Quick Hits About The 'Hounds

• Loyola University Maryland men's lacrosse heads on the road for the first time this season and will take on its third ranked opponent Saturday, February 25, at Rutgers University at Shi Stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey.
• The 1 p.m. game will be broadcast live on B1G+.
• The Greyhounds are in their 14th season of competition at Ridley Athletic Complex. Loyola's home field, which opened in 2010, has been a formidable advantage for the Greyhounds. They are 70-28 (.714) all-time at the stadium.
• The Greyhounds return seven of their top-10 point scorers from a year ago, led by four players who scored 15 or more goals: Adam Poitras (29), Evan James (26) Joey Kamish (19) and Seth Higgins (15). Davis Lindsey is back as the top feeder on the team after posting 20 assists while starting just three games a year ago.
• Charley Toomey is in his 18th year as head coach of the Greyhounds. Including assistant coaches Matt Dwan and Marc Van Arsdale and volunteer assistant coach Steve Vaikness, the four have 63 years of experience in their current roles at Loyola.

Looking Back

• Nine Loyola players scored goals, and four had two, as the Greyhounds built a 12-3 lead early in the fourth quarter and went on to a 13-8 victory over No. 9 Johns Hopkins.
• Evan James, Eric Pacheco and Matthew MInicus scored in the game's first 11 minutes as the 12th-ranked Greyhounds built a 3-0 lead and never looked back.
• Dylan Binney scored his second goal of the second quarter – for his first career two-goal game – with 2:51 left in the period to move the lead to 6-1.
• Johns Hopkins got a Matt Collison goal with 1:56 remaining in the first half to make it a four-goal margin at halftime, but Seth Higgins opened up scoring in the third with an extra-man goal at 11:18, sparking a 5-0 Loyola run. 

Higgins, Binney and James all had two goals for Loyola.

• Loyola's defense limited the number of shots the Blue Jays took. Johns Hopkins had only 12 in the first half and 19 through three quarters. Luke Staudt made 10 saves against just five goals allowed for Loyola. Freeman Whitaker had three saves in relief.
• Loyola forced 17 Johns Hopkins turnovers, 13 of them caused by Greyhounds.

In The Polls

• Loyola enters Saturday's game ranked fifth in the USILA coaches' poll and sixth in the Inside Lacrosse media version.
• Rutgers is 13th in the coaches rankings, tied for 14th in the media version.

Series History

• Rutgers and Loyola will meet for the 14th time on the lacrosse field Saturday when the Greyhounds enter the game with an 11-2 lead in the all-time series.
• The teams met five times during the 1990s and then were ECAC Lacrosse League foes from 2005-2009. This game is the fourth of a series that was renewed in 2019 and first played in Piscataway.
• Loyola won the first seven meetings between the teams before the Scarlet Knights won the 2007 game. The Greyhounds then won the next four contests, but Rutgers won, 13-12, on Loyola's home field last season.
• The teams' head coaches, Charley Toomey and Brian Brecht were both assistants at Loyola from 2002-04.

Preseason Prognostication

• A pair of Greyhounds earned several preseason honors from various groups. Payton Rezanka was named a First-Team Preseason All-American by Inside Lacrosse and USA Lacrosse Magazine, and he earned Preseason All-America Second Team recognition by the USILA.
• Cam Wyers was named Preseason All-America Honorable Mention by all three.
• Rezanka and Wyers represented Loyola on the Preseason All-Patriot League team as the Greyhounds were picked to finish second in the conference.

Higher Learning

• Five members of the Greyhounds are enrolled in graduate school programs this year while taking advantage of their final year of eligibility. Liam Bateman is pursuing his M.B.A. in accounting, while Matt Hughes, Scott Middleton, Freeman Whitaker and Cam Wyers are completing classes for their M.B.A. in business administration.

Effective With Efficiency

• Loyola took just 26 shots on February 11 in its 12-7 win over Maryland, but 17 of those were on goal, and 12 found the net. The Greyhounds' .461 shooting percentage was their best in a non-conference game since it scored 20 goals on 41 shots (.488) in a 20-4 victory over Towson in February 2014.
• The Greyhounds then converted 13 of their 38 shots against Johns Hopkins for goals, shooting .342 against the Blue Jays. Through two games, Loyola ranks fifth nationally in shooting percentage at .391.
• On an individual note, Evan James is fourth in NCAA Division I at .714 with five goals on seven shots.

