ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Loyola University Maryland men's soccer trailed the U.S. Naval Academy, 3-2, with seven minutes to play Saturday night, but
Tyler Flynn scored twice, and
Nick Laffey added another, in the final 6:33 to give the Greyhounds a 5-4 Patriot League win.
The game featured three stretches of 14 minutes or less in which all nine goals were scored, but none as bonkers as the final stretch.
Navy had maintained a 3-2 lead for nearly 30 minutes after taking a lead in the 55th minute.
Loyola began to add pressure in its offensive half, but the Greyhounds used transition to score twice in the waning minutes.
Nick Laffey equalized for Loyola at 83:27 when an Alex Gallagher clear went awry for Navy. His redirection of the ball went straight to Laffey near midfield. Laffey carried the ball quickly and cut in, sending a ball over the Navy goalkeeper who had come out and off his line.
That score tied the game at 3-3, but Loyola would have two more goals in it.
Three minutes later,
Tyler Tucker won a ball for the Greyhounds in the middle third of the field, stripping it loose from a Navy player.
Nino Venezia came up with possessing and open field to carry across the midline.
Venezia swung a ball from right to left, and Laffey took a swing at a one-timed shot, but the ball fluttered past him and to the feet of Flynn. He buried a shot from just inside the 18, and Loyola had a 4-3 lead at 86:49.
That lead would not last for two minutes, as Navy put pressure on the goal immediately. Galloway recorded his third of the night from the left side of the six, tying the game at 4-4 with and even two minutes to play.
Both teams had possession after that with Loyola countering out of the Navy half. After a throw-in on the far side, the ball was sent inside the box on the top, left side. Flynn went up for a header that deflected off the outstretched arm of a Navy defender.
A penalty was immediately awarded with 16 seconds to play, and Flynn buried it opposite the diving Navy goalkeeper to give Loyola the victory and a critical three points in the Patriot League standings.
Loyola took a 2-0 lead in the match's first 14 minutes.
The Midshipmen conceded an own goal 2:34 into play when a miscommunication between Navy's goalkeeper and defender led to a defender heading the ball into the net.
Ben Schouten then put the Greyhounds up a pair with a set-piece goal in the 14th minute.
Jack Endacott served a corner from the right side onto the head of
Jeremiah McGuire on the opposite side of the six.
McGuire's header went toward the opposite post where Schouten put it into the next for his second goal of the season.
Navy began to counter offensively later in the second half, eventually outshooting Loyola, 8-6, in the opening 45.
The Midshipmen broke through in the 48th minute when Alex Galloway scored to pull them within one. Luke Parker then hit a hard shot into the upper corner in the 53rd minute, drawing Navy level.
Galloway added his second goal of the night when a shot was blocked off the line by Loyola's
Jeremiah McGuire, but it went right to Galloway who scored in the 55th minute to put Navy on top.
The Greyhounds had a quality chance in the 66th minute when
Tyler Flynn had a shot at the top-left of the 18 blocked but then ball came to the feet of an onrushing Schouten. He drove a hard shot just off the ground toward the left post, but it was saved.
