Quick Hits About The 'Hounds

• Loyola University Maryland men's lacrosse continues its three-game road trip on Saturday, March 18, when it heads to Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, for a Saturday, March 18, Patriot League game at Bucknell University.
• The 4 p.m. contest will be broadcast live on ESPN+.
• 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 71-28 (.717) 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

• Fourth-ranked Duke jumped out to a 5-0 lead that it turned into a 14-2 advantage at halftime, and while Loyola outscored the Blue Devils, 7-3, in the second half, the Blue Devils scored a 17-9 decision on March 10 at Koskinen Stadium.
• Davis Lindsey matched his career-high for the second week in a row with three goals, and Matthew Minicus scored twice for the Greyhounds. 
• Garrett Leadmon, Owen Caputo and Will Frisoli all scored in the game's first three mintues as the Blue Devils led 3-0 with 12:33 to play in the opening frame. Leadmon added his second, and Dyson Williams tallied a goal at 7:19 before Lindsey scored his first of the night to put the Greyhounds on the board with 6:18 remaining.
• Joey Kamish scored with six scored to go in the first quarter off a Lindsey feed, but that was the last Loyola (4-2) goal until the second half as Duke score seven in a row.
• Minicus scored twice, in addition to Lindsey's three goals. Adam Poitras, Henry Haberman, Mustang Sally and Haberman all added single goals.
• Luke Staudt made 14 saves in goal for Loyola.

In The Polls

• Loyola enters Saturday's game ranked 12th in the USILA coaches poll and 11th in the Inside Lacrosse media version.
• Bucknell is currently unranked.

Series History

• Saturday will mark the 14th all-time meeting between Bucknell and Loyola and the fourth in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Loyola has won four straight in the series and holds a 10-3 lead.
• The teams first met during the 1981 season and played in the two years following, all resulting in Loyola victories. 
• Loyola and Bucknell have met 10 times since the Greyhounds entered the Patriot League in 2014, including twice last season.
• The Greyhounds scored a 13-9 win during the regular season as Loyola's Seth Higgins posted three goals and three assists in the March 19 game. The teams met again in the Patriot League Quarterfinals, and Loyola scored the game's last five goals to rally for an 11-7 victory in Baltimore.

Spreading The Scoring

• Loyola has not had a player score more than four goals in a game this season, instead getting offensive contributions throughout the lineup. Against Johns Hopkins, nine players scored, and versus Maryland, Towson and Lafayette, seven found the net.
• Overall, 13 players have scored goals this season with Matthew Minicus (14), Evan James (11), Davis Lindsey (8), Henry Haberman (6) and Adam Poitras (6) leading the way.

Not Just A Feeder

• Davis Lindsey came into the season after finishing fifth on the team in 2022 with 28 points, 20 coming on assists. In the Greyhounds' first four games of the season, he had seven points on two goals and five assists.
• Lindsey has taken on more of the scoring load in the last two outings, however, tallying three goals against both Lafayette and Duke, setting and then matching his career high.
• 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 played in 2022, though, he had eight multi-point games with eight goals and 18 assists. He 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 eight goals and 11 assists in the first six games, leading the team in assists and points.

Backstopping The Hounds

• 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. On February 25 at Rutgers, Staudt made 14 saves and conceded 10 goals, and four days later he made 15 saves against 11 goals at Towson.
• Staudt is sixth in NCAA Division I in save percentage (.587) and 13th in goals-against average (10.1) through six games.

First Year Scoring

• Loyola has seen scoring from four members of its freshmen class as Matthew Minicus has scored at least two goals in all six games thus far, and Henry Haberman had a pair versus Maryland, one against both Rutgers and Towson, two more versus Lafayette and one at Duke.
• Luke Murphy found the net for the first time versus the Blue Jays, followed that with another at Rutgers and added a goal and an assist versus Lafayette. Austin Cote made his collegiate debut against Johns Hopkins with a goal and an assist. Will McCulloch also has assists against Johns Hopkins and Lafayette
• Combined, the freshmen have 22 goals and seven assists.

Statistically Among Freshmen

• Matthew Minicus has not just been among the leaders in scoring for Loyola, he is one of the top first-year players in the nation for goals scored. With 14 goals, Minicus is tied for third among freshmen in goals scored behind Syracuse's Joey Spallina (21) and Bryant's Jack Lonsinger (19).
• Minicus enters the Bucknell game second on the team in points (19), and he is tops with 14 goals. He had the first four-point game of his career on March 1 at Towson when he scored twice and assisted on two more goals, and he followed that with a four-goal against Lafayette.

Short-Sticks Continue To Cause Opponents Problems

• 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 60 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.
• Mustang Sally has joined Rezanka in the Greyhounds' top short-stick rotation and also has seven caused turnovers this year. The two have contributed in transition offense, as well, with Sally scoring three goals and Rezanka ranking tied for third on the team with four assists. All three of Sally's goals have come off Rezanka feeds. Max McGillicuddy, another Greyhounds short-stick, has a goal and two assists this season.

Defensive Stalwarts

• Cam Wyers and Matt Hughes have been mainstays on close defense for the Greyhounds and were both named to the All-Patriot League Second Team a year ago; Wyers also 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 59 of 60 games since coming to the school before the 2019 season. He is eighth all-time at Loyola with 64 caused turnovers, and he also has 135 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 41 games with the Greyhounds, Hughes has 92 ground balls and 52 caused turnovers to check in 11th in school history in the latter.
• Hughes was named the Patriot League Defensive Player of the Week on February 13 after 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. Against Rutgers, he held Scarlet Knights All-American Ross Scott to just one goal. He earned the conference's Defensive Player of the Week recognition again on March 6 after seven ground balls and five caused turnovers in wins over Towson and Lafayette.

Steady Production

• Evan James has been one of the Greyhounds' best point producers since the start of the 2021 season, scoring at least one in 34 of the 36 games he's played. 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. He scored two or more goals in eight of Loyola's 16 games last year.
• This year, he has two hat tricks and two two-goal games; he has 11 career hat tricks and 24 games with two or more goals.
• Over 43 career games played, James is the Greyhounds' active leader in goals (72) and points (98) scored, and he also has 26 assists.

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.
• 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.
• He had his first hat trick of the 2023 season at Towson when he scored the overtime game-winner, as well. He has played 44 games during his career and has 52 goals and 31 assists for 83 points.

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 12 points on five goals and seven assists in 2023 to raise his career total to 26 and 26 in 37 games.

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 a 171-87 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 165 occasions; Loyola has won 80.6 percent of those games (133-32).

Up Next

• Loyola wraps up its three-game road trip on Saturday, March 26, at Michie Stadium where it will face Army West Point in a 12 noon game.