After bouncing back in its second game of the year, the Massachusetts’s men’s lacrosse team took a step in the wrong direction on Saturday, falling to Boston University 16-7 on the road.
What seemed to be a UMass (1-2) controlled game within the opening frame quickly became a Terriers showdown (3-0) while the Minutemen struggled to find the back of the net and stop BU from doing so.
“BU hammered us,” head coach Greg Cannella said after the game. “We deserve what we got today we were not prepared in any facet of the game. There were some good things but just not a great performance by us at all. I didn’t get the guys ready to play and that was on me.”
Gabriel Procyk scored his fourth goal of the season with 7:50 to go in the second quarter, making it a close 5-3 game still in the Terriers favor. Once UMass began to show some signs of rhythm, BU stepped on the gas scoring four more goals before halftime, flipping the pressure back onto the Minutemen. Senior Timmy Ley dished to junior Thomas Niedringhaus and set up a perfect shot with just over six minutes to go pushing it to a 7-3 lead. Ley wanted in on the goal scoring action three minutes later and nailed his second of the day. The BU attacker finished with four goals and three assists in the win, his fourth goal kicking off the third quarter.
The second quarter separated the two teams and allowed the Terriers to remain in control for the entire second half. When the Minutemen connected on goal scoring opportunities, BU was able to sustain its energy to limit chances at a comeback run. The Terriers were unstoppable on offense all four quarters, notching four goals in the first and second, along with three in the third and ending with three more.
“Had a couple chances and didn’t connect,” Cannella said. “Unfortunately, didn’t connect and then turned the ball over a few times. Good teams will do that to you, and they did that to us on the road.”
The lone bright spot in the loss for UMass was sophomore Grant Breyo. BU defended graduate student and midfielder Kevin Tobin well, putting pressure on other goal scorers for the Minutemen to produce. Breyo’s hat trick put life back in the UMass offense, scoring three of its seven total goals.
“[Breyo] has been steady,” Cannella said. “He is steady. He comes to work every day and cares about it. Sometimes when you are a midfielder, and you get those opportunities … it’s a good day.”
Despite Breyo’s individual success, the Minutemen failed to convert overall chances. The lobsided score sheds light on senior goalie Matt Garber’s brick wall effort considering BU only had a 26-19 shot on goal advantage. Garber had 10 saves on the day. UMass’ Matt Knote also had 10 saves but allowed 16 goals to Garber’s seven.
Unlike the Minutemen’s second half comeback effort against Army to start the year, they couldn’t get past Garber when they needed to. BU caused 11 UMass turnovers whereas UMass could only force three.
Early in the third quarter after what could have been a productive regrouping for the Minutemen, BU got a takeaway on defense and started a fast break with its long poles. Christian Quadrino got a pass at midfield and ran in towards the UMass goal. No UMass defender picked up Quadrino, allowing him to wind up and crank a high speed shot past Knote.
“[Terriers] slid early, they got up in our grill and we didn’t handle the pressure very well so really kudos to those guys. They really outplayed us everywhere wasn’t just on the defensive end.”
UMass heads to Yale on March 5. Face off is set for 1 p.m.
Lulu Kesin can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @Lulukesin.
