It was only a matter of time before Loyola men’s lacrosse would lose its first Patriot League game.
In a heavy and persistent snowfall, Holy Cross used an efficient offensive attack to upset the No. 8 Greyhounds, 13-12, on Saturday at Ridley Athletic Complex, handing the Hounds their first-ever Patriot League loss since they joined the conference a year ago.
“I think the snow helped us a little bit; we’ve been used to that for the past couple months now,” said Holy Cross attacker Clay Haarmann, who finished the game with a team-high four goals. “We’d like to take the next step and keep moving forward on Monday.”
In the second half, orange balls were used to improve visibility on the snow-covered field. But the Crusaders (2-0, 1-0 Patriot League) stayed one step ahead of Loyola (2-2, 0-1), using a 7-1 run to take a 12-7 lead by the fourth quarter.
The Greyhounds fired back, though, scoring three goals in less than two minutes to trim Holy Cross’s lead to one with 43 seconds remaining.
Sophomore Graham Savio, who was 20-for-28 on faceoffs during the game, won the ensuing one for the Greyhounds. Loyola called a timeout with just 16 seconds left in the game to draw up a final play that they hoped would send the game into overtime.
Loyola sophomore Zack Sirico scooped up a ground ball with just three seconds left before finding senior Nikko Pontrello on the top right. But Pontrello’s shot was saved by Holy Cross goalkeeper Michael Ortlieb as time expired, and the Crusaders stormed the field.
In addition to their faceoff advantage, the Greyhounds had a 36-27 advantage in ground balls and outshot Holy Cross, 46-29.
For the second straight game, Loyola head coach Charley Toomey switched goalkeepers during the contest, bringing in freshman Grant Limone to replace senior Pat McEnerney. Limone entered the game with about four minutes left before halftime, with the Greyhounds trailing 7-6. Both Loyola goalkeepers combined for four saves, while Ortlieb saved 13 for the Crusaders.
“It doesn’t matter who’s in the pipes when they’re scoring on top of you from three and five yards,” Toomey said of his goalies. “Whoever’s out there, we’ve got to give him a chance. When I made the decision to pull P-Mac, I apologized to him, because we just never let him get his feet under himself. We just had to light a fire, and I was hoping that that was going to be the fire.”
Pontrello led the Hounds with six points on two goals and four assists, while junior Tyler Albrecht notched five points on four goals and one assist. Savio led Loyola with eight ground balls, while sophomore Ryan Fournier finished with seven ground balls and two caused turnovers. Senior captain Pat Frazier added five ground balls and two caused turnovers.
The Greyhounds will look to bounce back for their first Patriot League win of the season when they host Lehigh next Saturday at 2 p.m.
“I told the guys that sometimes in life, you get what you deserve,” Toomey said. “I felt like today, certainly Holy Cross deserved to win the game. …it’s really important that Loyola holds onto the feeling that we have right now, and uses it as motivation to practice and be a better team, and to focus on the things that we were exposed on, so that we never have to have this feeling again.”
