Quick Hits About The 'Hounds
- Loyola University Maryland makes its third-straight appearance, and fourth in the last five championships, in the NCAA Quarterfinals when it plays Duke University at 12:00 p.m. on Sunday, May 23, at Arlotta Stadium in South Bend, Indiana.
- Kevin Lindley now has three of the top-25 season goal totals in school history: 37 in 2018, 60 in 2019, 40 in 2021.
- Dating back to March 23, 2016, Loyola is averaging 12.67 goals over its last 91 games. It has scored less than 10 only 14 times in that span (15.6 percent).
- Loyola is ranked in the top-10 nationally in three statistical categories: clearing percentage (4th, .902), turnovers per game (7th, 14.21) and scoring defense (8th, 9.57).
- All six of Loyola's offensive starters scored at least two points in the NCAA First Round against Denver.
- Loyola's three-straight NCAA Quarterfinal appearance mark the second-best stretch in school history after the 1989-92 teams made four-consecutive quarterfinals.
- The Greyhounds' 22 ground balls at Denver were their fewest in a win since it also had 22 in a 9-8 victory over Johns Hopkins on February 20, 2016.
Last Time Out
- 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 a 14-13 win for Loyola in the NCAA First Round last Sunday.
- Shafer and the Greyhounds held off a Pioneers rally that saw them come from 9-4 at halftime to pull within a goal three times in the second half. He made nine saves after halftime.
- 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.
- After Olmstead's goal to go up 14-12, Jack Hannah scored with 3:00 on the clock for Denver. Loyola killed 90 seconds in penalities in the last three minutes, and in that same span the Pioneers took five shots with Shafer saving the two which were on-goal.
In The Polls
- Loyola is ranked 12th in both the USILA coaches poll and the Inside Lacrosse rankings entering Sunday's game.
- Duke is third in both versions.
Series History
- Sunday will be the 54th meeting all-time between the Blue Devils and the Greyhounds; Duke holds a 22-12 advantage in a series that dates back to 1946. With this game, the teams will have played in each of the last 22 seasons (since 2000). It will be the fourth time during that stretch – 2008, 2013 and 2016 – they have also met in NCAA Championships action.
- This year, it appeared Loyola and Duke would not meet as their annual regular-season game in March was scrapped due to the need for conference games.
- The March 7, 2020 game was the last the Greyhounds would play before COVID-19 shut down NCAA sports. Duke built a 3-0 lead by the end of the first quarter and extended it to 8-0 before the Blue Devils gave up a goal to Loyola. The Greyhounds outscored Duke 10-5 in the second half, but the Blue Devils left Ridley Athletic Complex with a 13-10 non-conference win.
Team USA Staff Meet On The Field
- The Loyola and Duke head coaches are colleagues in another arena, as well. The Blue Devils' John Danowski is head coach of Team USA, and Charley Toomey serves as one of three assistants for the squad.
Watch The Action
- Sunday's NCAA Championships Quarterfinal game will air live, nationally, on ESPNU with Anish Shroff and Quint Kessenich providing the call.
NCAA Championships History
- Loyola is making its 27th all-time appearance in the NCAA Championships, 25th in Division I history (since 1982). The Greyhounds are 17-25 all-time in the tournament, 15-23 at the Division I level. This is Loyola's eight trip to the NCAA Championships in the last nine chances and 11th in Charley Toomey's 16 seasons as head coach.
- The Greyhounds are 4-11 in quarterfinal games.
- Loyola won its first NCAA Division I Championship, in any sport, in 2012, when they defeated Maryland, 9-3, on Memorial Day. The win completed an 18-1 season for the Greyhounds in which they tied the NCAA Division I record for wins in a season, matching the 18-2 Duke team from 2008. Loyola entered the tournament as the No. 1 seed and defeated Canisius, Denver and Notre Dame en route to the title game.
- Loyola and Duke have met three times in the NCAA Championships with the Greyhounds winning a 2016 first-round game and the Blue Devils taking first-round contests in 2008 and 2013.
- Charley Toomey is 9-9 as a head coach in the NCAA Championships. This season is Toomey's 20th in the NCAA Championships: 11 as a head coach, six as an assistant, three as player.
In The NCAAs
- Several players on the Greyhounds' roster have significant NCAA experience, following Loyola's 2018 and 2019 season in which it reached the quarterfinal round.
- In five games, Ryan McNulty has 14 ground balls, seven caused turnovers and a goal. John Railey and Cam Wyers both have made three starts on defense in the tournament; Railey has eight ground balls and two caused turnovers, while Wyers has seven and two.
- Aidan Olmstead has 15 points on nine goals and six assists, and Kevin Lindley has scored eight goals.
Congratulations, Grads
- Fifteen Greyhounds celebrated an early graduation on Tuesday, May 18, as the men's lacrosse team graduates had its degrees conferred in a special ceremony.
- Five members of the Class of 2020 were recognized for the degrees they completed last year. Riley Cox and Ryan McNulty both earned bachelor of arts in communication while Peter Swindell and Matt Higgins were finance majors and John Railey earned a degree in biology. Cox, McNulty and Railey are all working on their Master's of emerging media degrees. Higgins has competed his M.B.A., and Peter Swindell is finishing his this summer.
- Kyle LeBlanc, a member of the Class of 2021, finished his bachelor of science in applied mathematics in just three-and-a-half years, graduating in December 2020, and he is now studying for his master's of data science.
- Including LeBlanc, 10 graduated with the Class of 2021: Matthew Benus, Jarett Bonser, Kevin Lindley, Undergraduate Assistant Coach Collin McCarthy, Aidan Olmstead, Bailey Savio, Sam Shafer, Adam Wagner and Dan Wigley.
