WEST POINT, N.Y. – Army West Point turned a 1-1 first-quarter tie into a 5-1 lead in the second that would build to 10-3 at halftime, and the fourth-ranked Black Knights pulled away for an 18-6 Patriot League victory over Loyola University Maryland in the teams' regular-season finales at Michie Stadium.
Both teams had chances in a frenetic opening four minutes of the game Friday evening, and Army West Point was the first to get on the board with a Jackson Eicher goal at 10:50.
Loyola responded less than a minute later to tie the score.
Ryan McGorry had a shot blocked, but
Henry Haberman grabbed the ground ball and flipped a pass to
Brady West for a goal an even five minutes into the game, and it was knotted at 1-1.
Over the next five-plus minutes, Loyola had four shots on goal that were saved by the Black Knights' Sean Byrne, and the Greyhounds forced two Army West Point turnovers, and
Max Watkinson made a save on a Black Knights shot on goal to keep the score level.
Army West Point broke through at 4:20 with a goal by Gunnar Fellows, and he would pick up another for the Black Knights with 2:39 to go in the quarter for a 3-1 Army West Point advantage going into the second.
Fellows scored again to open the second for Army West Point, and Eicher tallied a man-up goal at 11:41 to push the lead to 5-1.
Loyola went on extra-man a minute later, and
Matthew Minicus threw a pass to
Will McCulloch on the right post, and McCulloch scored low to break the Army West Point run.
Tyler Clark, however, scored for Army West Point just 46 seconds later, and Christian Mazur added a goal at 8:37 to stretch the lead to 7-2.
Luke Murphy stepped into a shot from 12-plus yards and scored with 7:19 to go before halftime, but it was the last Loyola goal of the period. Army West Point would get three more to lead 10-3 at the break.
Six Greyhounds would have one goal each: West, McCulloch, Murphy,
Grady O'Day,
Miles Halter and
Matthew Minicus. O'Day and Minicus both finished with two points, adding an assist.
Carson Hall went 11 of 21 on faceoffs for the Greyhounds and led the team with six ground balls.
Remi Reynolds added three of the ground and had two caused turnovers.
Max Watkinson and
Ben Abel combined for 16 saves in the game for Loyola. Watkinson had 10 in the first three quarters, and Abel made six in the fourth.
