The Matchup
- Loyola men's soccer continues their Patriot League regular season and postseason championship defense as they begin conference play this weekend as they travel to face Army.
- This will be the 6th matchup between the two programs. The teams faced off last year when the Greyhounds won 1-0.
Lockdown Defense
- The Greyhounds defense has picked up where they left off last season, as they have posted shutouts in 3 of their 5 games this season.
- Sophomore goalkeeper
Alex Bobocea was in net for all three shutouts this season.
- 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 posted six-straight shutouts against Patriot League opponents from Oct. 12 through Nov. 9, keeping conference teams off the scoreboard for 639:58 consecutive minutes prior to American's first-half goal in the Patriot League Championship game.
Returners and Newcomers
- The Greyhounds will return 21 players from the 2021 team. Key returners include Jordiy 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 transferred 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 Army
- The Black Knights come into this matchup with a 2-2-2 record on the season.
- Their two wins come against Florida Atlantic and Sacred Hart, and have tied 1-1 against Fairleigh Dickinson and Seton Hall.
- Nick Atkinson leads the team with three goals on the season, while Cooper Warren leads the team with 3 assists on the season.
- The Black Knights have had two goalies start three games this season, in Tomas Hut and Josh Taylor; Hut has 13 saves with a 1.83 GAA, while Taylor has 15 saves with a .73 GAA.
- The Black Knights were also picked to finish in 6th place in the Patriot League preseason poll, receiving 88 points.
- The Black Knights finished the 2021 season with an 8-7-3 (4-4-1) record and earned a trip to the semi-finals of the Patriot League Championships.
Quick Notes
- The Greyhounds and Black Knights faced off in the semi-finals of the Patriot League Championships, where it came down to penalty kicks, where the Greyhounds edged out the Black Knights 7-6 to advance to the championship game.
- The Greyhounds were 8-0-1 last season when scoring multiple goals. They were also 7-0 when leading at halftime and 7-0-1 when they out-shot opponents.
- The Greyhounds have three shutouts on the season thus far.
- So far this season, the Greyhounds have out-shot their opponents by a total of 55-39 this year.
- Loyola posted shutouts in six of its seven Patriot League victories last season, and the Greyhounds allowed one goal or fewer in 8 of 9 conference games overall.
- 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).
- 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) received 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 received 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 the St. John's Red Storm on Friday night to continue their non-conference schedule.
- The Greyhounds got out to a slow start in the game, as the Red Storm out-shot them in the first half 6-0.
- The Greyhounds came out in the second half with more determination as they had some shots early in the game, and continued the pressure.
- St. John's managed to get on the board first in the 61st minute to take a early lead.
- The Greyhounds responded in the 79th minute, thanks to another
Kelan Swales goal, as the Greyhounds managed to battle to a 1-1 tie on the road.
