Despite a hot start from Loyola, the men’s lacrosse team fell short on the road 13-6 against No. 11 Georgetown in their season opener. Going into Cooper Field in Washington D.C. to win was never an easy task, but Loyola showed promise for their upcoming season against a ranked team in Georgetown. With the majority of the game being within a few points, Loyola held their own until the end.
This game was defined by runs, with Loyola having one at the beginning, and Georgetown having one at the end.
The game began heavily in Loyola’s favor, with the Greyhounds taking a 4-1 lead in the first quarter. Brady West ‘26 opened up Loyola’s season with their first goal about five minutes into the game. A few minutes later, Matthew Minicus ’26 followed up with a goal that came off a caused turnover and assist by Remi Reynolds ’26, who are both team captains and Preseason All-Patriot League selections.
“I think a lot of the time seeing that happen and then going down passing it to Matt kind of allowed the team to get energized even more. We kind of feed off of that and I think that was mostly just a juice goal, get everyone excited and going,” Reynolds said.
“Yeah, and I would just say I had the very easy part of that play. Remi just took it away from the guy, ran down the field and it was a dunk for me. So just seeing a long pole make that play, it gets the guys going for sure,” Minicus said.
Reynolds was given an honorable mention through Patriot League Players of the Week for his performance on Saturday.
Minicus and Henry Haberman ’26 led Loyola with two goals each in the game. Haberman scored with 5:48 left in the first quarter to make the score 3-1, and Minicus notched his second goal, assisted by Haberman, with 2:52 left in the quarter, to make it 4-1.
Georgetown evened up the game at 4-4 with 4:34 left in the second quarter. Now it was a level playing field again.
With a few goals back and forth, it only managed to be a one score game with 5:47 left in the third quarter. At a score of 7-6, Loyola was only down one goal. Unfortunately, things started to sway in the other direction, and Georgetown managed to go on a run of their own that would result in six goals.
Although the game’s final score was 13-6, half of Georgetown’s points were scored towards the end. Loyola was able to stay competitive with a good team.
“I think just basing it off of that first quarter is that we could play with anyone. Being up 4-1, now we just have to keep stacking those quarters. But it was a great feeling being up 4-1. It didn’t necessarily have the outcome we had at the end of the game. But it was good to see that we can definitely do this,” Minicus said.
“I would tell you that some of the small things that we walked away with that felt good about is, you know, with five minutes to go in the third quarter, it’s a one goal game,” Head Coach Charley Toomey said.
Toomey mentioned how limiting goals in transition and limiting runs went well in the first three quarters but also took accountability as a coach.
“I kick myself a little bit…they started to invert us and we tried to go into our invert defense and…maybe if I’d put us in a zone a little bit earlier to maybe negate some of what they were doing there…but I just wish I would have changed the flow of the game,” Toomey said.
Loyola notably won the turnover battle against Georgetown, only having 15 turnovers to Georgetown’s 17. Loyola did give up several faceoffs, though, only having won five to Georgetown’s 16.
Reynolds said the biggest challenge is around the middle of the field with the face-offs, but that it is something the team has been working on over the years a bit, and that in due time it will come.
“Coach [Van Arsdale] knows what he’s doing. All of our face-off guys are capable of doing what they want to do. They’re all really good face-off guys. We trust them with what they have to do,” Reynolds said.
Although every game is important, the first game of any season for any sport does not define a team for the rest of the year. Teams adjust, teams improve, and teams grow.
Loyola this season also has 19 first-years on the roster, a relatively young team compared to years in the past.
“I think when you have a lot of young players, and they’re talented players, you know, very highly recruited players, the speed of the game is still different, right? It’s different in scrimmages and it’s even different in games. So that’s really their first Division One opportunity to really get to game speed,” Toomey said.
“I think there’s a little beauty to being a young team as well. We’re kind of new to everything, and having the older guys tell the younger guys what to do and what not to do kind of helps…the future of this program and helps build this program,” Reynolds said.
With a younger team, the effect that leadership has is that much more important. Coach Toomey reflected on their team retreat with Father Tim Brown and what it has meant for this upcoming year.
“The theme of the retreat was really coming away and just being the best version of ourselves we can be on a daily basis. And that’s in the classroom, that’s off the field, and that’s on the field, and the idea of that was that we’re a work in progress,” Toomey said.
Toomey said captains are not picked until after the retreat as it is an opportunity for students to go away and to talk about their experiences. He explains how everyone has been comfortable using their voice in the locker room and in the huddles, regardless of merit.
Loyola men’s lacrosse now looks forward to preparing for No. 4 Maryland on Saturday here in Baltimore at the Ridley Athletic Complex. The last time Maryland came to Loyola was two years ago when they came in as the No. 2 seed and took an upset by the Greyhounds 12-7.
“I’m very excited for this Saturday being at Ridley. The energy the fans give, there’s no other place quite like it,” Minicus said.
“The energy will be there, and I always feel like whenever we take the field at Ridley, we’re blessed to have the student body behind us and feel the impact of that environment,” Toomey said.
Every athlete on this team works hard towards their goals, both their individual and those of the team. It is a big commitment, sacrificing time, and working every day for the success of the program.
“We’re gonna fight for everything. We aren’t gonna take anything for granted. We’re gonna work harder than any other team we’re going against. And we have a process that we’re going through and we’re just gonna keep putting our heads down and going through and playing at the highest level as we can,” Reynolds said.
Coach Toomey said this team’s ultimate goal is a Patriot League Championship.
Make sure to stay tuned to all the lacrosse games this season, the schedule attached here. Loyola plays Maryland in their home opener on Saturday, Feb. 8, at 1 p.m.
