BALTIMORE –
Eric Pacheco won eight-straight faceoffs in the third quarter to fuel a 4-0 Loyola University Maryland run that broke open the seventh-ranked Greyhounds' 15-11 Patriot League-opening win over Lafayette College on Saturday.
Pacheco finished a career-best 19 of 28 with 15 ground balls after going 6 of 12 during the first half. He split the first two draws of the second half before winning the next eight, all but one where he picked up the ground ball himself.
Joey Kamish put the Greyhounds up 7-4 a minute into the second half with a step-down goal from 15 yards on extra man, extending the Loyola lead to three for the first time in the game.
Lafayette came right back with a Kalman Kraham goal at 13:03 to trim the Greyhounds' advantage back to two.
Less than a minute later,
Matthew Minicus scored his first of the game at 12:28, beginning a 4-0 Loyola run during which he would score three times. For the first goal,
Adam Poitras dodged to the middle and drew a slide, but he turned and threw back to Minicus on the right side, and he scored his first of the day.
Just 46 seconds later, Minicus would score a highlight reel goal off a
Luke Murphy feed. Murphy started from goal-line extended and shoveled a pass to Minicus. The Loyola attacker felt pressure coming from a Lafayette defender and immediately spun toward the goal to get room for a low shot that would put Loyola in front 9-5.
Minicus completed the natural hat trick less than two minutes later with his third-straight goal, taking an
Evan James feed for a goal at 9:54.
It was another Loyola freshman to score next after
Dylan Binney came from 'X' and found
Henry Haberman inside for his first goal of the game at 6:41.
Peter Lehman stopped the Greyhounds run with an unassisted goal for Lafayette at 3:26, but Pacheco quickly earned possession for Loyola with another faceoff win. In an offensive set,
Will McCulloch connected with Haberman for another goal at 2:41. McCulloch threw to the opposite post where Haberman jumped, shot and scored in one motion at 2:41 to make it 12-6.
The Leopards got it back to a four-goal game at the end of the third quarter with scores by Riley Sullivan and Jack Irish, but Minicus used a pick below goal line to draw space and score once topside for his career-high fourth of the game at 14:12.
James made it 14-8 in Loyola's favor with a goal 38 ticks later as
Davis Lindsey dodged from goal-line and threw to James in the middle for a one-timer. James added his second of the quarter at 4:30 with another Lindsey assist.
Minicus led all players with four goals, and Lindsey topped the game with five points, tying his career-high in the process, with three goals and two assists.
Seth Higgins added two goals and two assists, while Haberman and James each had two goals and an assist.
Loyola dominated ground balls, 36-21, thanks to Pachecho's effort.
Matt Hughes had five on defense to go with three caused turnovers.
Luke Staudt had his fifth game this year with more than 10 saves, stopping 12 shots and allowing nine goals.
Liam Sargent scored the game's first goal for Lafayette, but then Higgins got to his left hand in the middle of the field and scored on the run at 12:40 to tie the game at 1-1. Murphy put Loyola in front off a Haberman assist at 5:3, and Lindsey scored unassisted 13 ticks later to make it 3-1.
After a Lehman goal for Lafayette, Higgins scored his second of the day on a Poitras assist, but Lafayette came back with the next two goals, tying the score at 4-4 when John Mathes found the net 54 seconds into the second quarter.
Lindsey, however, used a
Max McGillicuddy assist in transition for a goal at 12:14 to put Loyola in front for good; he would score again, this time off Higgins' first assist of the day, at 9:20, and Loyola led, 6-4, at halftime.
The Greyhounds step out of Patriot League play for their next game, a Friday, March 10, game at Duke University.
