BALTIMORE – Loyola University Maryland men's lacrosse trailed for just one minute, 51 seconds in the first quarter before scoring four goals in less than eight minutes, and the Greyhounds later outscored No. 11 Georgetown University, 8-4 in the second half of an 18-10 season-opening win on Saturday at Ridley Athletic Complex.
Evan James scored a career-high nine points on five goals and four assists, while
Adam Poitras had five (four goals, one assist) and Matthew MInicus added four (four goals).
Luke Staudt made 11 saves in goal for the Greyhounds, while
Remi Reynolds,
Michael Callahan and
Diego Roman all had two of Loyola's 11 caused turnovers.
James put Loyola on the scoreboard 2:53 into the game, answering Patrick Crogan's unassisted goal with one of his own.
Matt Heuston and Poitras added their own unassisted goals to put Loyola in front 3-1 with 6:38 in the first.
Poitras' goal came after he picked up a ground ball below goal line, and he came up with another loose ball in traffic moments later. This time, he turned and threw to
Seth Higgins at the top of the box for a wide-open stepdown look, pushing the Greyhounds up, 4-1, at 4:57.
Georgetown had an answer 31 seconds later with a Jordan Wray goal, but in what became a theme throughout the game, Loyola had an answer when James scored his second of the day at 3:41.
The Hoyas pulled within two, 5-3, with 2:50 to go in the first quarter on an Aidan Carroll tally, but Loyola held them there thanks to the use of a new NCAA rule. Greyhounds Head Coach
Charley Toomey challenged the call on the field of a Georgetown goal that was overturned after video review.
Loyola then opened the second quarter on a three-goal run with James contributing on the first two. He drove his defender toward the middle of the field before spinning back toward goal line. The defender fell and left James with an open shot from the left wing. He converted that, and he then assisted on Poitras' second of the day. Heuston added his second, working behind a pick at the top to spin into space and score high-to-low at 10:03.
Georgetown had a 2-0 run on a pair of Wray goals, but Poitras broke that up with a transition goal. Loyola caused a turnover on the defensive side, and
Mustang Sally ran it into the offensive box. He wound up as if to shoot, but he dumped a pass to Poitras on the right side of the crease, and he scored easily at 5:01.
The Hoyas appeared to have the final goal of the half when Wray picked a rebounded shot out of the air and scored with seven seconds on the clock, but Loyola got possession off the ensuing faceoff.
Evan James held it below goal line and fired a cross-crease pass to Sally on the right where he jumped and one-timed in a shot at the buzzer. The goal held up under review and showed Sally released the ball with one tenth of a second on the clock.
That gave Loyola a 10-6 halftime lead, and the Greyhounds kept up the pace in the third quarter.
James slung a low-angle shot from the left side off a Higgins pass to score 1:13 into the half, and Georgetown had a response with Wray's fifth of the game 3:20 later.
Minicus, who had been scoreless to this point, caught a James feed behind the goal and rolled the crease to score at 4:36, stretching the lead to 12-7.
Poitras got free down the middle of the offense and scored high-to-low, his fourth of the game, with 3:29 left in the third. Crogan pulled the Hoyas back within five, 13-8, with a goal at 2:22.
The teams traded two goals each in the first three minutes of the fourth quarter with Minicus picking up both for Loyola, but Alexander Vardaro's score with 9:29 left in regulation would be Georgetown's last of the game.
Dylan Binney, James and Minicus all scored for Loyola in the last nine minutes to complete the game.
Loyola employed a noticeable difference in shot percentage during the game, knocking down 18 of 41 attempts good for 43.9 percent. The Hoyas, however, shot just 22.7 percent from the field (10 of 44).
Eric Pacheco had a team-high four ground balls after going 11 of 22 from the faceoff 'X.' Sally had three ground balls to go with a caused turnover and his two points.
The Greyhounds continue the start to their season on Saturday, February 10, with a 12 noon game at the University of Maryland.
