Men’s Lacrosse Topples Boston University, 12-5, in First Action in Over a Year

Friday, April 23

Boston, MA

7:00 PM

Brown University

1-0

Boston University

6-4

Brown

Boston University

Photo by: Matt Woolverton

Men’s Lacrosse Topples Boston University, 12-5, in First Action in Over a Year

4/23/2021 9:34:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score Highlights

BOSTON - The Brown men's lacrosse team opened its 2021 season and returned to competition after 410 days on Friday night with a 12-5 triumph over Boston University at Nickerson Field.

The Bears (1-0) outscored BU (6-4) 4-1 in both the first and second quarters to hold an 8-2 lead at halftime. Brown continued to roll in the second half with a 4-0 scoring advantage in the third en route to the 12-5 final.

Senior Luke McCaleb (Chevy Chase, Md.) became the 14th player in program history to reach 100 goals after his score at 10:05 of the third quarter. He finished the night with five points on two goals and three assists to lead the Bears. His five points also helped him move up to sixth all-time at Brown in scoring with 175 points (100-75), surpassing both Oliver Marti '93 (144-27-171) and Kylor Bellistri '16 (124-48-172).

In addition to McCaleb's scoring totals, junior Darian Cook (Redding, Conn.), senior George Grell (Short Hills, N.J.) and junior Nolen Rockefeller (New York, N.Y.) all recorded two goals apiece while senior Riley Stewart (Darien, Conn.) (1-1-2) and junior Reed Moshyedi (Potomac, Md.) (0-2-2) also contributed multi-point efforts.

Senior Phil Goss (San Francisco, Calif.) surrendered just five goals in the outing, stopping 11 shots overall to inch closer to Brown's all-time save record, with 659 career saves. The netminder trails only Jack Kelly '16 (673).

The Bears trailed just once in the contest, due to BU scoring the opening goal of the game at 13:38. McCaleb put Brown on the board for the first time in 2021 at 12:22, and then the Bears followed with three-straight goals to claim a 4-1 advantage after the opening 15 minutes. Senior Ryan Aughavin (Glen Head, N.Y.) gave Brown its first lead at 8:34 and Grell closed out the three-goal spurt at 5:59.

BU registered the first goal of the second stanza (13:03) before Rockefeller notched back-to-back scores at 8:20 and 6:58 to build the Bears' lead to 6-2. A tally by sophomore Devon McLane (Westfield, N.J.) at 3:27 made it 7-2 before Grell scored his second of the night with 10 seconds remaining in the second for an 8-2 advantage at the halfway point.

Brown carried a 25-17 lead in shots after the opening 30 minutes. The Bears also won nine of the 12 faceoffs with senior Matt McShea (Winnetka, Ill.) going 6-for-7 at the face-off X. Goss surrendered just two goals through two quarters and turned away seven shots.

It was all Bears in the third, outscoring the home team, 4-0, in the quarter. McCaleb scored his second of the game at 10:05 to begin things while junior Colby Gendron (Bedford, N.H.) got on the board at 9:00. After Stewart's tally at 6:23, McCaleb fed Cook for a behind the back goal to close out the third's scoring at 1:27 for a 12-2 lead.

BU wasn't able to test Goss in the third, as the Bears' defense caused six turnovers and didn't allow a shot on goal in the period.

The Terriers would score the only goals of the final quarter, finding the back of the net three times, including a man-up goal for the game's final score at 6:21.

Brown held a 23-14 advantage in shots for the second half and were again dominant in face-offs, capturing 7-of-9. Overall, the Bears outshot the Terriers 48-31 and won 16-of-21 face-offs, with McShea going 8-for-10 and sophomore Matthew Gunty (Bethesda, Md.) capturing 8-of-11.

Defensively, junior Andrew Geppert (Dover, N.H.), junior Luke Gaydos (Ridgefield, Conn.) and senior Ben Baranker (Toms River, N.J.) caused two turnovers apiece while sophomore Trevor Yeboah-Kodie (Garden City, N.Y.) trailed only McShea (8) in ground balls with four.

McCaleb and Aughavin both extended their point streaks, with McCaleb increasing his to 22 games with 50-31-81 scored in that span, while Aughavin moves his streak to 15-consecutive contests with a 29-14-42 total.

BU was led in scoring by Matt Baugher (2-0-2) and Louis Perfetto (0-2-2) while Alex Gainey tallied 15 saves in net.