Quick Hits
- The Loyola University Maryland men's lacrosse team opens play in the Patriot League Championships on Friday, May 1, when it heads to West Point, New York, for a semifinal game against Colgate.
- Faceoff is slated for 7:30 p.m., and the game will air on CBS Sports Network.
- Mason Cook has scored three or more goals in 12 of Loyola's 14 games thus far in 2026. The 12 hat tricks give him 14 in his career, all of which have come in the last 18 games (dating back to 2025).
- The Greyhounds led the League in assists per game in conference regular-season games, averaging 8.5 per game.
- Loyola's starting attack – Cook, Kenan Everhart and Matthew Minicus – has combined for 63.2 percent of the Greyhounds goals this year (108 of 171).
- Charley Toomey is in his 21st season as head coach of the Greyhounds. It is also his 30th year as a member of the Loyola staff and 34th with the program, including four as a student-athlete.
- The Greyhounds are in their 17th season of competition at Ridley Athletic Complex, which opened in 2010. The Greyhounds are 79-38 (.675) all-time at the stadium.
Looking Back
- Kenan Everhart scored with 2:27 left in regulation to give Loyola University Maryland men's lacrosse a one-goal lead, Max Watkinson made a save on a Navy shot with seven seconds left, and the Greyhounds' defense held off the Midshipmen's last second effort, giving Loyola a 13-12 victory Friday night.
- Loyola's victory came after a 4-0 Navy run that started late in the third quarter and went into the fourth, closing a 12-8 Greyhounds' lead into a 12-12 tie.
- Mac Haley tied the game with 7:41 to play with his second-straight goal, but the teams were scoreless for more than five minutes.
- Watkinson made a save on a Jack NIchtern shot with 3:12 left on the clock, and Loyola cleared to its offensive side of the field.
- After a Loyola timeout with 2:53 on the clock, Luke Murphy got free in front of the goal, but his shot went wide left right into the stick of Connor Wilbur at X. Wilbur threw to Everhart in the middle, and he went low-to-low for his third goal of the game.
- Wilbur finished with a career-high four assists, while Everhart and Mason Cook also had four points.
Watch The Game
- Friday night's game against Colgate will air live nationally on CBS Sports Network.
Series History
- Loyola and Colgate will meet for the 13th time in series history on Saturday with the Greyhounds holding a 9-3 all-time advantage in the meetings after snapping a two-game Raiders' winning streak in February.
- Mason Cook scored a career-high eight goals in the game, tallying all four of the Greyhounds' goals in the fourth quarter. Colgate took an 11-10 lead with 8:26 left in regulation, but Loyola equalized nine seconds later, and then Cook gave the Greyhounds a lead with 5:18 on the clock. Loyola went on to a 13-11 win on February 28 in Hamilton, New York.
- The teams first played in 2014, the Greyhounds' first year in the Patriot League. Loyola won the opening regular-season meeting and a Patriot League Semifinals game that season before Colgate picked up its a win in an 11-4 decision in 2015 at Ridley Athletic Complex.
- Loyola won the next six games before Colgate scored the last five goals to win, 11-9, in a March 2, 2024, game in Hamilton. In 2025, Colgate turned a 3-1 deficit into an 11-3 lead over the course of a 17-minute stretch, and the then-15th-ranked Raiders beat host Loyola, 18-6, on March 1, 2025, at Ridley Athletic Complex.
- Friday's game will be the second meeting of the programs in the Patriot League Championships. Loyola hosted and defeated the Raiders, 12-6, in the Greyhounds first-ever tournament contest in the League, a 2014 semifinal at Ridley Athletic Complex.
In The Polls
- Loyola entered the national polls this week for the first time since early February 2024 three weeks ago, and the Greyhounds are now ranked 18th in the USILA Coaches' poll, the Kane/Inside Lacrosse media poll and the USA Lacrosse Magazine rankings.
Patriot League Championships History
- The Greyhounds are 13-5 in Patriot League Championships play, winning the tournaments in 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2018. They are 6-2 in semifinal games.
Flipped The Script
- Through the end of the 2026 college lacrosse regular season, Loyola has made the biggest jump in wins a year over with six; last year, the Greyhounds finished 3-11. Yale, Mercer, NJIT and Wagner have all made four-win improvements over a year ago.
