Quick Hits About The 'Hounds
- Loyola University Maryland men's lacrosse plays its fourth road game in five outings on Thursday, March 7 when the Greyhounds head to Durham, North Carolina, for a 7 p.m. game at Duke University.
- Thursday night's game will air live on ESPNU with Anish Shroff, Quint Kessenich and Paul Carcaterra on the call.
- Dating back to March 23, 2016, Loyola is averaging 12.54 goals over its last 50 games. The Greyhounds have scored less than 10 only six times in that span.
- Pat Spencer now holds the Patriot League career records in both assists (186) and points (303). In the 2018 Patriot League title game, he broke the Loyola career assists mark.
- Kevin Lindley finished his freshman season ranked fourth in NCAA Division I, converting 52.1 percent of his shots in 2018. He has converted 25 of 44 shots this year, good for 56.8 percent.
- Jacob Stover has 467 career saves, seventh on the NCAA's active leader board.
- Pat Spencer has recorded two or more points in all but two of the 56 games to start his collegiate career, and he has 34 multi-goal and 45 multi-assist games. He has scored a point in all 56 outings.
Last Time Out
- Pat Spencer became the second player in Loyola history, and the 15th in NCAA Division I men's lacrosse, to score 300 career points, finishing Saturday's 19-15 win over Holy Cross with three goals and eight assists.
- Kevin Lindley scores six goals and had an assist, while Chase Scanlan had five goals and an assists and Alex McGovern added two goals and one assist.
- Spencer was a part of the game's first two goals that put the top-ranked Loyola in front 2-0, assisting on the first of Lindley's tallies at 12:46 and then scoring unassisted 1:09 later.
- The Crusaders would tie the score at 2-2 on a pair of Sean Mullaney goals, but the Greyhounds then reeled off five-straight.
- John Duffy hit a high bouncer 54 seconds into the second half to make it a five-goal difference, but Holy Cross tightened it over the next six minutes. The Crusaders posted four in a row, cutting it to 10-9 at 8:21 in the third.
- Loyola went back up by three before Holy Cross again cut its deficit to one. Loyola then caught fire to start the fourth, scoring four in a row with Scanlan tallying the first two.
In The Polls
- Loyola moved to number two in the USILA Coaches Poll and number three in the Inside Lacrosse media version on March 4.
- Duke enters the game ranked fifth in the coaches poll, sixth in the media.
- The Blue Devils are the fifth ranked opponent Loyola has played this year in six games.
Series History
- Saturday will be the 33rd meeting all-time between the Blue Devils and the Greyhounds; Duke holds a 20-12 advantage in a series that dates back to 1946. With this game, the teams will have played during the regular-season for 20-straight years (since 2000). Three times during that span – 2008, 2013 and 2016 – they have also met in NCAA Championships action.
- Last year, Duke scored seven-straight goals in a run that spanned both halves, and the third-ranked Blue Devils topped No. 6 Loyola University Maryland in a 13-9 non-conference decision on March 10, 2018, at Ridley Athletic Complex.
- Peter Conley and Brad Smith led all players with four goals and two assists for Duke, while Jay Drapeau and John Duffy each had three goals for the Greyhounds.
Watch The Action
- Thursday game will air live on ESPNU with Anish Shroff calling the play-by-play. Quint Kessenich and Paul Carcaterra will provide the analysis. Fans can also watch online at WatchESPN.
Preseason Prognostications
- Loyola was picked as the Patriot League favorite for the sixth time in as many years since joining the conference in 2014, picking up all of the available first-place votes.
- Pat Spencer was named the Patriot League Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, and he was joined on the Preseason All-Patriot League Team by John Duffy and Jacob Stover.
- Spencer was also named the Preseason National Player of the Year by Inside Lacrosse's Face-Off Yearbook and Lacrosse Magazine. He was named the Face-Off Yearbook Preseason All-America First Team, while Stover and long-stick midfielder Ryan McNulty earned honorable mention.