Backstopping The Wins

• Luke Staudt made the second start of his collegiate career on February 11 against Maryland, and he had a huge day in between the pipes. Staudt made 19 saves against just seven goals allowed for a .731 saves percentage.
• His 19 saves were the most by a Loyola goalkeeper since Jacob Stover had the same number in the 2019 NCAA Quarterfinal against Penn State.
• Staudt, who entered the game with a .468 saves percentage in just over 130 minutes of action last season, was named the Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Week, the Inside Lacrosse National Player of the Week and earned a spot on the USILA Team of the Week.
• He followed that game with another performance that earned him Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Week honors, making 10 saves against five goals allowed versus Johns Hopkins. He is second nationally with a 6.27 goals against average and third in save percentage (.707).

First Year Scoring

• Loyola has seen scoring from four members of its freshmen class through two games as Matthew Minicus has scored two goals in both games thus far, and Henry Haberman had a pair versus Maryland. Luke Murphy found the net for the first time versus the Blue Jays, while Austin Cote made his collegiate debut against Johns Hopkins with a goal and an assist. Will McCulloch also had his first Loyola point with an assist in the February 18 game.
• Combined, the freshmen have eight goals and three assists.

Rezanka Racks Up Caused Turnovers

• Payton Rezanka averaged nearly two caused turnovers per game last year for the Greyhounds and earned a slew of postseason accolades. He was named a third-team All-American by the USILA, a second-team All-American by Inside Lacrosse and an All-Patriot League First Team honoree after posting 27 caused turnovers in 16 games.
• Rezanka's 27 caused turnovers were tops amongst short-stick defensive midfielders nationally. His 58 career caused turnovers rank ninth all-time at Loyola.
• His play has continued a tradition of outstanding short-stick defensive midfield play by the Greyhounds over the last decade-plus. Starting with Josh Hawkins in 2012, four different Greyhounds short sticks have earned USILA All-America honors. Hawkins (2012 and 2013 honorable mention) and Pat Laconi (2014 second team) were honored as midfielders before short sticks were separated into their own category. Matt Higgins then earned honorable mention in 2021 before Rezanka was named to the third team last year. Higgins (2021) and Rezanka (2022) were named to the All-Patriot League First Team at the position after Brian Begley was a second-team honoree as a junior in 2017 and first-team short stick in 2018.
• This year, Rezanka opened the season with two caused turnovers and an assist against Maryland before posting two caused turnovers, three ground balls and another assist in the Johns Hopkins game.

Defensive Stalwarts

• Cam Wyers and Matt Hughes have been mainstays on close defense for the Greyhounds with both starting every game over the last two seasons. The pair were also both named to the All-Patriot League Second Team a year ago, and Wyers picked up USILA All-America recognition for the second year in a row (third team in 2021, honorable mention in 2022).
• Wyers has been one of the top cover defenders throughout his four years at Loyola and has started 56 of 57 games since coming to the school before the 2019 season. He is eighth all-time at Loyola with 61 caused turnovers, and he also has 131 ground balls.
• Wyers was selected in the first round, and 13th overall, of the 2022 National Lacrosse League (NLL) draft by the Buffalo Bandits.
• Hughes came to Loyola in 2019 after playing as a freshman at Mercer in 2018. He missed the 2019 campaign due to an injury, and he played in four games during the shortened 2020 season before starting each of the last two seasons. In his 38 games with the Greyhounds, Hughes has 82 ground balls and 45 caused turnovers to check in 15th in school history in the latter.
• Hughes was named the Patriot League Defensive Player of the Week on February 13 after a holding Maryland Preseason All-American Owen Murphy scoreless on five shots in the season-opener. He then had seven ground balls and two caused turnovers against Johns Hopkins, while three and three versus the Blue Jays.