- Loyola has done so while improving statistically in most categories, including: goals per game (12.21 in 2026, 9.29 in 2025), assists (7.71, 6.21), faceoff percentage (.512, .443), shooting percentage (.310, .270) and turnovers (13.79, 16.29).
Postseason Praise
- Charley Toomey and the Loyola Coaching Staff was named the Patriot League's William Lawson Coaching Staff of the Year, and four Greyhounds were named to the All-League teams on Monday.
- Mason Cook earned first-team recognition, while Kenan Everhart, Luke Murphy and Jake Wilson were named to the second team. The honors were the first of all four's careers.
History Against The Raiders
- Matthew Minicus has averaged six points per game in three previous matchups with Colgate, while Mason Cook is averaging five goals per game in two outings against the Raiders.
- Minicus has scored eight goals to go with 10 assists in those three games, while Cook scored his first career goal – one of two in the game –in the 2025 game at Loyola against Colgate, and he then had eight goals this February.
- Kenan Everhart has a goal and five assists in two games against Colgate after posting one and four this year. Mason Graves has gone 7 of 12 at the faceoff 'X' in both of his outings against Colgate for a combined 14 of 24 (.583), while Carson Hall has 16 ground balls in three games, going 26 of 52 overall (.500).
Attack Points
- All three members of Loyola's starting attack – Mason Cook (51 goals, 10 assists, 61 points), Matthew Minicus (29, 20, 49) and Kenan Everhart (28, 21, 49) – have 45 or more points this season.
- The Greyhounds, Virginia, Towson and Bellarmine are the only four NCAA Division I teams with three members of their attack to post 45 or more points so far this season.
- If the trio all reach the 50-point mark this year, they will be the first Loyola three to do so since 2019.
- This year, Loyola's attack has combined for 30 multi-goal games individually this season.
- Mason Cook has scored 68 goals in 27 career games and reached the 50-goal mark in his 22nd outing. Kevin Lindley, the school's all-time record holder in goals scored (196) and the fastest to get to the half-century mark, got to 50 in his 20th game; Gary Hanley, who scored 151 and is second all-time, hit 50 in his 24th game.
- If the trio all reach the 50-point mark this year, they will be the first Loyola three to do so since 2019 when Pat Spencer (114), Kevin Lindley (64) and Chase Scanlan (58) accomplished the feat. Only three Loyola trios have all posted 50 or more points in a year. The other two are current Loyola Assistant Coach Justin Ward (71), Nikko Pontrello (63) and Brian Schultz (50) in 2014 and the 1991 group with Kevin Beach (53), Chris Colbeck (52) and Jim Blanding (52).
Cook-ing On Attack
- Mason Cook missed the 2025 season's fall practice with an injury, but he got up to speed in his first season at Loyola. He saw an increased role on offense over the Greyhounds' last eight games, making his first collegiate start against Providence on March 8 and nailing down a spot in the opening 10 since.
- Cook exploded for 10 points on five goals and five assists against Holy Cross and finished with 17 goals, seven assists and 24 points. In the last five games (since Bucknell) of the 2025 season, Cook had 12 goals and five assists, while shooting .363 (12 of 33).
- Now a sophomore, Cook picked up where he left off with hat tricks in each of the Greyhounds' first six games of 2026. That string was broken when he had two goals and an assist against Lehigh on March 14, but he picked back up with three or more goals in each of the next five games. He now has 13 games with three or more goals over the last 16 he has played, and over the last 18 games, he's scored two or more in all but two.
- This year, Cook has scored 51 goals to go with 10 assists in 14 contests. He leads the Patriot League, and is third in NCAA Division I, in goals per game (3.64) and is third in points per game (4.36) in the League. His 51 goals this year are tied for fourth in school single-season history.
- He is second the Patriot League with a .398 shot percentage, and he is the only player nationally with more than 125 this year who is shooting 34 percent or better.
Steady Presence
- Matthew Minicus opened the 2025 season, his junior campaign at Loyola, with a four-point effort against Georgetown, and the multi-point games continued to trend. Through the first 13 games of 2026, he has 33 career multi-goal outings and 21 multi-assist performances.
