TOWSON, Md. –
Adam Poitras used an
Evan James pick behind the crease to gain space on a Towson University defender, and get getting topside, he scored on a low-to-low shot off the right side to give No. 7 Loyola University Maryland a 12-11 overtime win at Unitas Stadium on Wednesday night.
Less than a minute before,
Luke Staudt dropped low to save a Josh Webber shot from inside of five yards to preserve an 11-11 game. Stadut made the save cleanly, and he cleared over-the-top of the defense to
Payton Rezanka who brought the ball into the offensive end, and Loyola called a timeout.
After the restart,
Davis Lindsey threw a pass to
Seth Higgins on the interior of the defense, but Higgins was bottled up by multiple defenders. He threw back to James between the top of the box and the midfield line.
James took his defender down the right side and behind the goal, throwing to Poitras at 'X.' Poitras went right-to-left and rubbed his defender off a James screen to draw space for the game-winning shot.
Poitras and James both finished with three goals, while
Matthew Minicus had two and two assists.
Davis Lindsey matched MInicus for team-high honors with four points, scoring once and assisting on three goals.
Towson got out to a 3-0 lead in the first five minutes of the game behind two Nick DeMaio goals, and after James pulled Loyola within one at the 2:06 mark in the first quarter with an unassisted goal, Jonathan Bender scored unassisted with 61 seconds to go in the stanza, and the Tigers carried a 5-3 lead into the second.
The Greyhounds (3-1 overall) got back within one 1:02 into the second quarter as Staudt made a clean save, and cleared it to Rezanka. He brought it into the box and threw to Lindsey for a goal.
Joey Kamish then tied the score with 10:44 to go before halftime, using a Higgins feed to score his first goal of the year after missing the opening three outings.
Joaquin Villagomez scored on extra-man at 9:35 to give Towson a 6-5 edge, but Minicus scored unassisted at 8:11, and
Henry Haberman gave Loyola its first lead of the game, 7-6, six seconds later on an
Eric Pacheco faceoff win and assist.
The Tigers (1-3) regained the advantage midway through the third quarter after Webber scored at 11:03 and Chop Gallagher scored on a Bender assist with 7:11 to play in the frame.
Poitras, however, evened things for the Greyhounds at 8-8 with his second extra-man goal of the evening, using a Minicus feed from 'X' to score on the left post.
Villagomez tallied an unassisted goal at 12:32 in the fourth to give Towson a 10-9 lead, but moments later, Staudt would come up with another clean save and outlet pass. This time,
Max McGillicuddy brought it into the box and found James at left point for a goal at 10:44 to tie the game at 9-9.
James struck again 48 seconds later when Minicus scooped a ground ball and in one motion fed James on the crease where he redirected the ball for a goal at 9:56.
Minicus was then on the scoring end of a Lindsey pass at 6:10, and Loyola had its first two-goal lead of the game, 11-9.
Towson trimmed its deficit to a goal with five minutes remaining in regulation on a contacted Staudt. The goal counted with 2:39 to go, and it was tied for the sixth time.
The Tigers won the ensuing faceoff and had two shots that went off, and Loyola gained possession with just under two minutes to play, but its three shots did not fall, sending the game to overtime.
In the extra period, Kyle Berkeley had a shot well over the crossbar for Towson, and on the restart, Webber was free on the fight side, but Staudt dropped to his knees for the save, leading to the winning possession.
Staudt had his fourth-straight game with 10 or more saves, making 15 for the Greyhounds.
Mustang Sally caused a career-best three turnovers and had three ground balls, while Minicus led the Greyhounds with six off the ground.
Loyola will be back at Ridley Athletic Complex on Saturday, March 4, to host open Patriot League play with a 1 p.m. game against Lafayette College.
