We got a beautiful day this past Saturday, bringing 3000 or more fans out to Michie Stadium to watch your Army Black Knights take on their in-conference nemesis, the Boston University Terriers. Alas, as you probably know already, BU made it five in a row, beating the previously #2/#3 Black Knights in overtime, 10-9.

Friends, this was a frustrating loss. On top of everything else, it took me nearly two hours to get to the Academy from my house in Coastal Connecticut, owing to both tons of weekend road work and to two separate wrecks. One of those happened right in front of me. All other factors aside, y’all drive like maniacs. Those twenty-five-year-old, busted Honda Civics were never intended to go 125 mph on these Northeastern parkways. And guys, driving like that  — with your kids in the car! — is truly taking it to another level.

Some of us just want to get where we’re going, y’know?

Anyway. I got to West Point safely, thank God. I found A Lot completely jammed with would-be spectators once I got there, to the point that the overflow had started filling both F Lot and C Lot and may very well have stretched beyond that. This was by far the most crowded I’ve ever seen Michie Stadium for a lacrosse game outside of Army-Navy. Army’s Athletic Department did an outstanding job marketing this game. BU brought at least 1000 fans of their own, while Army Athletics brought a dozen or more youth lacrosse programs for a post-game catch. Fans absolutely packed Michie’s lower levels behind the benches, creating a truly awesome atmosphere.

All those spectators saw one Hell of an exciting game. Army often enjoys a substantial size, strength, and speed advantage against teams in the Patriot League, but they were neither bigger nor faster than the Terriers. The Terriers also play a zone defense and frequently use a ten-man ride. Neither is particularly common in the Patriot League, and indeed, the Black Knights struggled against both on Saturday. 

I’d argue that BU’s defensive scheme proved decisive. Army out-shot the Terriers 56-43 with 30 shots on goal to BU’s 27. However, the Black Knights got very few good looks from their settled offense, so that BU goalie Will Barnes was able to make a whopping 22 saves (71%!). Barnes saw the ball very well, but we’ve got to point out that nearly all his saves came high-to-high. Army needed to change levels to get the ball by him, and they just couldn’t do it. The Black Knights, most especially plebe A Will Plunkett, occasionally scored low-to-low, but beyond that, the team wasted a lot of shots by putting them point-blank into Barnes’s chest or stick. 

With their trouble against the Terriers’ zone, Army worked to create opportunities in unsettled situations, but even then, they wasted no fewer than a half dozen one-on-one doorstep opportunities. At least one miss came against an empty net! 

What can you do? In an otherwise close game, a handful of individual, physical mistakes can and will cost you.

Army’s defense might not have played quite as well this past weekend as they have at other times this season, but I personally think that they played well enough to win. They gave up 9 goals in regulation to a very good offensive unit. G Sean Byrne made *18* saves himself, good for an outstanding 64.3% save percentage. That’s good defense overall and outstanding goalie work. Army also forced 7 turnovers, and indeed, won the turnover battle as a whole, 18-13. Even the faceoffs went okay despite the continued absence of All-American Will Coletti. The Black Knights struggled early, but yearling FOGO Robert Simone wound up winning 13/21 overall.

As we’ve said all season, consistency might be the toughest challenge in college sports. All three of the nation’s Top 3 teams lost this weekend, a weekend that saw TONS more upsets all over the country. Unranked Michigan took down #1 Maryland, 11-10, in triple-overtime. #9 Ohio State beat #2 Penn State, 13-9. Rutgers beat Johns Hopkins. Brown beat UMass. Bucknell beat Lehigh in the Patriot League, and Navy needed overtime to beat lowly Holy Cross. Those are all shocking results!

With that in mind, we should point out that we never expected Army to run the table in the Patriot League. We discussed this at some length in our last show. Though the Black Knights keep reaching these lofty national rankings, reality is that there’s still just too much parity in the League — and in college lacrosse generally. Behold this very weekend. And while that’s not a bad thing, necessarily, it does inform our expectations. Really, all those lofty rankings don’t exactly help in the grand scheme of things. The 10th ranked team in the country can take a loss, whereas the 2nd ranked team really can’t. When you’re ranked #2, and you lose, it looks like an earthquake or an otherwise total collapse. 

The problem now is that the Black Knights will need to win the Patriot League Tournament to ensure a berth in the NCAA Tournament, and the Patriot League Tournament will most likely run through Boston. Friends, the Terriers now own a five-game winning streak in this series. That’s not a fluke, nor is it just the result of a few unfavorable match-ups here or there. No, this thing has become an actual problem. Whatever it is that these guys are doing, Army hasn’t found an answer, not since way back in 2022.

The Black Knights need to take that shit personally.

So okay. This team can only play one game at a time. This week’s game is against North Carolina, and it’s a Big Game. However, the inevitable rematch with BU now looms very large on the horizon as well.

Go Army! Beat North Carolina!!!