- Last year, he led Loyola with 52 points on 25 goals and 27 assists, earning All-Patriot League Second Team recognition for the second season in a row. After he was held without a point for just the third time in his career on March 29, 2025, at Lehigh, Minicus finished 2025 with 26 points (4.8 per game) on 17 goals (3.4) and nine assists (1.8) in the last five games of 2025.
- Minicus is on a stretch of high scoring games late in the year again in 2026. In Loyola's last five games, he has 22 points (4.4 per game) with 15 goals and seven assists.
- He broke out for seven points with a pair of goals and five assists this year at Colgate; he then scored three times with an assist against Towson and had four goals versus Providence. Minicus then scored his 100th career goal late in the game against Bucknell.
- Minicus has played in 58 career games, starting all but one, for the Greyhounds and has 193 points with 115 goals and 78 assists. He is the Patriot League active career leader in points and goals. Across NCAA Division I, Minicus is in the top 15 of active players in goals (12th), assists (15th) and points (9th).
- He moved into the top-10 in career points at Loyola in the Boston University game and is now fifth with 193; with seven more points, he will be the fifth in Loyola history with 200 or more. His assist total eighth in school history, and he is tied for ninth in goals.
- Minicus is one of three Loyola players to rank in the top 10 of all three categories, joining Pat Spencer (2016-2019; 149g, 231a, 380p) and Gary Hanley (151g, 160a, 311p).
Coming Together
- Kenan Everhart missed all of his freshman season (2024) with an injury, and he then missed a chunk of time in 2025, finishing the year with nine goals and seven assists.
- This season, he eclipsed both of those totals in just five games and through the end of the regular season has 28 goals and 21 assists. He tied his to-date career-high with four goals at UMBC, and a week after went for a career-best four assists at Colgate. Three days later, he scored five times and assisted on four more in Loyola's win over Towson.
- He enters Friday's game tied for seventh in the Patriot League with 3.50 points per game; he is tied for fifth with 1.50 assists.
Standing Up In Starting Role
- The 2025 season was Max Watkinson's first as a full-time starter for the Greyhounds in goal; the Baltimore native started two games in 2024 before taking over the job in 2025.
- He posted solid numbers in 14 games with 10 or more saves in every game. Watkinson made 189 saves in 14 contests (13.5 per game), with a 55.1 saves percentage; he ranked sixth nationally in saves per game.
- This year, in the regular season, Watkinson made 10 or more saves in 12, and he now has 27 games with 10 or more saves in 32 outings as a starter between the pipes. He is second in the Patriot League, and 14th nationally and third in the League, in saves per game (12.86). His save percentage (.528) is third in the conference.
Men In The Middle
- Loyola's midfield group was key in its win over Navy last Friday with Brady Quinn scoring a season-high three goals and Connor Wilbur dishing out a career-best four assists.
- Luke Murphy is the midfield unit's leader in goals scored (15), earning All-Patriot League Second Team honors this week. Connor Wilbur, is the top scorer on the Greyhounds' second midfield, also tops all middies in points this year (21); he also has eight goals and is third on the team with 13 assists. Quinn is two points behind Murphy this season with nine goals and nine assists, and Will Musgrove's 11 assists rank fourth on the team.
Facing Off In The League
- Loyola's faceoff unit ranked fourth in percentage during Patriot League regular-season games, winning 52.4 percent. Mason Graves is winning draws at the X at a 57.5 percent clip (46 of 80) in those contests, while Carson Hall is 68 of 133 (.511) including going 15 of 20 with a career-best 11 ground balls at Lafayette. Hall has a team-high 38 ground balls in conference games.
Toomey's Team
- Charley Toomey is in his 21st year as the head coach at Loyola and his 30th as a member of the Greyhounds' coaching staff. Overall, he is in his 34th year on the Evergreen campus, including his four seasons as a student-athlete from 1986-90.
- Toomey has a 196-117 career record. Early in the 2016 season, Toomey became the second coach in program history to reach and cross the 100-win plateau; he became the school's all-time leader in wins in 2024, passing Dave Cottle's 181.
- In January 2019, Toomey was named to the coaching staff of the U.S. Men's National Team as an assistant coach. He was an assistant for the gold-medal-winning team at the 2023 World Championships in San Diego. Toomey will again be an assistant for Team USA in preparation for and competition at the 2027 Championships in Japan.
