Terriers outscored the Greyhounds, 5-0, in the third quarter and 9-2 in the final 30 minutes. The Terriers held Pat Spencer, the nation's leading point and assist producer, to just one assist. It is only the third time that the spectacular Spencer has been held to just a single point and the second the time the Terriers have accomplished that feat. BU also kept Spencer to just one assist in a 2017 victory at Nickerson Field.
It was the first top-five win in program history for BU, which earned its first top-10 triumph at No. 10 Bucknell in last year's Patriot League quarterfinals.DOWN GOES NO. 2!! pic.twitter.com/DMNBe4ODYr
— BU Men's Lacrosse (@TerrierMLAX) April 13, 2019
COLLEGE LACROSSE: Rankings
Burr had a game for the ages, not only recording a single-game career high but cementing himself as the program's all-time points leader. He surpassed Cal Dearth's mark of 170 points with a goal in the third quarter and finished the day with 175 career points (137g, 38a). Burr now holds the program's all-time record for both goals and points. He notched five goals and added four assists on Saturday.
Sophomore Chris Gray notched eight points (4g, 4a) and surpassed Spencer for the NCAA lead in points with 84. Freshman Timmy Ley matched a career high with five goals and added an assist to set a new career high with six points. Freshmen Jake Cates, Jett Dziama and Matt Hilburn all found the back of the net, as did senior Michael Laviano. Hilburn also added a career-high two assists for a three-point day, the first multi-point effort of his collegiate career. Junior Jared Nugent and senior Brendan Homire each notched an assist, while freshman Blake Phillips recorded his first collegiate point with an assist.
Sophomore Sean Christman went 20-for-33 on faceoffs and finished with a game-high 11 ground balls. Junior Chase Levesque gathered a career-high 10 ground balls and also caused two turnovers. Junior Reece Eddy matched a program record with six caused turnovers in addition to six ground balls. Senior Quintin Germain, tasked with guarding Spencer for most of the day, had one ground ball and one caused turnover. Freshman Will Carson also had a hand in marking Spencer and caused two turnovers in addition to scooping up a ground ball.That winning feeling!! pic.twitter.com/0LtndplLQR
— BU Men's Lacrosse (@TerrierMLAX) April 13, 2019
Junior Joe McSorley was sensational in the cage for the Terriers, as he stopped 14 shots in one of the best games of his career. He made nine saves in the second half and kept Loyola to just one even-strength goal over the final 30 minutes. Many of his stops came on point-blank chances, including a save when Spencer went airborne at the crease.
COLLEGE LACROSSE: The season's three biggest surprises
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Loyola held a 1-0 lead at 13:23 of the opening quarter thanks to a Kevin Lindley goal.
- BU answered at 11:13 when Nugent found Ley for a goal.
- Aidan Olmstead made it 2-1 Greyhounds with 7:14 remaining in the quarter.
- The Terriers responded with a four-goal run that included four different goal scorers, capped by Dziama and Gray scoring just 26 seconds apart.
- Loyola made it 6-3 with nine seconds to play in the quarter, but Burr got BU off and running in the second stanza when he dunked a fantastic behind-the-back pass by Gray.
- The Greyhounds scored three of the next four goals to cut the Terrier lead to 7-6 before Ley regained the two-goal cushion.
- Loyola put together a three-goal run to take a 10-9 lead with 1:21 to play in the first half, but a great individual effort by Cates evened the score with nine seconds on the clock.
- BU scored all five third-quarter goals, with Hilburn and Gray finding the back of the net just 40 seconds apart to make it 11-9 at 11:28.
- Hilburn factored on two more goals in that third frame, assisting on Laviano's marker before finding Burr for a goal at 2:46.
- Lindley stopped the run with a man-up goal at 11:13 of the fourth quarter, but Burr tallied twice in a span of 1:59 to make it 16-10.
- Burr then assisted on the Terriers' final two goals of the contest to complete the 18-11 score.
GAME NOTESJoe McSorley with the stop as Pat Spencer tries to go airborne 🛑
— Inside Lacrosse (@Inside_Lacrosse) April 13, 2019
McSorley has 14 saves & @TerrierMLAX leads @LoyolaMLAX 18-11 late in Q4. pic.twitter.com/t9r2KyQbXk
- Burr extended his goal-scoring streak to 30 games.
- He has notched 40 goals and added 13 assists for 43 points this season.
- Gray has recorded at least five points in each of the last 12 games.
- Laviano has collected a point in six straight contests.
- Cates extended his goal scoring streak to six games.
- The Terriers tallied an impressive 55 ground balls to just 33 for the Greyhounds.
- McSorley and Gray each gathered five of those ground balls
- The Terriers will honor their senior class before hosting Holy Cross on Saturday, April 20.
- That game will take place at 3:30, the second game of the annual Lax-a-Palooza doubleheader with the women's lacrosse team.
