Quick Hits About The 'Hounds
- Loyola University Maryland plays its first game at Ridley Athletic Complex this weekend when it hosts Johns Hopkins University at 3:30 p.m.
- The Game is part of a Loyola-Johns Hopkins doubleheader with the women's teams starting at 12 noon.
- Dating back to March 23, 2016, Loyola is averaging 12.67 goals over its last 62 games. It has scored less than 10 only nine times in that span.
- Loyola was picked first in the Patriot League Preseason Poll by conference coaches. Kevin Lindley was tabbed the Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, while Ryan McNulty drew Preseason Defensive Player of the Year recognition. They were joined on the Preseason All-Patriot League Team by defender Cam Wyers.
- Lindley ranked third in NCAA Division I in both goals (60) and goals per game (3.53) last season.
- Bailey Savio set Loyola records in 246 faceoff wins, 471 attempts and 141 ground balls during his sophomore season.
- Loyola is the only team in the Patriot League to have two players returning in 2020 who were in the top-10 in points per game: Lindley and Aidan Olmstead.
Last Time Out
- Loyola scored four-straight goals to draw within 11-8 as part of a larger 6-2 run, but the 14th-ranked Greyhounds ran out of time for their comeback bid on Saturday, falling 12-8 at No. 1 Virginia in the season-opener for both teams.
- Aidan Olmstead had both of his goals during the 4-0 run, and Peter Swindell had a goal and assist as part of his three-point day during the stretch.
- Olmstead took his defender behind the cage and dodged topside on the left before finding a thin space to rip off a shot and score with 10:44 left in regulation, getting the Greyhounds within three after they were down by as many as seven late in the first half.
- The Cavaliers (1-0) came back to score just over two minutes later as Dox Aitken registered his only goal of the game at 8:39, pushing the lead back to four.
- Despite opportunities, Loyola did not score for nearly eight minutes until Adam Poitras fed Dan Wigley for a one-timer on the left-side of the crease with 42 ticks on the clock. The Greyhounds went man-up in the final 30 seconds, but they could not come up with a goal to get closer than three.
- Sam Shafer made 15 saves in goal.
In The Polls
- Loyola is ranked 16th in the USILA Coaches Poll and the Inside Lacrosse media version.
- Johns Hopkins is ranked 10th in the coaches poll, 11th in the media.
Series History
- The Greyhounds and Blue Jays will be meeting for the 57th time in series history on Saturday when they take the field. Johns Hopkins holds a 48-8 advantage, but Loyola snapped a 13-game Blue Jays' winning streak in the series with an 8-4 win at Homewood Field on April 27, 2013. The Greyhounds then won meetings between the teams in 2014 (13-10) and 2016 (9-8) for their first-ever three-game winning streak in the series. Although, Johns Hopkins stopped that stretch with a 14-13 overtime victory on February 18, 2017, Loyola has since won two in a row with a 12-5 victory at Ridley in 2018 and last year's 18-12 win at Homewood Field.
- Johns Hopkins is Loyola's second most-played opponent behind only Towson (58).
Watch The Action
- The Loyola-Johns Hopkins game will stream live on the Patriot League Network and can be seen, as well, on Facebook Watch. Brett Hollander will call the action with Chris Gunkel '91 and Dave Cottle providing the analysis.
Preseason Prognostications
- Loyola was picked as the team to beat by Patriot League coaches and staff in the conference's preseason poll, marking the seventh time in as many years the Greyhounds have earned the preseason recognition.
- Two Loyola players – Kevin Lindley (offensive) and Ryan McNulty (defensive) – were named the Patriot League Preseason Players of the Year. The both earned spots on the Preseason All-Patriot League Team along with Cam Wyers.
- In addition to his conference honors, McNulty was tabbed a Preseason Second-Team All-American by Inside Lacrosse.
Opening Stretch
- Loyola's first four games of the 2020 season are all against teams that are ranked, or receiving votes, in the USILA rankings. The Greyhounds start with the top-ranked team, defending NCAA Champion Virginia, before hosting No. 11 Johns Hopkins on February 15 to start a three-game homestand.
- Following the tilt against the Blue Jays, Loyola then hosts Rutgers (No. 19) and Towson (receiving votes).
- Overall, the Greyhounds are facing 10 teams in the rankings or receiving votes (also Duke, Army West Point, Georgetown, Lehigh, Navy and Bucknell).
Toomey's Team
- Charley Toomey is in his 15th year as the head coach at Loyola and his 24th as a member of the Greyhounds' coaching staff. Overall, he is in his 28th year on the Evergreen campus, including his four seasons as a student-athlete from 1986-90.
- Toomey has directed the Greyhounds to 101 wins, an average of 12.6 per season (not including this season) since 2012, and has a 146-70 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).
- Toomey's .676 winning percentage is fifth amongst active NCAA Division I head coaches with 10 or more seasons coaching at the level.
- As a head coach, Toomey has coached 38 USILA All-Americans, 77 all-conference selections, 21 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.
Lindley Leading
- Kevin Lindley was one of the top goal scorers in the nation last season, scoring 60 goals in 17 games, and he was third in NCAA Division I with 3.53 goals per game. He tallied four or more in 10 of the Greyhounds' 17 contests, including eight against Colgate, six at Towson and versus Holy Cross and Georgetown and five versus Virginia and Navy.
