ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Loyola University Maryland jumped out to a 4-1 first-quarter lead, and the Greyhounds made strong energy plays throughout the game to go on to a 12-10 Patriot League win over the host U.S. Naval Academy on Friday night at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
Carson Hall won 4 of 6 faceoffs in the first quarter, and the Greyhounds picked up 11 ground balls to the Midshipmen's seven in the opening frame to help the scoring tilt into Loyola's column.
Adam Poitras had two of his three goals, while
Matthew Minicus added one and
Joey Kamish had a pair of assists, in the first stanza.
Poitras and
Evan James both finished with three goals and an assist for the Greyhounds; Minicus scored twice and had an assist, Kamish tallied three points on a goal and an assist, and
Dylan Binney scored two times for Loyola.
Kamish and Minicus put Loyola on the board in the first minute when the former threw a pass to the latter for a shot from the right post to score the opener.
Navy evened the game with a Jon Jarosz goal at 11:01, but the tie would be short-lived.
Loyola won the next faceoff, and
Dylan Binney dodged to his left and scored to start a 3-0 run. Poitras followed with the next two goals, scoring unassisted at 7:25 and with a Kamish assist 1:11 later.
Navy came back with a goal 2:16 into the second quarter with Jarosz getting his second of the day, but Kamish tallied a man-up strike at 9:25.
The Midshipmen had their own extra-man goal with a Henry Tolker score at 7:37, but Minicus put Loyola back up by three less than a minute later, catching a
Davis Lindsey pass to score his second of the half.
Navy came back with two-straight goals at 5:51 and 4:01, but Binney shot from the outside right against a Navy zone, tucking the ball over the goalkeeper's shoulder and under the crossbar to give Loyola a 7-5 lead with 12.4 ticks left in the half.
The Midshipmen got back within one, 7-6, 2:24 into the third quarter when Paul Garza scored, but Loyola came back to stretch the lead to three with two scores in the span of one-minute, 15 seconds. James scored the first with a Lindsey assist, and Poitras added his second unassisted tally of the game at 7:38, pushing the advantage to 9-6.
Chad Connolly got a goal in transition for the Midshipmen 29 seconds later, but Loyola scored the next two and had its largest lead of the game.
Matt Heuston pump-faked and shot a change-up past the Navy goalkeeper for a score at 4:55, and James scored on a Minicus assist with 3:45 to go in the third for an 11-7 lead.
Navy got one more back before the fourth quarter when Jarosz scored with 2.9 seconds on the clock, but Loyola made it a four-goal lead again early in the fourth.
Luke Staudt made a save for Loyola, and
Joe Houlihan came up with a ground ball in traffic for Loyola.
Chase Gregory then grabbed another ground ball and cleared to the offensive box. He threw to Minicus on the right side, and he immediately reversed it to
Mustang Sally in the middle. He threw to James on the left side of the crease, and he scored with 13:05 left in regulation to give Loyola a 12-8 chsuion.
Jarosz and Evan Conway would add goals at 8:39 and 1:40 for Navy, but a Staudt save following Conway's goal would thwart any further rally.
Staudt made 12 saves and had four ground balls for Loyola.
In addition to his ninth-straight game with three or more points, Poitras tied for the game-high with eight ground balls. Hall had five, and Houlihan matched Staudt with four as Loyola played to a 39-30 advantage in ground balls.
Loyola clinched a berth in the Patriot League Championships with the win, and they will play their regular-season finale on Friday, April 26, hosting Army West Point in a 7 p.m. game that will be broadcast nationally on CBS Sports Network.
