The 14th-ranked men’s lacrosse team started their season with a tough road trip to Charlottesville, Virginia on Saturday to take on the top-ranked Virginia Cavaliers. Despite outscoring the defending national champions 6-3 in the second half, Loyola suffered a 12-9 defeat in the season opener.

Peter Swindell ’20 led the Greyhounds with four points, consisting of one goal and three assists. Aidan Olmstead ’21 had two goals and an assist, while Adam Poitras ’23 had a goal and two assists. Logan Devereaux ’20 and Kevin Lindley ’21 each scored two goals, and Dan Wigley ’21 had two points with a goal and an assist.

Bailey Savio ’21 won the face-off battle going 14-24 on draws, but Virginia won the ground ball battle 44-30. Sam Shafer ‘21 made 15 saves in his first collegiate start, including 10 in the second half.

Virginia jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the first quarter, as Loyola never got into an offensive rhythm due to clock malfunctions. They then expanded that lead to 9-2 with five goals in a row.

Loyola could only generate scoring opportunities on extra-man for most of the first half. Devereaux took a feed from Swindell in the first quarter, and Poitras scored his first goal as a Hound on extra-man early in the second quarter.

Lindley caught a feed from Poitras with just 11 seconds left in the half, which gave the Greyhounds life going into the locker room down 9-3.

Lindley scored the first goal of the second half as well, but Virginia bounced right back with two straight goals to lead 11-4. The Loyola offense finally gained some momentum when Wigley fed Swindell for a goal with 7:41 left in the first, then Olmstead added his first goal. 

Devereaux scored once again on an extra-man opportunity, then Olmstead scored unassisted off a dodge from X to make it a three-goal game early in the fourth quarter. Virginia’s Dox Aitken broke their scoring drought with 8:39 left, then the Loyola offense was stifled for the rest of the quarter.

Still down by four, Poitras found Wigley on the doorstep with 42 seconds left. The Hounds had another scoring chance with their final extra-man opportunity, but could not convert. The deficit would remain three, and the Hounds suffered their first defeat of the season 12-9.

The men’s lacrosse team will play their home opener on Saturday, Feb. 15, when they host Johns Hopkins in a double-header with the women’s lacrosse team. The women’s team will play the Jays at 12 noon, then the men’s game starts at 3:30 p.m.

Featured Image Courtesy of Loyola Athletics.