2024 NCAA Lacrosse Preview: No. 18 Boston U (Men)

The 2024 Division I men's college lacrosse season kicks off February 2. As is our annual tradition, we’re featuring every team ranked in the USA Lacrosse Preseason Top 20 in the lead up to opening night. Check back to USALaxMagazine.com each weekday this month for new previews, scouting reports and rival analysis.

NO. 18 BOSTON UNIVERSITY 

2023 record: 10-4 (7-1 Patriot) 
Final ranking (2023): No. 19 
Head coach: Ryan Polley (78-64 in 10 seasons at Boston University; 106-82 in 13 seasons overall) 
Assistants: Mike Silipo (offensive coordinator), Jack Rowlett (defensive coordinator), Steve Moreland

Boston University has a new defensive coordinator in Jack Rowlett, the former North Carolina star coming off a stint on Georgetown’s staff as a heavily involved volunteer assistant. And it means things could be different for fifth-year senior Roy Meyer, one of college lacrosse’s elite long-stick midfielders in recent years. 

Don’t think for a second the Terriers are going to reinvent the wheel and completely alter how the turnover-forcing maestro operates. 

“I don’t think we’re going to completely change everything, but I certainly think Roy is going to be asked to do a little bit more schematically and play a little bit more of a role from a coverability standpoint,” coach Ryan Polley said. “A lot of times [in the fall], we were able to get Roy off the ball and really rely on his instincts and his play-making ability in order to create those turnovers.” 

It creates some interesting potential for Boston U., which has won the Patriot League regular season in back-to-back seasons and made its first NCAA tournament trip in 2022. The Terriers allowed a little more than 11 goals a game with an aggressive scheme that nudged opponents into 20 turnovers a contest, and they bring back all three starters on close defense (including the exceptional Patrick Morrison). 

And now there could be some added elements for Meyer, who has forced 118 turnovers in his career, including a whopping 58 in 2022. 

“There’s going to be some opportunities for Roy to really buckle down and potentially win a matchup,” Polley said. “We’re going to count on him to be a little more of a traditional defender, and I think Roy is really looking forward to that and just doing some things we really haven’t asked him to do that much in his first couple years.” 

 TOP RETURNERS

Vince D’Alto, A, Gr. (44 G, 24 A) 
Roy Meyer, LSM, Gr. (64 GB, 32 CT) 
Louis Perfetto, A, Gr. (27 G, 37 A)

D’Alto needs 28 goals to become the Terriers’ career goals leader. Perfetto is five assists shy of passing Chris Gray for the program record in that category. (This also serves as a reminder of what a force of nature Gray was in just two seasons at Boston U.). Together, they provide an excellent offensive foundation even with Timmy Ley (40 goals, 14 assists in 2023) graduating. 

“It’s certainly a security blanket having those two back and all they provide for our team, not only from a production standpoint but also a leadership standpoint,” Polley said. “It certainly makes the fall easy when you can turn a drill over to those guys and they can run it seamlessly without the coaches needing to be there.”  

KEY ADDITIONS 

Luke Davis, SSDM, Fr. (Franklin HS, Mass.) 
Matthew Fritz, FO, Jr. (.407 FO%, 30 GB at Ohio State) 
Donald Varnerin, LSM, Fr. (Westwood HS, Mass.)

The Terriers have oodles of experience just about everywhere … except among their short sticks. And Davis, who was listed on the roster as an attackman during the fall, is part of Boston U.’s creativity in rebuilding that group on the fly. Polley and his staff borrowed from their faceoff depth, moving Ben Ferrara and Brian Garrity to defensive midfield. Tommy Jepson, a senior who has spent some time in his career on the second midfield line, moves to defense. So does sophomore Cole Van Meter. Davis made an immediate impression as well, giving him a path to making an instant impact on a team without many holes created by graduation and transfers.

