BALTIMORE – Navy men's lacrosse scored the third quarter's first goal 49 seconds after halftime to tie the score at 8-8, but Loyola University Maryland went on an 8-2 run that covered more than 20 minutes to pull away for a 16-11 Patriot League victory on Friday night at Ridley Athletic Complex.
Matthew Minicus scored a season-high eight points with five goals and three assists, and
Max Watkinson made four of his 12 saves in the fourth quarter for the Greyhounds.
Henry Haberman,
Mason Cook and
Brady West all had two goals for the Greyhounds, and Haberman added an assist.
It was Minicus, though, who was involved in the three goals that would start the run in the second half.
After Paul Garza's goal at 14:11 in the third quarter,
Luke Murphy broke through with a Minicus assist more than five minutes later. Minicus dodges toward the top of the offense, turned over his right should and shot a pass to Murphy on the right side. Murphy slung a sidearm shot inside the far post to give Loyola a lead it would not relinquish.
Minicus scored with a
Kenan Everhart feed at 6:29, and with 1:59 to go in the quarter, he threw through the defense to
Brady West on the backside pipe where West one-timed a shot past Navy goalkeeper Dan Daly on extra-man. That tally put Loyola in front, 11-8.
In the third quarter, Navy took nine shots, but only its first found the net. Watkinson made saves on the other three that were on-goal.
The Midshipmen stopped their scoreless stretch of 17 minutes, seven seconds with an Ash Carter goal off a Mac Haley assist at 12:04 in the fourth, and Carter then finished a Jack Flaherty feed for an extra-man goal at 10:54 to make it an 11-10 Loyola advantage.
Less than a minute later, Haberman went with a sidearm shot after catching a Murphy pass to break Navy's mini-run with a goal at 9:57.
Haberman came back with his second goal of the night 57 seconds later, dodging to get to his left hand and bouncing a shot through Daly's legs, putting Loyola back up three, 13-10.
Navy went back to a 10-man ride when Loyola was clearing, and
Bruno Chapman took a shot from more than 55 yards away against the empty net, draining it to make it a four-goal lead at 5:42.
Loyola won the ensuing faceoff with a
Marek Seaman ground ball, and Everhart again Loyola would run settled offense for more than a minute before adding to its advantage. Cook used a long dodge to draw a slide up on the right side. Cook threw through to Everhart who slid a one-more pass to Minicus on the crease for his fifth goal of the night with 4:27 on the clock.
Navy again looked to 10-man the Greyhounds, but this time West had the answer with a 50-yard launch to score with 3:54 left on the clock.
Navy would add one more goal on Ash's third of the half at 2:48, and after that the Midshmen went on extra-man with a two-minute non-releasable penalty which was called against the Greyhounds. Watkinson made one of his three point-blank saves of the fourth quarter, and Loyola earned the five-goal win.
Everhart returned to the field for the first time since March 22 after an injury, and he had a goal and two assists as one of eight Greyhounds with two or more points. Murphy had a goal and two assists, while Quinn and
Connor Wilbur each had two assists. Chapman,
Carson Hall and
Grady O'Day all had goals, too, for Loyola.
Hall went 15 of 29 facing off for the Greyhounds, and
Sawyer Allen was 1 of 2.
The Greyhounds and Midshipmen each had 17 turnovers with Loyola causing 10 of the Navy giveaways.
Joe Houlihan had three caused turnovers to lead Loyola.
Ash led Navy with three goals to go with two assists, and Mac Haley matched his five points with two and three.
Loyola will close its regular season on Friday, April 25, with another nationally televised game. The Greyhounds head to the Hudson Valley of New York for a 4:30 p.m. game at Army West Point on CBS Sports Network.
