For the second time this season, Boston University was defeated on Nickerson Field. The Terriers struggled to score for most of the afternoon, and other than one third quarter burst, wasn’t able to sustain an attack on the Lehigh Mountain Hawks in an 8-7 loss.
The third loss of the season for the Terriers, and the second conference loss, sees Lehigh leap BU in the Patriot League standings, and BU isn’t any closer to clinching a spot in its first conference tournament.
BU took a 6-5 lead after trailing 5-2 at the half by scoring four straight goals in the third quarter, but the Mountain Hawks were able to tie it at the end of the frame. Lehigh took off with two more goals in the fourth quarter and BU was only able to tally one more.
The Terriers had the ball with five seconds left, but that was not enough time as the final whistle blew as Brendan Homire’s shot was off the mark.
BU, ranked #20 going into the week, will likely fall out of the national polls and are now 3-2 in conference play.
Ryan Hillburn broke out, seeing more time than he has all season after missing the start of the year with injury. He scored twice, including his first goal at even strength, and picked up an assist. Hillburn played on more than just the man up, where his role has been since he returned, and he took a lot of playing time from Jack Wilson.
Wilson scored two goals, and has now scored a goal in 16 straight games dating back to last season. However, his playing time was greatly reduced in the second half other than on the man up. He did have three turnovers.
Michael Laviano continued his recent streak as the freshman scored two goals for his second straight multi point contest. Laviano’s midfield line, which included another goal scorer in Chad Bell, saw more time than it has in the past few weeks even. The absence of Sam Tenney meant that the midfield line including Tristian Ruh and Hayden Ruiz saw virtually no time at all.
Sam Talkow played well in the faceoff circle, winning 14 out of his 18, but even when BU had possessions, turnovers were once again an Achilles heel. BU turned the ball over a total of 18 times, and six of them combined came from leading scorers Wilson and Cal Dearth. Homire turned the ball over five times on his own, and despite two assists, struggled in trying to retain the ball on offense.
Reid Weber scored three times to lead the Mountain Hawks. Lehigh freshman goaltender Chris Kiernan made nine saves, and Lehigh forced 14 out of the 18 turnovers that BU had.
The Terriers will continue conference play next week at Nickerson Field where they will face Army, a team that is one win away from clinching a berth in the Patriot League tournament.