Conference Honors
- Following the Greyhounds' 19-15 win over Holy Cross, Pat Spencer was named the Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week for the second week in a row and third time this season, and Chase Scanlan picked up Rookie of the Week recognition. Spencer has earned 10 Offensive Player of the Week honors in his career, more than any other player in conference history.
Second To 300
- Pat Spencer became the second player in Loyola men's lacrosse history to score 300 points in a career when he crossed the plateau against Holy Cross. He joins Gary Hanley (1978-81), the school career record-holder with 311 points. Spencer is also the 15th player to hit 300 or more in NCAA Division I history.
Alone At The Top
- Pat Spencer set the Loyola single-season assist and points records during the 2018 NCAA First Round win over Virginia. He assisted on a Kevin Lindley goal in the first two minutes of the second quarter, breaking his own assist record of 55 set last season. His assist on a Lindley goal to start scoring in the second half was his 90th point of the year, breaking the record of 89 set in 1981 by Gary Hanley and matched in 2016 by Spencer. He finished the year with 35 goals, 59 assists and 94 points.
- Spencer became Loyola's all-time leader in assists (now 186 in 56 career games) during the 2018 Patriot League Championship Game, breaking the mark of 160 set by Hanley in 1981.
- In the Patriot League Semifinals, Spencer set the Patriot League record for career points (now with 303), passing Bucknell University's Chris Cara (2002-05). Earlier in the 2018 season, he set the Patriot League's all-time assist record.
Closing In On Loyola Marks
- In addition to his career assist record, Spencer is second all-time at Loyola in points (303) behind Gary Haley's career total (311, 1978-1981).
- Spencer has 117 goals through 56 career games, a total ranked tied for fifth all-time at the school three shy of tying Gewas Schindler (1996-99) for four. Mike Sawyer (2009, 2011-13) stands third at 128, behind Pat Lamon (133, 1983-86) and Hanley (151). The 2017 and 2018 Tewaaraton Award finalist, he is first among active NCAA Division I players in assists (186) , goals (117) and points (303).
- Against Virginia in the NCAA First Round game, Spencer moved into the top-10 of NCAA Division I history in assists. He is currently fifth all-time with 186, 18 back of Cornell's Rob Pannell (2009-13) in fourth with 204. Spencer is 15th in NCAA Division I history in career points (303). He is one point away from tying Duke alumnus Jordan Wolf (2011-14) and Siena's Tony Asterino (1978-81) for 13th with 304 points; with four more points, he'll tie Lehigh's Chris Cameron (1986-89) and Syracuse's Mikey Powell (2011-04) for 11th with 307.
Veteran In Goal
- Jacob Stover returns for his fourth season as a starter at Loyola, having played 2,668 minutes between the pipes for the Greyhounds. The 2018 Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Year 2019 Inside Lacrosse Face-Off Yearbook Preseason All-American has a career 8.40 goals-against average in 50 games.
- Stover has made saves on 55.0 percent of the shots on goal he has faced and has a 36-11 career record for the Greyhounds.
- He closed the 2018 season with one of the best performances of his career. Stover made a career-best 19 saves against Yale University in the NCAA Quarterfinals while yielding only eight goals to the Bulldogs.
- He has picked up where he left off, making 18 saves in 2019 season-opener against Virginia, 12 versus Johns Hopkins, 18 at Rutgers University, 13 at Towson and 11 versus Holy Cross to give him 91 in his last six games.
Lindley Leading
- Kevin Lindley has been on fire to start the 2019 season, scoring 25 goals in five games, and he leads NCAA Division I with 5.0 goals per game. He has tallied four or more in each of the contests, including six at Towson and versus Holy Cross and five versus Virginia.
- Lindley finished his freshman season in 2018 with 37 goals, all but five of which were unassisted. Three of those unassisted goals came after Lindley picked up ground balls on rebounds of saved shots and scored immediately.
- In the 2019 season-opener against Virginia, Lindley scored five goals, three unassisted off dodges. With one unassisted versus Holy Cross, he has six already this year.
Strong Start
- Chase Scanlan is off to a solid start to his Loyola career, scoring 15 goals to go with five assists for 20 points in five games. His 15 goals are the most by any freshman in NCAA Division I this season, and his 3.0 goals and 4.0 points per game are tops among freshmen midfielders.
