The Boston University men’s lacrosse team will reopen conference play this Saturday as it hosts Colgate University from Nickerson Field. BU, now 5-1 for the season, is coming off of a road victory at Canisius.
At 5-1 overall and with a 1-0 record in conference, BU is atop the Patriot League. Colgate, 3-2 overall and 1-1 in the conference, split this past week with a win at Hobart and a conference loss at Lehigh.
The Terriers are now ranked #18 in the nation after entering the conference standings last week following a victory over the then-ranked Navy Midshipmen. The win over Canisius this week elevated the Terriers into the USILA coaches poll for the first time in program history, ranked at #19.
BU struggled for parts of the game agains Canisius, trailing 7-4 in the fourth quarter before a 5-0 run led by three goals from freshman midfielder Brendan Homire.
The Terriers are finally healthy for the first time since the start of the season, with Cal Dearth playing in two contests following his injury and Ryan Hillburn returning to the lineup last week,
James Burr was recently named the 11th best freshman in the country by Inside Lacrosse, and Homire was listed at 14. Homire has broken out after starting the season without putting many in the net, while Burr has emerged as one of the biggest offensive threats on the team.
Christian Carson-Banister, the team’s backbone in net for the entire history of the program, is 16th in the country with a .551 save percentage. BU is averaging exactly ten goals per game and allowing 8.83 goals per game to opponents.
Colgate, despite losing two key scorers last season in Ryan Walsh and Matt Clarkson, has found a way to put goals on the board, led by freshman Sam Cleveland. Cleveland has 13 points to lead the team, with sophomore Chase Wittich having ten goals to lead the team in tallies.
Anthony Abbadessa has just nine points this season after being third on the team with 39 last year, and he was expected to break out to become the team’s offensive leader. Instead, he has followed the lead of Wittich and Cleveland, with junior Peter Donato also adding nine points.
In their win over Hobart last week, the Red Raiders were led by three points from Cleveland and two goals from Cameron Williams. Goaltender Brandon Burke made nine saves, and is expected to start in net on Saturday.
Game time is at 1 p.m. where BU will look to start out the season 6-1.
