The Matchup
- Loyola men's soccer continues its Patriot League regular -eason and postseason championship defense as it travels to St. John's in another non-conference matchup.
- This will be the sixth matchup between the two programs, the first since the 2018 season. The Greyhounds have yet to lose to the Red Storm.
Lockdown Defense
- The Greyhounds defense has picked up where it left off last season, posting back-to-back shutouts.
- Sophomore goalkeeper
Alex Bobocea was in net for both shutouts, which were the first of his career.
- Loyola's defense was a major part of the Greyhounds reaching the NCAA tournament last season; the unit 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 transfered to Loyola from Wilmington University. They also brought in transfer defender
Thomas Gray, who comes to Loyola from William Carey University, and lastly transfer defender
Milan Miric, who comes from Dayton.
Scouting St. John's
- The Red Storm come into the matchup with a 1-3 record.
- They suffered losses to Monmouth, No. 18 Florida International, and Indiana, with their lone win coming against Patriot League member Lehigh.
- In their three loses, they have lost 1-0 in each contest.
- Antek Sienkiel tallied a hat-trick in the matchup against Lehigh, while Wesley Leggett and Brandon Knapp added goals of their own.
- The Red Storm have had two goalkeepers in net this season, with Zenden Hart tallying three starts. Hart has 8 saves on the season with their lone shutout.
- Brandon Knapp was selected to the Preseason All-Big East team, and St. John's was selected to place in 3rd place in the Big East, behind Georgetown and Providence.
- The Red Storm were also selected as the No. 25 team in the country in the TopDrawerSoccer preseason rankings, while also receiving votes in the United Soccer Coaches Poll.
Quick Notes
- 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 outshot opponents.
- The Greyhounds have shutout the last two opponents heading into the matchup.
- So far this season, the Greyhounds have out-shot their opponents by a total of 31-20 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).
O- f 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 hosted the Old Dominion Monarchs on Friday night in their home opener.
- In the first half, Old Dominion had the most chances as they led the shots 6-3 in the first half, but failed to scored.
- The Greyhounds gained the momentum in the second half as they out-shot the Monarchs 6-3 in the second half.
Jordy Luchies connected with
Kelan Swales and a long pass to get Swales in behind the defense, and Swales was able to convert to give the Greyhounds a 1-0 lead.
- This proved to be enough of a lead, as
Alex Bobocea locked down the shutout for the Greyhounds.