- Against Lafayette in April 2019, Lindley broke the school single-season record for goals, breaking the mark set in 2012 by Eric Lusby of 54. Lindley's 56 (at the conclusion of that game) came in 14 games where Lusby's 54 were in 19.
- Lindley finished his freshman season in 2018 with 37 goals. He is now fifth on the NCAA Division I active career leader with 2.83 goals per game.
- The Darien, Connecticut, native is 12th all-time at Loyola in goal scored with 99 and with one more will become the 11th to reach the 100-goal plateau.
Aidan Is All Around
- Aidan Olmstead has posted two 40-plus point seasons in as many years since coming to the Loyola campus. In 33 career games, one game into his junior season, Olmstead has scored 89 points with 46 goals and 43 assists.
- After being hampered by an injury early in 2019, Olmstead posted 18 goals and 13 assists in the Greyhounds' last nine games, bringing his season totals to 23 and 21.
- In 2018, Olmstead finished his freshman season with 19 goals and 21 assists in 17 games.
- The Patriot League All-Academic Team member is now not the only member of his family within the Loyola athletic department. His twin sisters, Riley and Logan are freshman on the 11th-ranked Loyola women's lacrosse team.
Record Ground Ball Numbers
- Bailey Savio set school records with 141 ground balls and 242 faceoff wins last season, marks that are both second all-time in the Patriot League. His 471 faceoffs attempted were both school and Patriot League records while ranking fifth all-time in NCAA Division I history.
- Savio was the fifth player to post 100-plus in a year, joining Haas, while Bailey's older brother, Graham, who had 103 in 2017, and Dan Kallaugher (2007) and Ryan Radonis (2003) who had 101 ground-ball seasons.
- In his three seasons – Savio split time as the Greyhounds' faceoff specialist as a freshman in 2018 – he has 356 wins and 193 ground balls. Graham Savio holds the Loyola record for wins (710) and ground balls (340).
Between The Lines
- Ryan McNulty has been key to the Greyhounds' defense and transition game over the past two seasons, earning his first All-America honors (USILA honorable mention) last season as a long-stick midfielder when he was the top non-faceoff player on the team with 65 ground balls while leading Loyola with 25 caused turnovers.
- Over his career, he has amassed 42 caused turnovers and 133 ground balls while scoring six goals to go with four assists.
- McNulty is an academic senior this year with two more years of eligibility remaining on the field. He saw only two games of action of a freshman before receiving a medical hardship waiver; McNulty will return for the 2021 season with the Greyhounds as a fifth-year player.
Trio Of Captains
Little Bit Of Everything
- Peter Swindell has been a utility knife of sorts for the Greyhounds during his career, playing on offensive midfield, running on the wings of faceoffs and taking shifts as a defensive midfielder.
- The senior co-captain opened his 2020 season with three points against defending national champion Virginia, scoring a goal and posting two assists.
- He finished last year with a career-high 15 points, scoring seven times while assisting on eight goals. he also posted a career-best 42 ground balls.
Teacher of Tewaaratons
- Loyola assistant coach Marc Van Arsdale has coached more Tewaaraton Award winners than anyone else. In addition to Pat Spencer last year, three of Van Arsdale's players at the University of Virginia – Chris Rotelli (2003), Matt Ward (2006) and Steele Stanwick (2011) – have earned the award as the sport's top player.
Strong Debut
- Adam Poitras made his Loyola debut with a starting role in the midfield at Virginia, and the Canadian freshman finished with three points. He scored a man-up goal and also posted three assists, taking five total shots and grabbing five ground balls for the Greyhounds.
Shafer Steps Between The Pipes
- Sam Shafer had played less than 24 minutes of NCAA Division I lacrosse through two seasons when he made his first career start on February 8 at Virginia. He finished with 15 saves on 27 shots on goal against the Cavaliers, making 10 of his stops during the second half while allowing only three goals.
First Time
Get To Ten
- Since Charley Toomey became head coach at Loyola in 2006, the Greyhounds have scored 10 or more goals on 134 occasions; Loyola has won 80.6 percent of those games (108-26).
Career of Careers
- Pat Spencer wrapped up his record-setting career at Loyola as the first Greyhounds player to earn the Tewaaraton and USILA Most Outstanding Player Awards. Spencer was a four-year USILA All-American and four-time Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year.
- In the first round of the 2019 NCAA Championships, Spencer set the Division I record for career assists and wrapped up his four years with 231. He also had 149 goals – second-most in Loyola history – to total 380 points, the second-highest total in NCAA history.
- He broke his own Loyola single-season assist and point records during that 2019 NCAA First Round win over Syracuse, becoming the first player in school history to top 100 points in a season. He finished with a Patriot League-record 114 points with 49 goals and 65 assists.
- Spencer is now a starting guard for the Northwestern University men's basketball team as a graduate transfer. His younger brother, Cam, is a starting guard as a freshman for Loyola's men's basketball team.
Up Next
- The Greyhounds continue their three-game homestand next Saturday, February 22, when Rutgers makes its first-ever visit to Ridley Athletic Complex. Loyola then faces Towson on Wednesday, February 26.
