Loyola men’s soccer turned things around last week, defeating Lehigh University on Oct. 18 after senior Joey Cahalan’s game-winning shot in double-overtime, and tying then-No. 20 Boston University on Saturday after another Cahalan goal to draw even with the Terriers.

Early on in the first half against Lehigh, senior Connor Thompson scored the first goal of the night in the 24th minute of play. Sophomore Dylan Engel stole the ball in the middle of a pass, made a quick move toward the goal, and passed to Thompson barely inside the box on the right side. He fired the 16-yard shot to put the Greyhounds (5-6-3, 2-3-1 Patriot League) ahead, 1-0.

While Loyola took control of the game early on and seemed to have an edge over Lehigh, the Mountain Hawks started to gain some momentum and later responded with a goal. In the 53rd minute, plays by Lehigh’s Doyle Tuvesson and Ali Famili resulted in a tied match.

Despite multiple scoring attempts while the game was still in regulation, neither team was able to get the ball to the net before beginning the first overtime. Sophomore Laurin Vogel made a solid shot attempt from the left side of the field in the 87th minute, but the game was forced to go into overtime.
While Lehigh had a good opportunity to score with a free kick in the first overtime period, an offside call ruined the chance they had. It was Cahalan who scored the second goal of the night for the Hounds in the 107th minute of play. A beautiful header bounced right into the goal above Lehigh’s goalkeeper, giving the Greyhounds a victory and improving their home record to 4-1.

This past weekend, Loyola took on Boston University, and became the first Patriot League team to take points from the Terriers and tie the game.
While Boston was the first to score early on in the game in the 14th minute, the Hounds were able to hold them off defensively for the rest of the game. They put up a great fight against the 20th-ranked opponent and did not let them gain the competitive edge.

While the score remained 1-0 for the majority of the game, things took a turn in Loyola’s favor in the 90th minute of play, when Cahalan scored a goal in the final minute of the game to tie the score. A perfect cross by sophomore John Toher set up Cahalan for the shot, and he was able to head it into the net. This was Cahalan’s third goal of the season, and Toher’s first assist of the year.

Defensively, Greyhound goalie Matt Sanchez had a career-high number of saves, blocking seven goals from the net as the score remained 1-1 at the end of double overtime.

Loyola is currently locked in a four-way tie with Colgate, Army and Bucknell for the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth seeds in the Patriot League standings. If the Greyhounds can finish in either fifth or sixth place, they will clinch a spot in the Patriot League Tournament. Loyola will return to play on Wednesday at American University at 7 p.m.