By Marisa Ingemi
BU News Service
They say that history repeats itself. That must be true, because for the second straight season Boston University lacrosse was eliminated from making the Patriot League tournament by Holy Cross.
In consecutive seasons, the Terriers had to defeat the Crusaders in order to advance to the post season and fell in the final conference game. BU fell down 1-0 early, and never held a lead as they lost 11-7. It will be the first ever Patriot League tournament for Holy Cross.
BU turned the ball over 15 times and failed four clears as the young program struggled with the same aspects all season. Seven different Terriers did find the back of the net, and the team was nearly completely healthy with Brendan Homire back in the lineup as well.
Holy Cross scored two straight goals to end the first quarter after the teams traded goals early. Sam Talkow scored off the faceoff after a tally from Jack Wilson to tie it again 3-3. From there, the Crusaders soared, scoring the next three.
Defenseman Greg Wozniak scored to end the Crusaders run in the third quarter, and BU trailed by just three goals going into the fourth quarter. BU would continue to cut into the Crusader lead, but Holy Cross kept putting on the pressure and eventually scored on the empty net to finish with an 11-7 victory.
There were no multi goal scorers in the contest for BU, with the back of the net being found by Wilson, Wozniak, Talkow, Greg Farris, James Burr, Adam Schaal, and Brendan Homire. Burr, Homire, and Hayden Ruiz each also had an assist.
Christian Carson-Banister made 12 saves and allowed 11 goals. Holy Cross shot the ball 41 times compared to 25 from BU. The only part of the game that the Terriers dominated was at the faceoff X, with BU winning 15 out of 21 draws.
The regular season does not come to an end, as the Terriers will host the Duke Blue Devils at Nickerson Field on May 8th, but there will no post season for BU. For a third year program, the Terriers still had a remarkable season, defeating two top 20 teams and being ranked as high as 16th in the nation. It would have been the first Patriot League tournament for the program.
The next game will be senior day, and the Terriers will graduate just two players. BU, just like this season, will have the chance to build off the chemistry of returning players and continue to grow as a program.
BU returns to action in two weeks to host Duke, and it will be the final time the team takes the field this season.
