After getting off to a hot 6-0 start, your Army Black Knights (6-1, 1-1) dropped a tough one-point road loss at Lafayette (5-2, 1-0) this past Friday night. Asking for perfection was always going to be tough, but this loss stings because it’s Army’s first ever to the Leopards in program history. Lafayette might have the most improved team in the Patriot League, but even so, this was a game lacrosse watchers had counted in Army’s win column ahead of the season.
Thankfully, even in the loss, we saw a few signs of improvement over some of last year’s performances. First and foremost, the Black Knights handled Lafayette’s Ten Man Ride successfully. They’ve struggled against the ten-man in recent years, but they cleared 21/23 attempts last week and got a goalie goal from Sean Byrne. The Black Knights also won 14/23 faceoffs against a Lafayette team that came into last week’s game winning 60% of its restarts. The Black Knights started fast, getting out to an early 4-3 lead and taking a 7-4 advantage into halftime. Finally, they outshot the Leopards 46–32 overall and 28–20 on goal.
On paper, Army should have won this game.
Unfortunately, Lafayette switched from Man to Zone Defense late in the first half, and that adjustment killed Army’s scoring momentum. From that point forward, the Black Knights scored just three goals, allowing Lafayette to climb back and eventually take a two-goal lead late in the fourth quarter. A Brayden Fountain answered to pull within a goal with just over two minutes remaining, but the Black Knights could not break the zone twice in quick succession. When the Leopards regained possession, they successfully killed the clock.
With the Leopards’ defense playing well, Army struggled to get the looks they wanted, allowing Lafayette G Joe Doherty to finish with a whopping *19* saves. He earned Patriot League Goalie of the Week honors for that performance, as well he might.
Another opportunity on the road this week.#GoArmy | #FamilyToughnessTradition pic.twitter.com/rtyMyDliwz
— Army Men's Lacrosse (@ArmyWP_MLax) March 10, 2026
Army vs. Boston University
The good news for this weekend’s contest at Boston University is that the Terriers play the same kind of game as the Leopards. Army literally *just* matched-up against this style. Like Lafayette, BU plays a Ten Man Ride. Also like Lafayette, they beat the Black Knights last year with a Zone Defense. The bad news, however, is that BU does both of those things better than Lafayette.
The Black Knights adjusted to beat the Ten Man Ride with a combination of quick outlet passing and aggressive downfield play. They’ll need to do that again. However, this week’s contest looks like it will turn on how well Army can match-up against BU’s zone defense, and unfortunately, that zone defense has beaten them pretty consistently over the past several years.
1⃣0⃣0⃣ 𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐑 𝐆𝐎𝐀𝐋𝐒 ‼️#GoArmy | #FamilyToughnessTradition pic.twitter.com/RPifoux7qK
— Army Men's Lacrosse (@ArmyWP_MLax) March 7, 2026
Boston University Terriers
Boston University (4-2, 2-0) comes into this game ranked just outside the Top 20 nationally, having lost to Syracuse and Yale but having beaten Navy and Lehigh. Army beat Yale 12-6 while BU lost to them 16-11, so if we believe in the Transitive Property, the Black Knights should have the advantage. However, Army played Yale at home while the Terriers played them in New Haven. This week’s game will be in Boston, where the Terriers have been perfect this season. Moreover, recent match-ups tell us that this game favors BU in terms of both scheme and momentum. The Black Knights might be 9-7 all-time in this series, but they’ve not beaten BU since 2022. Even then, the Terriers eventually got the better of them in the Patriot League Tournament.
Put simply, BU has owned the Black Knights in the 2020s, wrecking otherwise promising seasons repeatedly.
For better or worse, this year looks different because Army’s loss to Lafayette has already destroyed their chances for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. At this point, nothing really matters until we get to the Patriot League Tournament, but the Black Knights absolutely MUST win the Patriot League. However, it’s a hell of a lot easier to win the Patriot League with a first round bye, and those only go to the top two teams in the League. With the loss to Lafayette, Army has very little room for error for eventual tournament seeding.
Congrats to T and Madden on picking up some well-deserved @PatriotLeague honors!https://t.co/4m0kUQgx1o pic.twitter.com/ztuVsrKdw1
— BU Men's Lacrosse (@TerrierMLAX) March 9, 2026
Final Thoughts
Friends, this game will not be easy. BU FOGO Madden Murphy won 20/27 faceoffs last week against Lafayette, and G Connor Phillips made 12 saves. A Timothy Shannehan scored 6 points, added an assist, and picked up 3 ground balls. He’ll be one to watch when BU has the ball. On the other side, D Connor Kehm forced 4 turnovers and picked up 6 ground balls. As a team, BU outshot Lehigh 51-33 and 30-25 on shots-on-goal.
All things considered, it’s a testament to the Mountain Hawks’ defense that they were able to keep this one close and eventually force overtime. Army plays a similar kind of defensive game, so perhaps that will help.
I see two @ArmyWP_MLax legends in there. Congrats to Jackson Eicher and Brendan Nichtern on winning the @PremierLacrosse championship series with the @PLLChaos . #GoArmy https://t.co/Jhpz8TuBky
— Kyle Georgalas (@LaxCoachKG) March 9, 2026
For both teams, this weekend’s game comes against an extremely familiar opponent who plays a style similar to the one they faced last week. The game will go to whichever team can better execute its week-to-week adjustments.
Army Head Coach Joe Alberici has been outstanding with adjustments all season. For the Black Knights to get back on track, though, he’ll need perhaps his best coaching performance of the season.
Go Army! Beat Boston U!!!