Duffy Increases Production
- John Duffy set a career-high with five points in the 2018 Patriot League Championship Game, matching his career-highs in goals (three) and assists (two) along the way. Prior to the April 29 game against Lehigh, he had three games with three goals, and two four-point outings.
- Overall, Duffy had 11 multi-point games in 2018, and he has two through the first five games of this season.
Not Freshmen Anymore
- Loyola attackers Kevin Lindley and Aidan Olmstead formed the only first-year teammates in NCAA Division I to have logged 35 or more points last season. Lindley finished the year with 41 points this year, including a Loyola freshman-record 37 goals; Olmstead was right behind with 19 goals, 21 assists and 40 points.
- Lindley's 37 goals last season were tied for third among Division I freshmen, and his 2.18 goals per game are also third among freshman and 46th overall. Olmstead was seventh among freshman with 21 assists.
- Lindley set a Patriot League and Loyola freshman scoring record March 4, 2018, at Holy Cross by tallying eight goals in a 13-5 win over the Crusaders. His eight goals were one off the school record of nine set in 1986 by John Carroll against Washington & Lee University. It also matched the No. 2 mark in Patriot League history, held by six other players. The eight goals were the most by a Loyola player since Gavin Prout scored eight against Hobart College in 2001.
- Olmstead was twice named the Patriot League Rookie of the Week last season. He picked up his first recognition after a four-goal game at Navy, a contest he followed with a six-point outing (two goals, four assists) versus Bucknell. Olmstead then matched his career highs in points and goals with four goals and two assists versus Boston University in the regular-season meeting of the teams.
Shot Selection
- Loyola finished the 2018 season with a .351 shooting percentage this season marking just the third time the Greyhounds have shot 30 percent or better in the last 10 seasons (.312 in 2014; .301 in 2017). Loyola's shot percentage led the Patriot League and was sixth in NCAA Division I. Of the players on Loyola's starting attacker and first and second midfields, all nine shot .271 or better, and six of that group were at .325 or higher.
- In the first four games of 2019, the Greyhounds have shot .385 overall, ranking third in NCAA Division I.
Defense Making A Stand
- Over the last 32 games (10 in 2017, 17 in 2018, 5 in 2019) – beginning with a March 18, 2017 win over the U.S. Naval Academy – Loyola's defense has allowed just 8.2 goals per game. The Greyhounds also have an advantage of 401-506 in turnovers (12.5-15.8) as they have gone 24-7 during the stretch.
- Of its opponents 506 turnovers in the last 32 games, Loyola has caused 300.
Toomey's Team
- Charley Toomey is in his 14th year as the head coach at Loyola and his 23rd as a member of the Greyhounds' coaching staff. Overall, he is in his 27th year on the Evergreen campus, including his four seasons as a student-athlete from 1986-90.
- Toomey has directed the Greyhounds to 92 wins, an average of 12.6 per season (not including this season) since 2012, and has a 138-65 career record. Early in the 2016 season, Toomey became the second coach in program history to reach and cross the 100-win plateau; he stands second on the program's all-time wins chart behind his college coach, Dave Cottle (181-70, 1983-2001).
- As a head coach, Toomey has coached 38 USILA All-Americans, 71 all-conference selections, 18 conference positional or players or rookies of the year, four Tewaaraton Award finalists and 13 USILA Scholar All-Americans.
- In January 2019, Toomey was named to the coaching staff of the U.S. Men's National Team as an assistant coach. He will serve with Team USA in preparation for, and competition in, the 2022 World Championships in British Columbia. He was also enshrined in the USLacrosse Chesapeake Chapter Hall of Fame in January 2019 for his accomplishments as a player and a coach.
Get To Ten
- Since Charley Toomey became head coach at Loyola in 2006, the Greyhounds have scored 10 or more goals on 124 occasions; Loyola has won 80.6 percent of those games (100-24).
Up Next
- Loyola returns to Ridley Athletic Complex for a 1 p.m. game against the U.S. Naval Academy on Saturday, March 16.