NOTABLE DEPARTURES

Graduations: Jett Dziama, SSDM; Matt Garber, G; Matt Hilburn, A; Walker Ker, LSM; Timmy Ley, A; Blake Phillips, SSDM 
Transfers: Donnie Howard, SSDM (Rutgers)

X-FACTOR

Will Barnes, G, Jr. (4 SV, 0 GA, 19:54)

Barnes has appeared in eight games over his first two seasons with the Terriers, and he pulled away from Marquette transfer Michael Allieri midway through the fall as the successor to Matt Garber. 

“Will’s strength is he’s a really quick goalie,” Polley said. “He’s a little bit on the smaller side, which frankly, we haven’t really had at BU. We’ve had three goalies, and been fortunate to have great goalies, where we really haven’t had to cycle through year after year, and we’ve had some bigger goalies. Will will be on the smaller side, but what he lacks in size he makes up for in anticipation and quickness.” 

THE NARRATIVE

From the moment the NCAA granted a blanket waiver to every athlete whose spring 2020 season was eliminated by the pandemic, this year was always targeted as a huge one at Boston University. 

That’s not to diminish anything the Terriers have done since then. It’s just that Polley figured out quickly the freshmen from that shortened season — D’Alto, Meyer, Morrison and Perfetto — would be good to have around as long as possible. 

“It was a little bit of a risk on our part because we had only seen them play for six games,” Polley said. “We had a good feeling within our program that this was the future of our program. A lot of them had started those six games and had been a big part of our early season results. It was a leap of faith both ways.” 

As a program, Boston University had to set aside scholarship money to help cover the costs of grad school for several players. And players had to plan on a five-year college experience, and later choose to spend that extra year with the Terriers rather than transfer. 

Then there was the need to grapple with how last year concluded, a 12-11 loss to Loyola at home in the Patriot League semifinals. 

“At the end of the day, I think they all came here to change the culture and take BU from this Top 25 team, Top 20 team and really try to cement it as a Top 12 team, a Top 10 team,” Polley said. “They’ve done that, and now we have to take one more step. I’m excited they were able to go through their process, really look long and hard about it and make the decision to come back and really put their money where their mouth was and say, ‘Hey, this is what I came to BU to do.’ It’s easy to say, but not always easy to execute.”

ENEMY LINES 
WHAT RIVALS ARE SAYING ABOUT THE TERRIERS

“When you think about their attack that’s coming back, you think about Meyer between the lines, probably the best long pole in the league. They’re going to be riddled with all-Patriot League guys throughout. He’s done a great job up there of cultivating some talent, and I think you saw a team that played with a swagger last year. I still think it’s the type of team that if the ball hits the ground and they’re running, you’re in trouble because they’re such terrific finishers. They can throw talent out all over the place. The interesting thing for them is they now have Rowlett, who came up there from Georgetown, so how does he change that defense? Are they taking as many risks between the lines to play fast? Are they 10-manning as much as they did and committing to their 10-man, which gave some teams some trouble. I think Navy figured it out and was able to get a win against them. That’s something you’ve had to plan for over the last couple years when you play BU, the idea that they want to ride you really hard, they want to get the ball on the ground and they want the game to be faster than most teams are comfortable with. ”

“I think if you look at them top to bottom, it might be the most talented roster out there in the Patriot League. For the second year in a row, they’re returning almost everybody. When they made their run, a big number of those guys were guys with two more years of eligibility. Last year, they were league champs. They had a little trouble finding themselves early, got a good run going and then Loyola was playing well at the end. I think that they all have that little bit of chip on their shoulder. They’re going to be a dangerous team. They have demonstrated abilities in the league. They don’t have to think, ‘What if?’ They’ve actually done that two years in a row as regular season champs and one time as the playoff champion.”

BEYOND THE BASICS 
POWERED BY LACROSSE REFERENCE

The team will need to adapt to the absence of Timmy Ley. BU was 7-0 when Ley recorded at least one assist and 3-4 when he didn’t. Last year, he and Vince D’Alto were the 1-2 initiator punch for Coach Polley, but with only D’Alto back this year, making sure defenses can’t key on him will be a primary focus.

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