The Matchup
- The Loyola men's soccer team travels to face the No. 7 Syracuse Orange on Monday evening, in a non-conference matchup.
- This will be the 7th meeting between the two teams, with their most recent matchup in 2009, when the Greyhounds defeated the Orange 1-0.
Lockdown Defense
- The Greyhounds defense has picked up where they left off last season, as they have allowed more that one goal in a game just three times this season.
- Sophomore goalkeeper
Alex Bobocea has tallied four shutouts on the year for the Greyhounds.
- Loyola's defense was a major part of them reaching the NCAA tournament last season, as they tallied 11 shutouts on the year, the program's most in a season since 2008, and the Greyhounds allowed one goal or fewer in 15 of 20 contests during the 2021 season.
- Loyola is currently tied for second in the Patriot League in opponent goals per game, as they are allowing .90 goals per game.
- Bobocea is also third in the Patriot Leaague with a .830 goals against average.
Returners and Newcomers
- The Greyhounds will return 21 players from the 2021 team. Key returners include
Jordy Luchies who was the only player to start all 20 games, leading goalscorer
Kelan Swales,
Daniel Tshiani,
Matthew Lala,
Albert Kang, and
Jake Mayer.
- The Greyhounds have also brought in a deep and talented freshman class that includes 9 players in total.
- They also brought in two transfers in goalkeeper
Konstantinos Parisis who transfered to Loyola from Wilmington University. They also brought in transfer defender
Thomas Gray, who comes to Loyola from William Carey University, also brought in
Richie Nichols, who transferred from Maryland, and lastly transfer defender
Milan Miric, who comes from Dayton.
Scouting Syracuse
- The Orange come into the matchup with a 9-2-1 (4-1-0) record on the season, and the #7 ranking in the country.
- The Orange have four top-25 wins on the season, including a win at then #1 Clemson.
- The Orange are coming off an 2-0 win against Wake Forest on Friday.
- Nathan Opoku leads the team with 5 goals on the season, while also tallying 4 assists.
- Levonte Johnson leads the team with 5 assists on the season.
- Russell Shealy has started 11 games this season, totaling 35 saves, and compiled a .45 GAA this season.
- The Orange have compiled their best record through 12 games since 2014.
- The Orange are tied for the national lead with 8 clean sheets.
Quick Notes
- The Greyhounds are 39-9-6 in the Patriot League since the beginning of the 2016 season.
- The Greyhounds are 9-0-1 since the beginning of last season when scoring multiple goals. They are also 9-0 when leading at halftime and 8-2-3 when they outshot opponents since the beginning of last season.
- The Greyhounds have four shutouts on the season thus far.
- So far this season, the Greyhounds have outshot their opponents by a total of 133-105 this year.
- The Greyhounds play an aggreesive style of play, one of which has resulted in them being tied for the most in the country in yellow cards, with 38 on the season.
- Following the wins over Delaware and Old Dominion, four Greyhounds were named Patriot League Players of the Week:
Kelan Swales (Offensive Player of the Week),
Albert Kang (Midfielder of the Week),
Jordy Luchies (Defensive Player of the Week), and
Alex Bobocea (Goalkeeper of the Week).
Matthew Lala also earned Defensive Player of the Week honors twice this season.
- Of the 21 returners, 13 of them started in at least one game during the 2021 season, with 5 of them tallying at least 14 starts.
Swales and Luchies Earn Preseason Patriot League Awards
- Loyola's
Kelan Swales (Offensive Player of the Year) and
Jordy Luchies (Defensive Player of the Year) recieved Preseason Patriot League Awards. Along with Swales and Luchies,
Albert Kang also was named to the Preaseason All-Patriot League team.
- The Greyhounds lead the Patriot League with three nominees on the All-Patriot League team, as they also recieved all possible first place votes (18) to repeat as Patriot League Champions during the 2022 season.
-
Steve Nichols, whose staff includes assistants
Jamie Darvill,
Jesse Haislip and
Matt Little, was voted by his peers as the conference's Coach of the Year for a fourth time after he was previously recognized three-straight seasons from 2016-18.
More on Swales and Luchies
- The Leeds, England native, Swales is a two-time First Team All-Patriot League nominee. Swales has also been named to the United Soccer Coaches Second Team All-Atlantic Region, as well as the Academic All-Patriot League Team.
- Swales has tallied 8 goals and 8 assists in two seasons for the Greyhounds, including 3 game winning goals during the 2021 season.
- Swales comes into the 2022 season with the most points from any returners.
- The Emmen, Netherlands native, Luchies comes into his sophomore season after being named to the 2021 First Team All-Patriot League team.
- Luchies was an anchor on the back line for the Greyhounds and was a crucial part of the Greyhounds defense.
- Luchies also tallied 1 assist during the 2021 season, and was the lone Greyhound to start in all 20 games.
Last Time Out
-The Greyhounds traveled to face Holy Cross on Saturday afternoon.
- The Greyhounds managed to take an early lead in the game, as
Matthew Lala scored in the 16th minute for his 3rd goal of the season.
- Shortly after,
Thomas Gray added his first goal for the Greyhounds in the 26th minute to make it a 2-0 game.
- The Crusaders would get on the board in the 56th minute to make it 2-1.
- The Greyhounds defense stepped up however, and were able to hold onto the lead, as they won 2-1.
