BALTIMORE — Loyola University Maryland put together its most complete performance of the young season Friday night, shutting out Mount St. Mary's 3-0 at Ridley Athletic Complex.
The Greyhounds (1-4) struck twice in the first half and added another goal late in the second to earn their first victory of the season.
Nino Venezia opened the scoring in the eighth minute, finishing a feed from Jeremiah McGuire and Lukas Cortes off of a corner kick to give Loyola an early advantage. The Greyhounds continued to apply pressure and doubled the lead in the 39th minute when Luca Chen converted a pass from Edwin Espinal-Elvir and Cal Lackner.
Loyola carried its 2-0 advantage into halftime after outshooting the Mountaineers 9-4 in the opening 45 minutes.
Mount St. Mary's (0-2-2) generated more opportunities after the break, but Loyola goalkeeper Felix Huebner repeatedly turned the Mountaineers away. Huebner finished with five saves to record his first career victory and shutout.
The Greyhounds put the match away in the 84th minute. Zach Moneymaker scored his first career goal off an assist from Kristian Knudsen, extending Loyola's lead to 3-0.
Loyola finished with a 16-15 edge in shots and put seven attempts on target. The Greyhounds also limited Mount St. Mary's to five shots on goal despite allowing the Mountaineers to hold a slight 51% to 49% possession advantage.
Venezia led Loyola with three shots and two shots on target, while Chen and Moneymaker each added a goal.
Loyola will look to carry their momentum into next week when they will face Delaware on Tuesday evening.