- Several members of the Class of 2021, as well as McNulty who has a sixth-year of eligibility, intend to return to Loyola for the 2022 season. Both Olmstead and Lindley began their pursuits of M.B.A. on Monday with their first graduate classes.
Standing On Top
- Kevin Lindley dodged from the top of the box, split a double and scored with 3:31 left in the first half of the 2021 Patriot League Quarterfinal against Navy, setting a school record in the process. His goal pushed him past the career total of Gary Hanley who scored 151 goals for 1978-81 and held the career goals scored record for 40 years.
- Lindley's 156 goals rank third in Patriot League history behind Colgate's Peter Baum (164, 2010-13) and Army West Point's Garrett Thul (163, 2010-13).
- 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 got to his total of 151 goals in 57 career games, while Lindley took 52 to hit that mark.
- Lindley finished his freshman season in 2018 with 37 goals, had a school-record 60 as a sophomore in 2019, 19 in the truncated 2020 campaign and 40 in 15 games this season.
- Lindley has scored three or more goals in 28 of his 52 career games and has hat tricks or better in nine of 15 this year.
Postseason Honors
- Eight Loyola players were named to the All-Patriot League teams that were released on May 4, the most for a Greyhounds team since the program joined the conference in 2014.
- Matt Higgins (SSDM), Kevin Lindley (A), Ryan McNulty (LSM), Aidan Olmstead (A), Peter Swindell (M) and Cam Wyers (D) were named to the first team, while Evan James (M) and Bailey Savio (FO) earned second-team recognition.
- Two days later, Olmstead was named the Patriot League Scholar-Athlete of the Year, and he was joined on the Academic All-Patriot League Team by Lindley and Swindell.
- McNulty and Wyers have both earned All-America recognition, too, from media publications. McNulty was a second-team honoree by both Inside Lacrosse and USA Lacrosse Magazine, while Wyers earned honorable mention from the former, third-team laurels from the latter.
Another Ascending The Leaderboard
- Bailey Savio set the Loyola career record for ground balls in its Patriot League Semifinal win over Army West Point as he picked up six to boost his career total to 341, one more than his older brother Graham had from 2014-17.
- Now with 345, the younger Savio is fourth all-time in the Patriot League in the category behind Lehigh's Conor Gaffney (391, 2017-present), Colgate's Peter Strid (384, 1993-96) and Navy's Brady Dove (348, 2014-17).
- With 602, Bailey Savio is second all-time at Loyola in faceoffs won behind his brother's 709. He is fifth in Patriot League history behind Graham, Gaffney (669), Colgate's Chris Eck's 664 and Dove (637).
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. This season, he's over the 50-point mark for the first time with 31 goals and 26 assists for 57 points. In 53 career games, Olmstead has scored 165 points with 86 goals and 79 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 native of Painted Post, New York, now has 21 games with two or more assists, 24 with multiple goals and 10 career hat tricks. Among those games, he has 37 outings with three or more points, 13 of those coming against Patriot League opponents.
- He is tied for sixth all-time at Loyola with 79 assists and ninth with 165 points.
- Olmstead was named the Patriot League Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 2021, and he is 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.
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 the start of 2019, he has been the team's leader (among non-faceoff players) in 131 ground balls while leading Loyola with 55 caused turnovers.
- Over his career, he has amassed 70 caused turnovers and 188 ground balls while scoring 12 goals to go with 12 assists. He's seventh all-time at Loyola in caused turnovers, 15th in ground balls.
- He has nine points in the Greyhounds' last 12 games, scoring a goal to go with an assist at Lehigh before tallying a highlight-reel goal effort against Lafayette. McNulty then tied his career-high with two assists against Bucknell. He had his third multi-point game of the season on April 3 at Navy with a goal and an assist.
- 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.
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 for his first collegiate hat trick.
- He followed that performance with a five-goal, six-point game against Utah, a contest in which he scored on all but one of his shots. He matched the six points with four goals and two assists versus Lafayette. In 14 games, he is third on the team with 28 goals and third with 36 points.
- 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.
- As a freshman during the abbreviated 2020 season, James played in all six games and finished with three goals.
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.
- He opened his 2020 season with three points against defending national champion Virginia, scoring a goal and posting two assists. In just six games, he set career-highs with nine goals and 16 points.
- His previous career-best 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 needed just six games in 2021 to match that career-high number of 16 points, and through 15 games this season, Swindell is second on the team with 15 assists and fourth in both goals (19) and points (34). His three goals against Lafayette marked his first career hat trick, and he followed that with career-highs of four goals and five points against Bucknell before posting two goals and two assists against Georgetown. He also leads the team with six man-up goals this year, good for 10th in NCAA Division I.
- Swindell has played in 67 career games and has 45 goals, 31 assists and 79 ground balls.
Shafer Making Stops
- Over the last six games, Sam Shafer has made 65 saves against 52 goals allowed for a .556 saves percentage and 9.35 goals-against average.
- Prior to those games, he was at an even .500 in saves percentage.
- With an 8.93 goals-against average, he enters the quarterfinal No. 5 in NCAA Division I in the category.
Takeaways
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.
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 160 wins, an average of 12.5 per season (not including the shortened 2020 season) since 2012, and has a 159-76 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 .678 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, 85 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.
Get To Ten
- Since Charley Toomey became head coach at Loyola in 2006, the Greyhounds have scored 10 or more goals on 149 occasions; Loyola has won 81.2 percent of those games (121-28).
