The cold and rainy weather on Friday night didn’t slow down the top-seeded Loyola University Maryland men’s lacrosse team against fourth-seeded Colgate in the Patriot League semifinal.
The Greyhounds continued to show off their amazing ability to string together scoring runs of three goals or more by going on three separate 3-0 runs in the 12-6 victory. Loyola now has 25 such rallies on the season. Loyola will face the two-time defending champion Lehigh in the title game of the Patriot League Men’s Lacrosse Tournament on Sunday at 1 p.m. Loyola defeated Lehigh, 14-7, in the regular-season matchup.
Loyola went on a 3-0 run to end the first quarter with a 3-2 lead over Colgate. After giving up the first goal to Colgate’s Ryan Walsh, Loyola’s Justin Ward answered with a goal of his own. Kevin Ryan and Jeff Chase both scored to complete the Greyhound run.
In the second quarter, Loyola scored four in a row to extend its lead to 6-2. Brian Schultz scored his first of four of the game with 14:22 remaining in the second quarter. Nikko Pontrello scored the next Greyhound goal, his 44th goal of the year. Brian Schultz scored the next goal, unassisted.
With 9:41 left in the third quarter, the game was stopped because of lightning nearby. After the 38-minute lightning delay, less than five minutes in the second half, Schultz scored his third goal of the game on an extra-man opportunity. Colgate would end their 30-minute scoring drought and score twice in one minute to tighten the game, 7-4. Ryan Walsh scored his second goal of the game and Cameron Williams followed with another goal shortly after. That would be the closest the Raiders would come within the Greyhounds the rest of the game.
Justin Ward, Ryan Fournier and Brian Schultz would be the ones responsible for the next 3-0 run of the game. Schultz’s four goals give him a total of 10 in the Greyhounds’ last two games and 31 this season. Entering the season, he had scored three goals in his first three seasons.
Joe Fletcher also tied his career-high with five caused turnovers and he picked up five ground balls. Ward’s three assists pushed his total to 45, extending his school Division I single-season record and moving him into a three-way tie for second in Patriot League single-season history.