No. 16 Army Upends First Place BU, Secures No. 2 Seed

Friday, April 29

Boston, MA

8:00 PM

Army West Point

11-3, 6-2PL

Boston University

10-4, 7-1PL

Army West Point

Boston University

No. 16 Army Upends First Place BU, Secures No. 2 Seed

April 29, 2022 | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score

Game 14
SCORE	No. 16/14 Army Black Knights 15, No. 15/16 Boston U. 14
RECORDS	Army (11-3, 6-2 Patriot) \| Boston U. (10-4, 7-1 Patriot)
LEADING SCORERS	Army – Brendan Nichtern (10) \| Boston U. – Louis Perfetto (7)
LOCATION	Nickerson Field

BOSTON – The No. 16/14 Black Knights secured the No. 2 seed in the 2022 Patriot League Championship by nipping conference-leading No. 15/16 Boston University, 15-14, on Friday night.

GAME SUMMARY
Army entered the game with the first-place Terriers knowing it could be seeded between second and fifth in the upcoming Patriot League tournament, depending on results throughout the league. The route for the two seed, which includes a bye into the semifinals, was a win over BU and a Loyola win over Lehigh. The Greyhounds clipped the Mountain Hawks in overtime, which concluded during the first half of tonight's game, opening the door for the Black Knights.

Army trailed for the entire first half. BU took an early 2-0 lead, but the Black Knights closed the first quarter on a 3-1 to tie the game at 3-3. The Terriers built a 5-3 lead with 10 minutes remaining in the second quarter and scored with 51 seconds left for a 6-4 lead. However, Paul Johnson netted his second of the game with nine seconds left as Army trailed 6-5 going into halftime.

The goal ignited a 7-1 run by the Black Knights with Brendan Nichtern assisting on five straight goals. Bobby Abshire tied the game at 6-6 two minutes into the third quarter. Jacob Morin, then, gave Army its first lead of the game at 7-6 with 10 minutes remaining in the quarter. BU tied the game one minute later, but Army responded with four-straight goals. Bo Waters and Johnson scored 11 seconds apart, Aidan Byrnes scored a man-up goal at the 2:34 mark, and Jacob Morin netted his hat trick for an 11-7 lead with 1:58.

Special teams doing special things#GoArmy | #FamilyToughnessTradition pic.twitter.com/VtDQgyUqL0
— Army Men's Lacrosse (@ArmyWP_MLax) April 30, 2022

However, the Terriers reeled off three goals in 1:33 as the Black Knights held on to a slender 11-10 lead into the fourth quarter.

30 seconds into the fourth quarter, Reese Burek halted the run as the teams alternated goals for the rest of the game. Nichtern, who assisted on eight goals, scored a pair of goals in the fourth quarter as Army led 14-12 with 9:25 remaining. The Army defense held strong with Wyatt Schupler keeping the Terriers off the board until the last 31 seconds when BU's Tommy Bourque cut the lead to 14-13.

On the ensuing faceoff, Will Coletti won it and made his way towards the BU end where he scored an empty-net goal with 16 seconds left. The goal proved significant as the Terriers managed to score with one second on the clock.

Will Coletti wins the faceoff and scores the game-winning goal. #GoArmy | #FamilyToughnessTradition pic.twitter.com/o93KecxFLM
— Army Men's Lacrosse (@ArmyWP_MLax) April 30, 2022

CADET CAPSULES

Brendan Nichtern set a career-high in assists with eight and tied a career-high in points with 10. The eight assists are tied for the second-most in Army history, and the 10 points are tied for third; he has two of the top four most points game in program history. He also set the program single-season record in points (86) breaking the record set by Tom Cafaro (85) in 1971 and in assists (51) which he set in 2019 with 50.
Paul Johnson had his fourth hat-trick game of the season and his third straight multi-goal game.
Jacob Morin scored a hat-trick.
Will Coletti went 17-for-33 at the faceoff X and won a team-high nine ground balls.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

The 37 ground balls are tied for the second-most this season.

CADET'S CORNER

"Tonight was another win where we showed our resilience and ability to play in tight games. The confidence will pay dividends as we move into the Patriot League tournament." – Brendan Nichtern

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