Loyola Visits Towson Saturday In First Road Contest
(Courtesy: Loyola Athletic Communications)
BALTIMORE--The nationally ranked Loyola (Md.)
men's lacrosse team will have its road opener Saturday at the
Towson Tigers at Johnny Unitas Stadium, beginning at noon. The game
will be shown locally on WMAR/ABC2 and nationally by ESPN3.com.
Here are some useful links: Directions and Parking | Live Stats | ESPN3.com | Audio
Game Data
•Loyola will play game two of the 2011 season when it heads
four miles North to Towson its first road game of the season. The
Greyhounds and Tigers will play on Saturday, February 26 at 12 p.m.
The Greyhounds and Tigers will face-off at Johnny Unitas
Stadium.
•Towson enters the contest with a 0-1 record after falling,
10-6, to Johns Hopkins last Saturday.
•The game will be broadcast live on the radio with Chris
Gunkel and Chris McGovern calling the action on WNST-AM 1570.
On The Tube
•Loyola and Towson will play in front of a television audience
Saturday as the game will be broadcast live in the Baltimore area
on WMAR/ABC-2. Fans around the nation can also view the action live
on ESPN3.com. Scott Garceau will handle the play-by-play, and Mark
Dixon will provide the analysis.
In The Polls
•The Greyhounds moved up one spot in this week’s
Nike/Inside Lacrosse Media Rankings. After starting the year 14th
in the preseason poll, Loyola is currently tabbed 13th. At the same
time, the Greyhounds fell from 14th to 15th in the USILA
coaches’ poll.
•Towson is receiving votes in the coaches rankings.
•Loyola started 2010 tabbed 15th in the coaches, and 16th in
the media, poll. They rose as high as No. 6 nationally during the
week of April 26, which was the highest Loyola has been ranked
since it was fifth on April 8, 2002.
Series History
•The Loyola-Towson rivalry is the most played series in the
history of men’s lacrosse at both schools. Saturday’s
game will be the 53rd all-time meeting between the teams, dating
back to 1959, the first year of intercollegiate lacrosse at
Towson.
•Of Loyola’s opponents, only Towson (52) and Penn State
(50) have played the Greyhounds 50 or more times. Johns Hopkins
will play Loyola for the 49th time later this season, and
Georgetown will meet the Greyhounds for the 34th time next
month.
•Towson holds a slight 27-25 advantage in the series, but
Loyola has won the last three.
All The Way Back
•Cade Norris scored for Navy with 5 minutes and 53 seconds to
play in the second quarter, and Loyola stared down a 7-2 deficit.
From that point, however, the Greyhounds went on a 6-0 run, holding
the Navy scoreless for 28:05, to take an 8-7 lead. Loyola completed
the comeback, even after Navy tied the score at 8-8, to defeat the
Midshipmen, 9-8.
•It had been more 11 years since Loyola rallied from a
five-goal deficit to defeat a team. The last time the Greyhounds
accomplished the feat was on April 3, 1999, when Towson led Loyola,
12-7, with 8:56 to play in the third quarter. The Greyhounds scored
nine of the game’s last 11 goals to defeat the Tigers,
16-14.
Ground Control
•The Greyhounds’ comeback hinged on several factors, but
one of the most impressive statistics came in the ground ball
category. Loyola picked up 21 in the second half to Navy’s
three.
•Loyola finished the game with a 32-16 advantage in ground
balls during the game. Josh Hawkins led all players with seven,
while John Schiavone had five. Scott Ratliff and Mike Sawyer each
picked up four.
Face-Off Facts
•John Schiavone and the Loyola face-off unit won 8-of-9
restarts in the second half against Navy and 14-of-21 in the
game.
•In the postgame press conference, a humble Schiavone put the
praise on his wings, long-stick midfielder Scott Ratliff and
short-stick middie Josh Hawkins. Hawkins picked up four ground
balls on second-half faceoffs, while Ratfliff, Schiavone, Mike
Sawyer and Dylan Grimm each grabbed one.
•Schiavone’s 8-for-9 in the second half matched his
second-half tally on April 4, 2009, at Rutgers and is topped only
by his 10-for-11 first-half performance on March 14, 2009, against
St. John’s.
Possession At A Premium
•Thanks in large part to a 21-3 ground ball advantage and 24-7
lead in shots during the second half, Loyola controlled the ball
most of the time after the break.
•The Greyhounds had possession for more than 21 of the 30
second-half minutes, including for one 5-minute, 42-second stretch
that culminated in Patrick Fanshaw’s eventual game-winning
goal with 68 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
Sawyer Honored
•Sophomore attacker Mike Sawyer was named the ECAC
Co-Offensive Player of the Week on Monday after scoring three goals
and picking up three ground balls versus Navy.
•The 2009 ECAC Rookie of the Year was one goal off his
career-high, and the ground balls established a new best.
•Sawyer put Loyola on the board with an extra-man goal in the
second quarter after the Midshipmen had built a 4-0 advantage. He
then scored the second half’s first goal to make it a 7-4
Navy lead, and his 15-yard rocket gave Loyola its first lead of the
game with 11:33 left.
•The award is the first of his career after earning two ECAC
Rookie of the Week nods in 2009.
Comer At The Right Time
•D.J. Comer scored twice in the first half for Loyola,
providing the Greyhounds offense at an opportune time. The former
attacker who is now a member of Loyola’s second midfield
unit, Comer scored with 10:36 and 00:33 on the second quarter clock
for the third multi-goal game of his career.
