BOSTON –
Evan James scored the game's first goal for Loyola University Maryland, but Boston University reeled off eight-straight goals to take a 8-1 lead with 7 minutes, 50 seconds left in the second quarter of a Patriot League Semifinal.
Adam Poitras tallied his first of four goals 26 seconds later, kicking off a 9-1 Greyhounds' run that would help Loyola rally and claim a 12-11 victory over the top-seeded Terriers.
Loyola will play Army West Point in the Championship Game on Sunday, May 7, at 12 noon on CBS Sports Network.
James and Poitras combined for eight goals and four assists, and
Matthew Minicus had four points on a goal and a career-high tying three assists. James scored four goals and had three assists, while Poitras was two assists shy of that total.
James had a Patriot League Championships single-game record six goals on Tuesday night in a quarterfinal win over Navy. He is two away from tying the Patriot League Championships record for goals scored of 12 set in 2018 by Lehigh's Andrew Pettit.
Luke Staudt made a career-high 20 saves for the Greyhounds, his last coming with less than 10 seconds to go to preserve the win.
After the Staudt save, Boston University got the ground ball, but
Cam Wyers caused a turnover, and
Scott Middleton cleared it to the other end as time ran out.
The 14
th-ranked Terriers (10-4 overall) led 8-1 on the second of two extra-man goals by Timmy Ley midway through the second quarter, but Poitras' goal started the Greyhounds' run. Minicus was hung-up behind the goal and found Poitras coming down the left side for a one-timer.
Minicus was the one to put the ball in the net next in a reverse look from Poitras' goal. James had the ball at the top of the box and threw it to Minicus coming around the crease to score at 6:50.
Ley would tally his fourth of the first half for Boston University at 3:57, but
Davis Lindsey responded with a goal at 2:59, beating a short-stick from behind to score low.
That goal started a 7-0 Loyola run with James scoring the next two. Quick ball movement by the Greyhounds helped Poitras get it to James on the left side, and James shot off-hip to the far pipe for a goal at 1:52. He then scored on extra-man, breaking through traffic to bounce a shot between the goalkeeper's legs with 45 seconds left in the half.
Loyola scored the first goal of the second half after the expiration of an extra-man opportunity. Poitras tallied a goal inside at 14:18 on a Minicus feed.
The Greyhounds (9-7) went man-up again after that, and
Joey Kamish stepped in from 18 yards to score at 13:13, drawing Loyola within one, 9-8.
Neither Loyola, nor Boston University, scored for more than 11 minutes until James tied the game for the first time since there was 10:32 left in the first quarter. He caught a Kamish pass and scored from left point at 1:59 to knot the game at 9-9.
Seth Higgins gave the Greyhounds the lead with less than one second left. A James shot went wide and out of bounds at goal-line extended. Minicus restarted at the sideline and threw it in front of the goal where Higgins batted it in with nine-tenths of a second to go in the third quarter.
Louis Perfetto scored at 13:14 in the third quarter, tying the game for the Terriers at 10-10, and Vince D'Alto put them in front, 11-10, with 8:35 to go in regulation.
Staudt made five saves over the next five-plus minutes to keep the Loyola deficit at one, the last leading to a clean clear onto the offensive end. James found Poitras in delayed transition as the Terriers were subbing, and Poitras scored with 3:21 left, tying the game at 11-11.
Less than a minute later, Poitras put Loyola back in front, cutting to the goal and catching from Higgins behind for a goal at 2:38.
Middleton came up with the ground ball on a faceoff win, and Loyola used the entire 80-second shot clock before Boston University took back possession.
The Terriers cleared it and called a timeout with 39 seconds on the clock. Staudt stuffed a Perfetto shot, and after Matt Hilburn came up with the ground ball for Boston University, Wyers checked it away for the win.
Wyers and
Payton Rezanka each had two caused turnovers for Loyola, and
Eric Pacheco had a team-high five ground balls.
