BALTIMORE – Colgate University scored three goals in less than eight minutes on Saturday evening, pulling away early in the second half for a 3-0 victory in the Patriot League opener at Loyola University Maryland.
 
After both teams had five shots in the first half with neither scoring, the Raiders got on the board 4:44 into the second half.
 
Ruby Diodati possessed the ball after Loyola cleared it out of the box, and Diodati sent a long pass to Martina Loncar from the left sideline. Loncar chipped it off the far post and into the net at 49:44 to stake the Raiders to a 1-0 advantage.
 
They would add to their lead less than three minutes later when Leah Lewis knocked it over the line off a corner kick. The corner went toward the far post where Lewis took a shot that was saved off the line by Loyola's Hannah Hoefs.
 
The rebound came to Jenna Borovinsky who had a shot blocked from inside the six, and that ball caromed to the feet of Lewis who pushed it over the line at 52:35.
 
Colgate (3-2-0 overall, 1-0-0 Patriot League) scored for the third time in less than eight minutes at 57:05 when Loncar tallied her second of the night.
 
Dom Demarco began the play in Colgate's defensive end, pushing a pass forward to Abby Sotomayor on the wide left side. Sotomayor played the ball over the Loyola defense to Loncar rushing on from the right, and Loncar was one-versus-one with Greyhounds goalkeeper Sumer Rahe. She cut down the angle, but Loncar pushed her shot past her outstretched hands for the third goal of the evening.
 
All told, both teams split 28 shots evenly and each had five on goal, but three of Colgate's chances resulted in goals.
 
Loyola had two of its best scoring chances in the opening eight minutes of the match. Just over two minutes in, Sarah Bayer beat her defender off the right side and struck a hard shot that found the hands of Colgate goalkeeper Kelly Chiavaro.
 
After Chiavaro turned away a 25-yard shot by Ann-Kathrin Wolfram in the fourth minute, Loyola had a good opportunity on the play-out of a corner kick in the eighth. Ariel Tillman found herself in space from nine yards out, but her shot was also saved by Chiavaro.
 
The Raiders nearly dented the scoreboard in the 15^th and 17^th minutes, but Loyola's defense turned away shots both times. Julianna Cabrera stepped in front of a Borovinsky attempt from 12 yards out on the right side in the 15^th, and Julia Gray cleared a ball off the line of an Adrienne Vaughn shot in the 17^th.
 
Kate Reese took a through ball that knuckled to her feet and shot wide right in the 40^th minute, and another dangergous chance for the Greyhounds was thwarted.
 
"I think that the game was pretty even as is evident by the number of shots each team took today," said Loyola Head Coach Naomi Meiburger. "The difference was that Colgate finished its best chances, and we did not. We need to be better at finishing going forward because we are getting chances that can result in goals."
 
After Colgate's third goal, Loyola had three substantial chances that did not amount to goals.
 
Chiavaro saved a Claire Beath header off a Mia Sardella corner kick in the 67^th minute, and a Mary Theresa Corcoran chance in the 76^th went wide off another corner. Jourdan Ziff that nearly drove in a Sumer Rahe free kick in the 78^th minute, but it was saved by Chiavaro.
 
The Greyhounds had a 7-2 advantage in corner kicks in the game.
 
Loyola remains at home for its next game, a Friday, September 21, Patriot League game against the U.S. Naval Academy. The game follows the Loyola men's soccer conference-opener against Colgate that will start at 5 p.m. at Ridley Athletic Complex.