First Degree Midfield

• Loyola returns all three starters on its first midfield unit with each posting more than 25 points last season.
• Adam Poitras and Evan James were second and third, respectively, on the team in goals scored with 29 and 26, respectively. Poitras added nine assists for 38 points, while James had 11 for 37. Seth Higgins put up 15 goals and 11 assists in his first year as a full-time starter.
• The trio has opened with strong production in 2023, combining for 10 goals and five assists in two games. James is the team leader with five goals, and he is tied with Higgins for tops with six assists.

Steady Production

• Evan James has been one of the Greyhounds' best point producers over the last two seasons, scoring at least one in 29 of the 31 games he's played in during 2021 and 2022. In 2022, he earned All-Patriot League Second Team honors for the second season in a row, scoring 26 goals and assisting on 11 while starting on the Greyhounds' first midfield.
• In 2021, he played primarily on attack and had 32 goals and 12 assists.
• James had three four-goal games in 2022 – at Navy and at Colgate – and two with three (Army West Point x2). He scored two or more goals in eight of Loyola's 16 games last year. After opening this season with three goals against Maryland and two against Johns Hopkins, he has 10 career hat tricks and 22 games with two or more goals.

Breaking Out In The Midfield

• Adam Poitras had his freshman season, during which he was a starter on the Greyhounds' first midfield, cut short by the COVID pandemic after he'd scored five goals and dished out seven assists through six games.
• He played in all 16 games as a sophomore in 2021, but his production was hampered as he came back from offseason surgery. As he became healthier throughout the year, his point production increased and he had eight goals and eight assists in the last seven games of the season. That included three three-point games against Navy, Army West Point and Denver.
• In 2022, Poitras started the year with two goals and an assist at Maryland, and he went for a career-high four goals on February 26 against Rutgers, a number he tied on April 23 at Colgate. He finished second on the team with 29 goals, and he was third with 38 points.
• After his junior season of 2022, Poitras played for the Whitby Warriors of the Ontario Junior Lacrosse League and led the Warriors to both the Mann (OJLL 'A') and Minto Cup (National) titles. He was named Most Valuable Player of both tournaments, and in the Minto Cup, he tied for tournament-high honors with 14 goals and added 15 assists.
• Poitras also earned a silver medal while playing for the Canadian team at the 2022 U-21 Men's World Championships, along with Loyola teammate Josh Fairey.

Higgins In On Midfield Scoring, Too

• While frequently drawing the pole in the Greyhounds' first midfield in 2022, Seth Higgins has shown his ability to beat his matchup and be a consistent scorer for the Greyhounds.
• On March 19, 2022, against Bucknell, he set career-highs with three goals, three assists and six points, and he matched that goal output a week later versus Army West Point while adding an assist, too.
• In 16 games in 2022, Higgins scored 15 goals to go with 11 assists for 26 points. He has six points on three goals and three assists in 2023.

Stepped Up Output

• Davis Lindsey missed all of his freshman season with an injury and after more than a year without playing in a game, his start to the 2022 season was slow. He did not log a point in the first four games of the year and had just two assists through six.
• Over the last nine games he's played in 2022, though, he had eight multi-point games with eight goals and 18 assists. He posted to-date career-highs of two goals, three assists and five points at Georgetown on April 19, tying for the game-high point total. He then had four assists for a new best against Lehigh, and he followed that with another two-goal, three-assist outing against Bucknell in the Patriot League Quarterfinal.
• Lindsey started the last two games of the year, and he was second on the team with 20 assists and tied for fifth with 28 points. He has started 2023 with a goal and four assists versus Maryland and Johns Hopkins.

Toomey's Team

• Charley Toomey is in his 17th year as the head coach at Loyola and his 26th as a member of the Greyhounds' coaching staff. Overall, he is in his 30th year on the Evergreen campus, including his four seasons as a student-athlete from 1986-90.
• Toomey has directed the Greyhounds to 170 wins, an average of 12.3 per season (not including the shortened 2020 season) since 2012, and has a 169-85 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).
• As a head coach, Toomey has coached 50 USILA All-Americans, 101 all-conference selections, 21 conference positional or players or rookies of the year, a Tewaaraton Award winner and five finalists and 22 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 2023 World Championships in San Diego. 

Get To Ten

• Since Charley Toomey became head coach at Loyola in 2006, the Greyhounds have scored 10 or more goals on 163 occasions; Loyola has won 80.4 percent of those games (131-32).