(Photo Courtesy of Loyola Athletics)
Loyola’s start to the season has been anything but spectacular. A blowout loss to Maryland to open the season and a 1-4 start is not what the Greyhounds had envisioned. But, now, a month into the season, Charlie Toomey’s squad may have found its mojo.
After beating Lafayette in their Patriot League opener a week ago to earn their first win of the season, Loyola welcomed in the No. 8-ranked Duke and made a statement, knocking of the Blue Devils 12-10 in a game in which the Greyhounds dominated for the majority of the contest.
Duke scored the last seven goals of the contest, including two goals with under a minute remaining, to make it interesting, but until that late run it was all Loyola.
A major part of Loyola’s dominance, especially in the first half, was the play of Kevin Lindley. The attackman caught fire early and netted himself a first-half sock trick to help the Greyhounds take the 10-2 lead heading into the half.
Lindley’s big day saw him come into his own not only as a shooter and finisher, but also as a dodger. The fifth-year attackman scored the first three goals of the second quarter before getting his sixth of the day with a little less than five minutes left in the half. His explosion in the quarter helped the Greyhounds go 6-0 in the second to close out the half strong.
In addition to Lindley, the duo of Bailey Savio (8-for-15) and Eric Pacheco (6-for-9) was strong at the faceoff dot. SSDM Payton Rezanka stood out, grabbing four ground balls and caused three turnovers, while helping the Greyhounds defense give Duke fits for most of the game.
Sam Shafer anchored the Loyola defense with eight saves.
Brennan O’Neill had the only two first-half goals fro Duke, scoring on consecutive possessions at the end of the first quarter. He added two more in the second half, bookending the fourth quarter, to finish with four goals on the day.
Mike Adler made 13 saves to anchor the Duke defense.
Johns Hopkins Tops Syracuse
In a game that saw Dave Pietramala return to Homewood for the first time in two years, but now on the opposite sideline as the defensive coordinator of the Syracuse Orange, the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays pulled out the 10-7 victory.
With things all knotted up at 4 at the half, Syracuse was shooting just 14% and had hit pipe six times in the first two quarters. On the other side, Johns Hopkins was clearing at 58% (7-of-12) mark.
Those struggles continued in the second half for both sides as the Orange finished the game outshooting the Blue Jays 54-29 and only put 21 of those shots on cage. Hopkins ended the game with a 17-of-25 (68%) mark in the clearing game. However, it was the Blue Jays who were able to overcome their downfalls and pull out the win in the historic rivalry contest.
Hopkins saw their offense wake up in the second half, outscored Syracuse 4-2 in the third quarter before putting in the final two goals of the game late in the fourth.
Jonathan Peshko especially stepped up for the Blue Jays, scoring two consecutive goals midway through the third quarter to help push the Hopkins lead ahead 7-5. Early in the game, he used a little hesitation step to get topside above GLE and knot things all up at two to end the first quarter. Peshko ended the game with a hat trick.
The contest was bookended by Joey Epstein (2G/3A) scores with the senior tallying the first and final goal of the game. He also assisted on the Garrett Degnon goal that tied things at the half and dished a second assist on one of Peshko’s third-quarter scores.
Despite Jakob Phaub’s dominance at the faceoff dot (14-for-21), the Orange were never able to much momentum in the second half to force a comeback after getting down. Both of the Orange’s goals in the third quarter came on man-up situations. Tucker Dordevic netted the final tally of the day for Syracuse with 5:53 left in the fourth to give himself a hat trick.
Josh Kirson made 14 saves for Johns Hopkins while Harrison Thompson made seven for the Blue Jays.
Cardiac Quakers Strike Again
For the third week in a row, the Penn Quakers win in dramatic fashion. This time it was Dylan Gergar putting in the score off a transition sequence with less than a second left to lift the Quakers past Villanova, 8-7.
Gergar’s game-winner, which was his second goal of the day, came after James Shipley, who sent home the game-winner last week against Pen State, tied things up at 7 with 1:18 remaining. Those final two goals of the game were the only two scored Penn was able to garner in the second half as the Villanova defense was able to stifle the Quakers’ offense.
On the flip side, after trailing 6-4 at the break, the Wildcats scored three straight from early in the third through the midway point in the fourth as Patrick Daly, Matt Campbell, and JP Basile all found the back of the net. Campbell’s tally earned him a hat trick and knotted things all up at six, while Basile gave the Wildcats their first lead of the game.
Villanova dominated the faceoff dot with Justin Coppola going 13-for-18 (72%) on the day and Will Vitton made six saves in cage.
Patrick Burkinshaw made 13 saves in cage for the Quakers, facing an onslaught from the Wildcats as they took 51 shots and put 25 on goal.
Yale Holds off Denver
A Thomas Bragg man-up score put the Bulldogs ahead 9-5 early in the third to keep Yale rolling after a strong second-quarter finish that put them up 8-5 at the half.
However, the Bulldogs couldn’t breathe just yet. Minutes later Denver got as hot as they had been all day. A JJ Sillstrop goal off the Alex Simmons feed was the start of what would become a three-goal run to cut the Yale lead to one, 9-8. Johnny Marrocco and Jack Hannah scored the last two of that shot streak, which was the first time all game in which Denver has been able to stack goals.
Leo Johnson stopped the bleeding for a brief moment before Alex Simmons found the back of the net to cut the lead back to one. However, it would be the last time Denver came within striking distance for the remainder of the game as Yale answered with three straight to help them end the game on a 6-4 run to seal the deal and grab the 16-13 win.
Matt Brandau had another big day for the Bulldogs, tallying eight points off five goals and three assists. Leo Johnson had a hat trick.
Jared Paquette anchored the Yale defense with 15 saves.
JJ Sillstrop led Denver with five points (2G/3A) while both Alex Simmons and Jack Hannah had three goals and one assist. Alec Stathakis went 20-for-30 (60%) at the faceoff dot.
Late-Game Runs Helps Navy Past Colgate
The Midshipmen don’t let their losing streak extend to three as they take down the Colgate Raiders 11-10 for their first win in Patriot League play.
Navy found themselves down 9-6 early in the fourth after three consecutive scores from Michael and Brian Minicus. The Midshipmen soon exploded for a five-goal run that saw Patrick Skalniak and Dane Swanson each score twice to get ahead 11-9 and help secure the win. Colgate’s Marshall Terres got the final score of the contest with 13 seconds left.
Patrick Skalniak led Navy with six points off five goals and one assist. Brian Minicus had the same exact line for the Raiders.
This game saw Xavier Arline get his first start for Navy at attack and get his first career goal as he opened up the scoring for the Midshipmen.
Lacrosse Bucket 