DENVER – Nine years ago, the Loyola University Maryland men's lacrosse team beat the University of Denver, 14-13, in a conference semifinal game, and the Greyhounds' No. 2 made the play at the end of the game to provide the win.
 
This year, the Greyhounds faced the host Pioneers in the NCAA Championships First Round at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium, winning 14-13, and again it was the player wearing the No. 2 jersey who had the game-saving play.
 
Sam Shafer made the last of his career-high 16 saves with less than three seconds to go, stopping a point-blank shot by Denver's Alex Simmons on the crease to secure the win for the Greyhounds. It brought back shades of the Greyhounds' 2012 win in which another No. 2, long-stick midfielder Scott Ratliff, scored off the overtime faceoff win to lift Loyola to victory.
 
Loyola (10-5) moves on to face No. 2 seed Duke University in the NCAA Quarterfinals on Sunday, May 23, at 12 noon in South Bend, Indiana. The game will mark the Greyhounds' third-straight berth in the quarterfinals and fourth in the last five championships.
 
Shafer and the Greyhounds repelled a Pioneers rally that saw them come from 9-4 at halftime to pull within a goal three times in the second half.
 
Nine of Shafer's saves came in the second half, none bigger than his stuff just before the final buzzer.
 
On the offensive end of the field, Aidan Olmstead tied his career-high with five goals, including what would ultimately be the game-winner with 3:19 left in regulation to put the Greyhounds in front, 14-12.
 
Evan James and Seth Higgins each had two goals and an assist, while Adam Poitras and Peter Swindell had a goal and two assists. Kevin Lindley scored twice, and Liam Bateman tallied a goal and an assist.
 
Denver went up 2-1 with 3:21 to go in the first quarter on a Malik Sparrow goal, but Olmstead tallied his first of the night on extra-man from Swindell with 17 ticks left in the first quarter.
 
That Olmstead score sparked a 5-0 Greyhounds run that would put Loyola in front, 6-2. Poitras hit Lindley on the interior for a goal 13 seconds into the second quarter, and James then had his first of two-straight 37 seconds later.
 
James' second goal – both were unassisted – was at 12:55, and Olmstead's second at 8:10 made it 6-2 Loyola. Denver's Lucas Colter momentarily stopped the run with a goal 29 seconds after Olmstead's, but Olmstead and Higgins scored back-to-back in the next three-plus minutes.
 
Higgins' goal gave him a career-high three points and pushed Loyola ahead, 8-3.
 
Colter had an extra-man goal with 3:30 on the clock in the first half to get the Pioneers (12-5) within four, but Olmstead struck again unassisted with 2:02 on the clock, and Loyola was up five at halftime.
 
Denver came out firing offensively in the third quarter, scoring three in the first 3-minutes, 7-seconds of the half. Kyle Smith opened the run, followed by goals from Jack Hannah and Jackson Morrill to close the gap to 9-7 before Lindley scored off a Higgins assist with 10:33 left in the third.
 
Morrill, however, came back to score seven seconds later, and it was a two-goal game again. Neither Loyola, nor Denver scored for almost seven minutes before Swindell stepped into a shot that found the net with 3:41 left in the third, making it 11-8 Greyhounds.
 
Denver, however, got two more before the end of the quarter, Hannon on extra-man and Morrill with 27 seconds left in the frame, pulling the Pioneers within 11-10.
 
Bateman keyed the next two Loyola goals, feeding Adam Poitras with 11:06 to go in regulation and then scoring unassisted off a dodge to the middle at 7:02. His goal padded the lead to 13-10, but Denver came back to score twice more. Ethan Walker grabbed a rebound and scored at 6:49, and Ted Sullivan notched one at 5:53, making it a one-goal margin once again.
 
Olmstead's extra-man goal at 3:19 came before Hannah scored with an even three minutes to play.
 
He drew an unnecessary roughness flag that put Denver on extra-man, but the Greyhounds killed the penalty. Loyola was then flagged for a hold with 1:44 on the clock as a Pioneers player was diving toward the crease, again sending Denver to extra-man.
 
On that series, Hannah had a shot blocked, and Colter was wide left. Loyola backed up that shot, and they cleared before calling a timeout with 35 seconds left.
 
Denver forced a turnover with just over 20 seconds on the clock, setting up the final series.
 
Simmons ran in on Shafer, shot-faked, but the Loyola goalkeeper made the save to secure the win.
 
Defensively, the Greyhounds had eight caused turnovers, led by two each from Payton Rezanka and Matt Hughes. John Railey, Matt Higgins, Bailey Savio and Ryan McNulty each had one.