LEWISBURG, Pa. – Loyola University Maryland freshman
Matthew Minicus scored seven goals and assisted on another Saturday to lead the 12
th-ranked Greyhounds to a 14-13 win on the road at Bucknell University in a Patriot League game.
Minicus had a goal and an assist in the first half and then scored with 8:33 to go in the third quarter, putting the Greyhounds in front, 9-7.
Bucknell, however, scored three in a row to lead 10-9 ono a Jack Feda goal with 3:19 remaining in the third.
Minicus scored with 38 seconds left in the third quarter and again with 10 ticks on the clock, putting Loyola in front going into the fourth quarter. He added his third goal with a man-up tally off a
Davis Lindsey assist at 12:44, stretching the Loyola lead to 12-10.
Michael Meyer scored unassisted for the Bison just over a minute later, but Minicus scored his fourth-consecutive for the Greyhounds at 10:48.
Dutch Furlong logged his third of the day for Bucknell at 10:15, but
Seth Higgins used a Lindsey feed on extra-man to one-time a shot for a goal at 9:14 that would give the Greyhounds their deciding 14
th goal.
Bucknell's Brendan Coyle won the ensuing faceoff and scored seven seconds later, but Loyola shutout the Bison for the rest of the game.
In addition to Minicus's seven goals,
Adam Poitras and
Seth Higgins each scored twice, and Poitras had an assist. Lindsey,
Joey Kamish and
Liam Bateman all had two assists for Loyola.
Will McCulloch,
Henry Haberman and
Cam Wyers had individual goals.
Luke Staudt made 14 saves in goal, and the Greyhounds ride caused nine turnovers on Bucknell clears as the Bison were just 13 of 22 in clearing on Saturday.
The Greyhounds ran 80 seconds off the clock with a couple of shots before taking a shot-clock violation with 2:54 left in regulation, and Bucknell had two shots that were wide after clearing.
Matt Hughes intercepted a Meyer pass to kill the possession, but Bucknell got the ball back with less than a minute to play after a Greyhounds turnover.
Higgins, however, caused a turnover on the ride, and the ball went back to Loyola with 48 seconds on the clock. The Bison pressured the ball back with a caused turnover along the sideline, and they had a chance to tie the score, possessing the ball with 34 seconds left.
After calling a timeout, Bucknell tried to isolate two players for dodges, but both were thwarted by the Greyhounds. Furlong came from the left side toward the crease, but Wyers locked him up and forced a crease violation that ended the game.
Loyola never trailed by more than one, but led by three just once in the game. After Feda tied the game with a goal at 11:12 in the second quarter,
Henry Haberman picked up a loose ball in front of the goal and scored at 8:47 to break the draw. Minicus used Bateman's second assist of the game to score 34 seconds later. Poitras then made it 7-4 Loyola going into halftime with a goal at 6:07 off a Kamish pass.
The Greyhounds will continue Patriot League action on Saturday, March 25, when it heads to the Hudson Valley for a game at Army West Point.
