With an 11-6 lead with 11:51 remaining in the Patriot League Quarterfinal round against Army, the Loyola Greyhounds looked poised to advance in the conference tournament and make a run for the Patriot League’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Instead, the Black Knights shocked the host Greyhounds with six unanswered goals, and Loyola finished with its first losing season (7-8 overall) since 2005.

With the game tied at 11 in the final minute, Army senior John Glesener scored the eventual game-winner with six seconds left, and the Black Knights won 12-11, completing a stunning comeback that even surprised Army head coach Joe Alberici.

“I believe it’s the best comeback I’ve ever been a part of,” Alberici said of his team’s win.

For the first three quarters, the Greyhounds used a balanced scoring attack—something they had struggled with for most of the season—as seven different players found the goal for Loyola.

The Hounds scored five goals in the second quarter to take a 7-5 lead at halftime, before outscoring Army 3-0 in the third quarter to take a 10-5 lead heading into the fourth.

The Black Knights snapped a 21-minute scoring drought on a goal by Alex Newsome with 12:30 remaining in the game, but Loyola quickly responded with an impressive goal by Jay Drapeau on a Nikko Pontrello assist, pushing the lead to 11-6. It would be the last goal of the Greyhounds’ season.

Army would then score three goals in the next minute-and-a-half, with Newsome, Al DeStefano and Conor Glancy finding the net during that span.

The Black Knights continued to win faceoffs and were able to keep the ball away from Loyola, which only got six shots off in the entire fourth quarter.

Jimbo Moore and Cole Johnson scored the next two goals for Army to tie the score, setting up Glesener’s game-winner with six ticks left on the clock.

Junior Zach Herreweyers scored two goals for Loyola, and his 47 goals on the season currently rank third in the nation, but his ranking will most likely fall in the coming weeks now that his season is over.

For Loyola’s senior class, it was the final game of a successful run that began with the Greyhounds’ 2012 National Championship season.

“I just had an opportunity to thank our seniors; 51-16 is not too shabby,” Loyola coach Charley Toomey said of his team’s record the past four seasons. “They obviously helped put this program on the map and helped us in 2012 win the National Championship.”

The loss caps off the first-ever losing season of Toomey’s head coaching career, and the Greyhounds will be excluded from the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2011.

“Our guys are going to learn from this, and Loyola’s going to be strong again; we know that,” Toomey said.

While Loyola packs its bags for the offseason, Army will head to Annapolis on Friday to face Patriot League regular-season champion Navy in the conference semifinals.