The Matchup
- Loyola women's soccer is on the road for the final time before conference play on Thursday, as the Greyhounds travel to Howard for the first meeting between the two schools since 2014.
- This is the seventh of eight games against non-conference opponents prior to Loyola's Patriot League opener against Colgate on Saturday, Sept. 18.
Last Time Out
- Paige Sim and Fairleigh Dickinson goalkeeper Malene Nielsen combined for 11 saves, as Loyola and the visiting Knights settled for a 0-0 tie at Ridley Athletic Complex on Sunday.
- The Greyhounds (3-2-1), remained unbeaten at home this season at 2-0-1. They outshot the Knights (2-2-2) by a 14-11 margin and had a 12-4 advantage in corner kicks.
- Baylee DeSmit had a team-high six shots for Loyola, three of which were directed on goal. Grace DenBleyker also nearly put the home side in front in the 74th minute, but her apparent goal was called off due to an offside call.
- Sim, who had six stops, has now managed six or more saves in five of Loyola's six games on the year. The clean sheet was her second this season and her 10th in 24 collegiate starts.
Early Offensive Leaders
- Sarah Mirr has recorded a point in three of Loyola's first six games on the year.
- Mirr (1 G, 2 A) assisted on Kelly Hutton's game-winner in Loyola's season-opening 1-0 victory over Marist, and she set up Sarah Bayer's 57th-minute strike in a 5-1 win over Iona. She also scored the lone Greyhounds goal at Princeton on Aug. 27 after converting an 81st-minute penalty.
- Baylee DeSmit leads the team with 14 shots on the year. She and Olivia Quaranta both scored their first collegiate goals during the second half of Loyola's win over Iona. Bayer and Ada Clare
- Tempert added their first goals of the season in that contest, with Bayer's strike the 10th of her Loyola career.
- Six of Loyola's first seven goals this season have occurred off of set pieces (three off free kicks, two off corners, one penalty kick), and the team has had six different goal scorers through the first six games.
Series History
- Loyola leads 2-0-1 in a series which dates back to 1997.
- The Greyhounds won the first meeting by a 12-0 final. That is the second largest margin of victory in program history, trailing only a 13-0 win over Delaware State on Sept. 28, 2002.
- The last two contests have been much closer. The teams played to a 1-1 draw to open the 2012 season, and Loyola edged out a 1-0 victory in overtime in the most-recent contest in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 5, 2014.
- This is Loyola's second-straight game against a Northeast Conference opponent following last Sunday's draw against FDU.
Scouting Howard
- The Bison (1-1-0) have split their first two games this season, opening the fall with a 3-1 win over Hampton on Aug. 23 before dropping a 2-1 decision at home to Longwood last Thursday.
- Howard is in its first season competing in the NEC for women's soccer after previously being an associate member of the SWAC. The Bison went 14-4 (9-1 SWAC) during their most-recent season of competition in 2019, and they advanced to the NCAA tournament as SWAC champions after finishing 13-7-1 (8-1-1 SWAC) in 2018.
- Fr. F Melea Earley leads the team with five points (2 G, 1 A) through two games, while So. M Nyla Allen provided the game-winning goal in Howard's victory over Hampton
Quick Notes Entering the Weekend
- Head coach Joe Mallia enters Thursday with a record of 99-57-16 across 10 seasons at Loyola (1998-2004, 2019-pres.) and 149-91-27 in 15 seasons overall, leaving him one victory away from reaching a pair of milestone figures.
- Loyola's four second-half goals at Iona came within a span of 24 minutes. Olivia Quaranta began the run after heading in a Nicole Rivas corner in the 52nd minute.
- Shea Carroll and Lois Edwards each picked up their first collegiate assists during that second half scoring run.
Sim, Tempert Land on Preseason All-Patriot League Team
- Loyola was one of three Patriot League schools to have multiple selections to the conference's 11-member Preseason All-League team announcedin August, with juniors Paige Sim and Ada Clare Tempert both earning recognition.
- Sim played every minute in goal during the spring 2021 season while earning third team all-conference accolades, finishing with a 3-2-1 record, a 0.48 GAA, a .824 save percentage and three shutouts.
- Also a second team All-Patriot League honoree as a freshman in 2019, Sim has a career record of 11-7-7 with a 0.73 GAA and .836 save percentage. She has recorded shutouts in 10 of her 24 career starts in goal.
- A first team All-Patriot League honoree, Tempert scored two of Loyola's four goals last spring and was tied for the team lead in shots (10), making an immediate impact after missing the 2019 season due to injury.
Loyola Ranked No. 5 in Patriot League Preseason Poll
- The Greyhounds, who are one of two teams to advance to the Patriot League semifinals in each of the last two seasons, were projected to finish fifth in the conference's preseason poll released on August 10.
- Loyola has earned a result in 10 of 13 regular season games against Patriot League opponents over the last two years, going 5-3-5 during that stretch.
- Nine of 11 starters from the spring are back for the Greyhounds this season, including six former All-Patriot League players in Paige Sim, Ada Clare Tempert, Sarah Bayer (2018 - 2nd Team, 2019 - 1st Team, Spring 2021 - 3rd Team), Kaleigh Gallagher (2019 - 3rd Team), Julia Gray (2019 - 2nd Team) and Nicole Rivas (Spring 2021 - 3rd Team).
Last Season
- A season unlike any other culminated in a return trip to the Patriot League Final Four for Loyola, as the Greyhounds went 3-1-1 in regular season play to clinch the No. 2 seed in the conference's South division standings.
- Loyola's season ultimately ended with a tight 1-0 defeat to eventual conference champions Navy in the semifinals.
- The Greyhounds outscored their opponents by an overall margin of 4-3 during the shortened spring campaign.
- Claire Beath, a first team All-Patriot League selection in her final collegiate season on the backline, was the lone field player to play in all 564 minutes.
- Loyola's team GAA of 0.479 ranked third in the Patriot League and 11th overall among Division I schools.
More Quick Notes
- Julia Gray, who served as Loyola's co-SAAC president for the 2020-21 academic year, was announced in June as the Patriot League's representative on the NCAA Division I SAAC. She begins her two-year term this fall.
- Gray, Nicole Rivas and Gillian Borton were chosen as team captains for the 2021 season. Borton is a first-year team captain, while Gray and Rivas served as co-captains for the 2020-21 academic year.
- A second team All-Patriot League honoree in 2019, Gray was also a Preseason All-Patriot League selection in the spring before missing a majority of the season due to injury. She started all 19 games at center back in 2019, anchoring a defense which surrendered just seven goals over the season's final 12 contests.
- Loyola has two of the last three Maryland Gatorade Girls Soccer Player of the Year honorees on its roster, with Ada Clare Tempert recognized in 2019 and freshman Baylee DeSmit chosen in 2020.
Smart Hounds
- Loyola finished the 2021 spring semester with an impressive 3.604 team GPA. A total of 17 Greyhounds recorded a semester GPA above 3.60, with Gillian Borton, Kaleigh Gallagher, Julia Gray, Chloe Kuminkoski, Sarah Mirr and Jenna Nall all posting perfect 4.0 GPA's.
- Sarah Bayer (biology/speech pathology interdisciplinary major, 3.95 GPA) and Paige Sim (biology major, 3.94 GPA) were both Academic All-Patriot League selections, with Bayer later becoming the program's first CoSIDA Academic All-District honoree since 2012.
Looking Ahead
