Lafayette Beat Boston University 2-0 to Win the Patriot League Outright and Take Hosting Rights
This was a title decider, and Lafayette played it like one. The No. 15 Leopards beat Boston University 2-0 on Friday evening at Rappolt Field, scoring once in each half, to win the Patriot League regular-season title outright and secure the No. 1 seed for next week’s conference tournament.
Senior defender Lena Thedrian scored the first goal. The second half goal sealed it, and BU never found a way back into a game that was billed all week as winner-takes-the-title.
The numbers behind this Lafayette season are serious. Fifteen wins, two defeats. Six wins from six in the Patriot League. Ten wins from ten at home. It’s their first outright regular-season crown since 2012, and their only two defeats all season came by a single goal against Northwestern and Penn State, two of the best teams in the country.
What happens next
The Patriot League Championship is at Lafayette, in Easton, from 5-7 November, and the Leopards will host it as top seeds. Boston University, American and Holy Cross make up the rest of the field. BU will face either American or Holy Cross in Thursday’s semi-final, with that opponent decided by Saturday’s final league games.
For our money, Lafayette are favourites now, and not just because they’re at home. A team that hasn’t lost at home all season and has already beaten BU in a straight title fight doesn’t need much more of an edge. But tournament hockey has a way of ignoring form, and BU beat Lafayette in last year’s title game. They’ll believe they can do it again.
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