Quick Hits About The 'Hounds
- Loyola University Maryland continues non-conference play on Saturday, February 27, with an 11:30 a.m. game against the University of Utah at Ridley Athletic Complex.
- The game will stream live on ESPN+ and internationally on Sidearm.
- Dating back to March 23, 2016, Loyola is averaging 12.53 goals over its last 79 games. It has scored less than 10 only 11 times in that span.
- Loyola was picked first in the Patriot League Preseason Poll by conference coaches. Ryan McNulty was named the Preseason Defensive Player of the Year, and he was joined on the Preseason All-Patriot League Team by Matt Higgins, Kevin Lindley, Aidan Olmstead, Peter Swindell and Cam Wyers.
- Lindley ranked third in NCAA Division I in both goals (60) and goals per game (3.53) in 2019.
- Bailey Savio set Loyola records in 246 faceoff wins, 471 attempts and 141 ground balls during his sophomore season. In the truncated 2020 season, he was winning faceoffs at an even higher pace. In six games, he had won 90 of 131 (.687) restarts and picked up 62 ground balls to lead the Patriot League in both.
Last Time Out
- Riley Cox's unassisted goal with 9:49 left in the third quarter tied Saturday's game at 9-9, but Virginia scored the next three goals, and while Loyola got back within one, the Cavaliers held on for a 15-12 win at Ridley Athletic Complex.
- Neither Loyola, nor Virginia scored for almost seven minutes until Matt Moore dodged from behind the goal and scored unassisted with 2:58 left in the stanza. The Cavaliers got another goal with 46 ticks on the third-quarter clock, an unassisted strike by Payton Cormier, and Virginia added a third goal 19 seconds later as Moore scored again to make it 12-9 going into the final period.
- Kevin Lindley scored just eight seconds into the fourth, and Evan James scored 41 seconds later to make it 12-11. Connor Shellenberger tallied one for Virginia at 11:18 to give the Cavaliers a two-goal cushion, but Peter Swindell dodged on the side and scored at 7:38, pulling Loyola back within one, 13-12.
- Moore and Cormier, however, would tack on goals at 5:21 and 4:34, respectively, while Virginia held Loyola off the scoreboard for the remainder of the game.
- Lindley scored four for Loyola in the game, and James had three.
In The Polls
- Loyola is 11th in the USILA coaches poll and 12th in the Inside Lacrosse rankings entering Saturday's game.
- Utah is unranked in both versions.
Series History
- Loyola and Utah will meet for the first time in series history when the teams play on Saturday. The Utes were originally slated to play at Maryland, and Loyola would have played Rutgers, but both games became unavailable due to the Big 10 Conference going to a league-only schedule.
Fan Policy
- All Loyola home events continue to be closed to members of the general public, including student-athlete's families and current Loyola students.
Watch The Action
- The Loyola-Utah game will stream live on ESPN+.
Win Them And Pick Them Up
- Bailey Savio was on his way to a record-breaking season in 2020 when he won 68.7 percent of faceoffs (90 of 131) in six games while picking up 62 ground balls. He had a career day for Loyola on February 22, 2020, against Rutgers, picking up a Patriot League-record 18 ground balls while going 23 of 24 on faceoffs against the Scarlet Knights. He went 11 of 12 in the first half and 12 of 12 in the second at the 'X.'
- His 18 ground balls and 95.8 winning percentage were both second-best in NCAA Division I games last year, and his 18 ground balls broke the 2017 conference record set by Brady Dove of the U.S. Naval Academy.
- Since the start of his sophomore season in 2018 – 25 games, Savio has picked up 213 ground balls, an average of 8.52 per game.
Preseason Prognostications
- Patriot League coaches and communications personnel picked Loyola as the team to beat in the conference this season, marking the eight-straight year the Greyhounds have earned the preseason recognition (every year since joining the Patriot League in 2013-14). The Greyhounds garnered 13 of a possible 16 first-place votes and were followed by Army West Point, Lehigh, Navy and Boston University in the top-five.
- Ryan McNulty was tabbed as the Preseason Player of the Year, and he was join on the Preseason All-Patriot League Team by five of his teammates: short-stick defensive midfielder Matt Higgins, attackers Kevin Lindley and Aidan Olmstead, midfielder Peter Swindell and defender Cam Wyers.
Inside Lacrosse & USILA Recognition
- Ryan McNulty was named a Preseason Third-Team All-American by both Inside Lacrosse and the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA), while Bailey Savio was tabbed All-America Honorable Mention by both. Cam Wyers was also named to the coaches' association's honorable mention list.
Aidan Is All Around
- Aidan Olmstead posted two 40-plus point seasons in 2018 and 2019, and he then led the Greyhounds in points with 22 during the shortened 2020 season. In 37 career games, Olmstead has scored 111 points with 56 goals and 55 assists.
