Quick Hits About The 'Hounds

• Loyola University Maryland men's lacrosse closes the 2023 regular-season on Friday, April 28, when the Greyhounds head to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania for a 7 p.m. game at Lehigh.
• The game will be streamed live on ESPN+.
• Matthew Minicus was named the Patriot League Rookie of the Week on April 24 after totaling six goals and three assists in games against Georgetown and Colgate last week.
• 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 72-28 (.720) all-time at the stadium.
• Ever member of Loyola's starting attack and first midfield had at least one point on April 1 against Holy Cross marking the second time this season the Greyhounds have accomplished the feat (Maryland). 
• 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

• Loyola scored the game's last five goals as part of a larger 7-1 run that carried the Greyhounds to a 17-11 Patriot League victory over visiting Colgate on Saturday at Ridley Athletic Complex.
• Adam Poitras scored twice during the run and had a game-high seven points as the Greyhounds secured a spot in the Patriot League Championships with the victory.
• Poitras finished with four goals and three assists, while Matthew Minicus and Evan James each had four goals; Minicus added two assists.
• Colgate led much of the first half until Poitras tied the game at 7-7 with a goal 2:09 before halftime. He then scored unassisted with 56 seconds left in the second quarter. 
• The Raiders tied the game 17 seconds into the second half with an Adam Salvaggio extra-man goal to make it 8-8, the first of three times in three times in the second half the game would be tied.
• Loyola led 12-10 going into the fourth quarter before a Colgate goal at 13:48. The Greyhounds would then score the last five with two coming from both Poitras and Evan James during the stretch.

In The Polls

• Loyola and Lehigh both enter Friday's game receiving votes in the USILA coaches poll.

Series History

• Loyola and Lehigh will play for the 18th time in series history when the teams take the field on Friday night. 
• The Greyhounds scored a 13-12 victory over the Mountain Hawks on April 29, 2022, in Baltimore and have won 16 of the previous 17 meetings between the programs. Lehigh's win in the series came in the last game in Bethlehem where they were 10-6 victors on March 6, 2021.
• The series first started in 1942 with games played in 1947 and 1948, as well. The programs met four times between 1984 and 1998 and have then faced off 10 times since the Greyhounds joined the Patriot League for the 2021 season. 

Patriot League Championships Scenarios

• Loyola has clinched a berth in the Patriot League Championships and will play a quarterfinal game on Tuesday, May 2.
• If Loyola beats Lehigh, and Bucknell tops Navy, on Friday night, Loyola will host Lafayette in that game. Wins by Loyola and Navy means the Greyhounds will head back to Lehigh for the quarterfinal. A Lehigh win on Friday secures Loyola a trip to Annapolis, Maryland, for a game against Navy.

Four Who Put The Ball On The Ground

• Loyola is one of three teams nationally who have four or more players with 15 or more caused turnovers this season. The Greyhounds are joined by Boston University and Jacksonville, two teams that regularly 10-man ride.
• Close defenders Matt Hughes (21) and Cam Wyers (18) lead Loyola in caused turnovers, with short-stick middies Payton Rezanka (16) and Mustang Sally (15) close behind.
• Rezanka and Sally are the No. 1 duo nationally with 31 combined for players who play exclusively with a short-stick.

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 per game. With 2.64 goals, Minicus is third among freshmen in goals per game behind Bryant's Jack Lonsinger (3.0) and Johnny Hackett (2.83).
• Minicus leads Patriot League first-year players in goals (29) and points (38), and he enters the Lehigh game pacing the Greyhounds in both categories.
• 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. Minicus was named the Patriot League Offensive Player and Rookie of the Week, and he also earned a spot on the USILA Team of the Week, after scoring seven goals at Bucknell. He picked up his second Patriot League Rookie of the Week honor on April 24 after combining for six goals and three assists versus Georgetown (2 and 1) and Colgate (4, 2).

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 70 career caused turnovers rank ninth all-time at Loyola and are second amongst Greyhounds short-sticks (Pat Laconi, 75, 2011-14).
• 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. He tied his career-high with five caused turnovers at Army West Point.
• 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.
• Mustang Sally has joined Rezanka in the Greyhounds' top short-stick rotation and has 15 caused turnovers this year. 
• The two have contributed in transition offense, as well, with Sally scoring six goals to go with three assists and Rezanka posting five assists while scoring three times. Four of Sally's goals have come off Rezanka assists; he had his first two-point game at Loyola against Army West Point with a goal and an assist. Max McGillicuddy, another Greyhounds short-stick, has a goal and two assists this season.

First Year Scoring

• Matthew MInicus has not been the only member of Loyola's first-year class to shoulder scoring load this season as the group of freshmen have combined for 49 goals and 19 assists.
• Henry Haberman had his first career three-goal game on April 1 against Holy Cross and has 12 goals and three assists through 13 games. Will McCulloch tallied two goals and an assist against the Crusaders and has four and four assists. Luke Murphy has played primarily on the Greyhounds' second midfield and has three goals and two assists.

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 65 of 67 games since coming to the school before the 2019 season. He is seventh all-time at Loyola with 74 caused turnovers, and he also has 149 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 47 games with the Greyhounds, Hughes has 110 ground balls and 62 caused turnovers to check in 10th 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.

Scoring Where He's Needed

• 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. Poitras scored a career-best five points versus Holy Cross with three goals and two assists. 
• Recently, Poitras has moved to start on attack, and he is second on the team with 22 goals and 34 points; he has played 51 games during his career and has 67 goals and 39 assists for 106 points. He put up a career-high seven points against Colgate, tying his career-high marks in goals (4) and assists (3).

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 40 of the 47 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 three hat tricks and five games with two or more goals; he has 11 career hat tricks and 24 games with two or more goals. 
• He has started the last two games on attack and has six combined goals, including four on five shots against Colgate.
• Over 50 career games played, James is the Greyhounds' active leader in goals (80) and points (108) scored, and he also has 28 assists.

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 18 points on nine goals and 11 assists in 2023 to raise his career total to 30 and 29 in 44 games.

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.
• He took on more of a scoring load in games recently, tallying three goals against both Lafayette and Duke, setting and then matching his career high. Lindsey then matched his goal output with three against Navy.
• 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. This season, he has 13 goals and 17 assists in his first 12 games, leading the team in assists and ranking third in points.

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 175-91 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 169 occasions; Loyola has won 80.5 percent of those games (136-33).