Fanshaw Finishes
•Patrick Fanshaw took five shots on Saturday, but his last two
were the most meaningful. He took a Matt Langan pass and scored
with three seconds left in the third quarter, tying the game at 7-7
and capping Loyola’s 5-0 run. He then was on the receiving
end of a Chris Basler pass to score the eventual game-winner with
1:08 remaining in the fourth.
Balanced Offense
•Loyola received nearly equal offensive contributions from its
attack and midfield on the offensive end against Navy.
•Mike Sawyer (3) and Patrick Fanshaw (2) combined to score
five goals from the attack, while D.J. Comer (2), Davis Butts (1)
and Stephen Murray (1) tallied four from the midfield. Matt Langan
assisted on three goals out of the attack, and Chris Basler helped
on two from the midfield.
At It Again
•Matt Langan and Chris Basler were the team’s top
returning players in terms of assists. Langan led the team with 18
in 2010, while Basler was fourth on the Greyhounds with eight. The
duo picked up where the left off in the season-opener against Navy.
Langan assisted on three goals, and Basler tallied two.
Halftime Adjustments
•Last season, Loyola outscored opponents, 41-24, in the third
quarters of games, and the Greyhounds continued the trend in the
first game of 2011. Loyola held Navy without a third-quarter goal
and scored four of its own to take an 8-7 lead going into the
fourth.
First Looks
•Three freshmen made their collegiate debuts last Saturday
versus Navy – short-stick midfielders Kyle Duffy and Pat
Laconi and defender Joe Fletcher. Another player, graduate student
Chris Palmer made his Loyola debut on the second midfield after
playing his first three seasons at Bucknell.
•Another three players – junior defender Dylan Grimm,
sophomore defender Reid Acton and sophomore midfielder Davis Butts
– all made their first starts for the Greyhounds.
Preseason Accolades
•Five Greyhounds earned Preseason All-ECAC honors from the
league’s coaches, and Loyola was picked to finish second
behind Denver in the conference. Defender Steve Dircks, goalkeeper
Jake Hagelin, midfielder Josh Hawkins, midfielder Eric Lusby and
face-off specialist John Schiavone were all named to the team.
•Dircks and Schiavone also earned Preseason All-America
Honorable Mention from Face-off Yearbook.
Graduate School Guys
•Three Greyhounds will take the field this season while
enrolled in graduate programs at Loyola. Chris Basler and Nick
Disimile both earned their bachelor degrees from the school in May
2010, two days before Loyola played Cornell in the NCAA First
Round.
•The third graduate student, Chris Palmer, joined the program
in the fall of 2010 after playing three seasons and graduating last
year from Bucknell University.
Looking Back At 2010
•Loyola wrapped up the 2010 season with a 9-5 overall record
and its 17th all-time bid to the NCAA Division I Championships.
•The Greyhounds had a season-long six-game winning streak from
March 20-April 24, and they finished second in the ECAC.
•Jake Hagelin was named the ECAC Goalkeeper of the Year, and
Cooper MacDonnell earned ECAC Offensive Player of the Year honors.
The pair were two of a league-high six players to earn All-ECAC
First Team honors, joining attacker Collin Finnerty, defender Steve
Layne, midfielder Eric Lusby and faceoff specialist John Schiavone.
Midfielder Taylor Ebsary earned All-ECAC Second Team laurels.
NCAA Nod
•The Greyhounds’ May 15, 2010, game at Cornell in the
NCAA Championships First Round marked the 17th time in school
history that the Greyhounds have reached the NCAA Division I
Championships and the 19th time overall that they have played in
the postseason.
•Loyola was the recipient of an at large bid to the
tournament.
•The appearance was Loyola’s third in the last four
years to the NCAA Championships.
Faceoff Unit Success
•Steve Vaikness’ faceoff unit had another outstanding
season at the ‘X’ for the Greyhounds in 2010. Led by
John Schivaone, Loyola won 59.5-perecnt of its faceoffs last year,
third-best in NCAA Division I.
•Schiavone won 166-of-277 faceoffs, a .599 clip good for first
in the ECAC and sixth in the NCAA.
•Over the last 10 games of the season (beginning March 13
against Duke), Schiavone won 126-of-196 restarts (.643), and the
Greyhounds won 136-of-213 (.638) as a team.
Picking Up & Moving Up
•With 17 ground balls in the final two games of 2010, John
Schiavone moved into sixth-place on Loyola’s single-season
chart with 90. He eclipsed his previous season-high of 76, which is
now 10th in a single season. Schiavone is sixth in the NCAA and
tops in the ECAC with 6.36 ground balls per game.
•Schiavone came up one ground ball short of tying former
teammate P.T. Ricci for fifth-place on the single-season list and
three short of current Loyola Assistant Coach Matt Dwan’s 93
in 1995.
Defense Near The Top
•Loyola’s defense finished the year by yielding just
7.93 goals per game to opponents. The mark was good for fourth-best
in the nation, behind only Syracuse, Virginia and Notre Dame.
•Jake Hagelin was sixth in the NCAA in goals against average
at 8.25.
Getting Ahead
•Loyola was most successful last season when building a lead.
The Greyhounds were 7-1 when leading after the first quarter with
the only loss coming against Notre Dame. They were 7-0 when in
front at the half and 9-0 when on top at the start of the fourth
quarter.
Up Next
•Loyola opens ECAC Lacrosse League play on Saturday, March 5,
when it hosts Bellarmine at Ridley Athletic Complex in a 1 p.m.
game