- He had three-straight five-point games (Rutgers, Towson, Lafayette) in 2020.
- 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 sophomores on the Loyola women's lacrosse team.
To 100 And Beyond
- Kevin Lindley became the 11th player in program history to reach 100 goals in a career when he scored his first goal on February 15, 2020 against Johns Hopkins.
- Lindley got to the 100-goal plateau in just his 36th career game, the fastest in Loyola history after Gary Hanley reached the plateau in his 39th career game (1980). Hanley is the school's all-time leader in goals scored with 151 from 1977-81. Against Virginia, Lindley moved into fifth all-time at Loyola, passing Gewas Schindler (1996-99). With 123 career goals, Lindley is five shy of tying Mike Sawyer (2009, 11-13) for fourth on the career list.
- Lindley finished his freshman season in 2018 with 37 goals, had a school-record 60 as a sophomore in 2019 and 19 in the truncated 2020 campaign. With seven in two games to start 2021, Lindley has 123 goals in his career, and third amongst active players who have played more than 15 games at NCAA Division I.
New Position, No Problem
- Evan James shifted to attack to make the first start there of his collegiate career on February 20 against Virginia, and the sophomore finished with three goals and an assist. The Ohio native needed just six shots to snap off his hat trick that was the first of his collegiate career.
- Against Richmond, James made his first start, this coming in the midfield where he played in all six games during 2020, posting three goals and five ground balls.
Freshman Honors
- Seth Higgins has earned Patriot League Rookie of the Week honors in each of the Greyhounds first two games this season as a part of Loyola's second midfield unit. He had an assist in the season-opener at Richmond, and he then tallied his first collegiate goal to go with an assist versus Virginia.
Between The Lines
- Ryan McNulty has been key to the Greyhounds' defense and transition game since joining the program in 2017, earning his All-America honors (USILA honorable mention) in 2020 and 2021 (Inside Lacrosse Second Team) as a long-stick midfielder. Since 2019, he has been the team's leader (among non-faceoff players) in 83 ground balls while leading Loyola with 38 caused turnovers.
- Over his career, he has amassed 53 caused turnovers and 153 ground balls while scoring eight goals to go with six assists.
- McNulty graduated from Loyola in 2020 and entering the 2021 season has two more years of eligibility remaining on the field. He saw only two games as freshman before receiving a medical hardship waiver.
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. In just six games, he has set career-highs with nine goals and 16 points.
- His previous career-high was 15 points in 2019 when he scored seven times while assisting on eight goals. He also posted a career-best 42 ground balls.
- Swindell has now played in 55 career games and has 27 goals, 18 assists and 62 ground balls.
Shutting Down Scorers
- Against Johns Hopkins and Rutgers, last year Loyola defender Kyle LeBlanc has defended two of the game's formidable scorers and held them both without a point.
- First, he limited Johns Hopkins' Cole Williams (62 points, 33 assists combined in 2018 and 2019) to zero points on six shots. He then helped snap Rutgers' Adam Charlambides' 26-game goal-scoring and 34-game point-scoring streaks when the player who had 90 goals and 28 assists in the last two years was shutout.
- Cam Wyers took a turn at limiting a team's leader in goals and points night when he held Towson's Jon Mazza scoreless on only one shot.
- In the 2021 season-opener, LeBlanc marked Richmond's Richie Connell (19g, 3a in 2020), and Wyers guarded Ryan Lanchbury (14g, 16a), holding the pair to one goal (Connell) and two assists (Lanchbury). Connell's goal was on extra-man, as was one of Lanchbury's assists.
Toomey's Team
- Charley Toomey is in his 16th year as the head coach at Loyola and his 25th as a member of the Greyhounds' coaching staff. Overall, he is in his 29th year on the Evergreen campus, including his four seasons as a student-athlete from 1986-90.
- Against Lafayette on February 29, 2020, Toomey won his 150th career game.
- Toomey has directed the Greyhounds to 104 wins, an average of 12.6 per season (not including the shortened 2020 season) since 2012, and has a 151-72 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 .677 winning percentage is fourth 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 18 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.
Record Ground Ball Numbers
- Bailey Savio set school records with 141 ground balls and 242 faceoff wins in 2019, marks that were 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 456 wins and 257 ground balls. Graham Savio holds the Loyola record for wins (710) and ground balls (340).
- Savio is third in faceoffs won among active Division I players.
Quartet Of Captains
Teacher of Tewaaratons
- Loyola assistant coach Marc Van Arsdale has coached more Tewaaraton Award winners than anyone else. In addition to Pat Spencer in 2019, 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.
Get To Ten
- Since Charley Toomey became head coach at Loyola in 2006, the Greyhounds have scored 10 or more goals on 139 occasions; Loyola has won 80.5 percent of those games (112-27).
Up Next
- Loyola opens Patriot League play on Saturday, March 6, when it heads to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, for a game at Lehigh University.
