Schiavone Bounces Back in Loyola Victory
by Matt DaSilva | Lacrosse Magazine Online Staff
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| John Schiavone won 17 of 20 faceoffs in No. 14 Loyola's 10-7 triumph over No. 15 St. John's on Saturday. |
BALTIMORE -- With numerous upsets rocking the
Division I men's lacrosse cradle Saturday, Loyola did not fall
prey, instead putting itself in the driver's seat of the Eastern
College Athletic Conference with a 10-7 victory over St.
John's.
The No. 14-ranked Greyhounds blanked the No. 15-ranked Red Storm
in the second quarter, allowing just one defensive possession in a
6-0 run, and held off a late surge to improve to 5-2 overall, 2-0
in the ECAC.
John Schiavone, Loyola's unheralded faceoff specialist coming off
a forgettable 7-for-20 performance in Tuesday's win over Bryant,
finished 17-for-20 and neutralized St. John's Dom DeNapoli, a
long-stick midfielder who came in ranked second in Division I with
a .694 faceoff percentage and first in ground balls per game.
"The game on Tuesday against Bryant, I was a little unprepared for
Andrew Hennessy. That kid is unreal... It's been a long time since
I've been spanked that bad," Schiavone colorfully admitted. "I kind
of played with a chip on my shoulder today."
St. John's led 2-0 after the first quarter, thanks to timely goals
by Drew Schanen and even timelier goalkeeping by Gavin Buckley, who
tied a career high with 18 saves.
Loyola countered just 10 seconds into the second quarter when
Schiavone turned a faceoff win into a fast-break opportunity and
fed Collin Finnerty at the point, who found Cooper MacDonnell on
the doorstep with one of his three assists.
Penalties and turnovers contributed to the Red Storm's
second-quarter demise, and the Greyhounds' Shane Koppens began to
break free of the shackles of St. John's defenseman Mike Sherry.
After goals by Taylor Ebsary and MacDonnell gave Loyola its first
lead at 3-2, Koppens twice fed midfielder Mike Sawyer with skip
passes on identical extra-man offense goals at the 6:12 and 4:45
marks, respectively. Koppens added a goal at the 2:41 mark to
punctuate the dominant second quarter.
"We just kept shooting and playing resiliently, and they started
to fall," said Loyola head coach Charley Toomey. "But the big
difference was John Schiavone, giving us the ball every time. It
was make it, take it."
Loyola led 6-2 at halftime and 8-5 after the third quarter. St.
John's battled back in the fourth quarter. Carl Iacona found Trevor
Michaelsen to close within 8-6, and Terence Leach finished a
pinpoint feed from Harry Kutner through traffic from behind the
cage to make it a one-goal game with 10:07 remaining.
Greyhounds attackman Matt Langan bumped the lead back up to two
when he finished a Finnerty feed while falling forward at the 8:44
mark.
Trailing 9-7 with less than three minutes remaining, St. John's
head coach Jason Miller gambled by double-teaming Koppens behind
the cage after a timeout and pulling Buckley out of the cage to
defend the adjacent outlet. Koppens skirted both defensemen and
scored on the open goal for the final margin.
"They have a lot of set plays, the have a lot of out-of-bounds
plays and their three-man attack game is very good. All three of
those guys (Finnerty, Koppens and MacDonnell) love to set from out
of bounds for quick hitters," Buckley said. "We thought we were
prepared, but didn't execute as well as we should have."
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| St. John's goalie Gavin Buckley looks for an outlet Saturday after making one of his career-high-tying 18 saves in a 10-7 loss to Loyola. |
Notes
* Buckley, a DeMatha Catholic product from Owings, Md., said
Saturday was a bit of a homecoming for him, with friends and family
in attendance. He did not disappoint, bedazzling Loyola at times
and making a highlight-reel save falling backward on a MacDonnell
breakaway in the fourth quarter. "Everything's clicking," he said.
"I'm seeing the ball well. I'm moving well in the net. I'm playing
well right now." Afterward, Toomey, whose Point Blank goalie camps
were Buckley's favorite as a kid, kidded with Buckley, "I might
have taught you too well." Toomey even invited Buckley to be a
counselor on his camp staff this summer.
* Fourth quarters are a concern for Loyola. Including Saturday, the Greyhounds have been outscored in the fourth quarter in five of seven games this year. "Scary," said long-stick midfielder P.T. Ricci. "I want to say it's because we get too comfortable. It's something we've got to figure out."
* With the Big East and Northeast conferences causing massive realignment in Division I next year, the ECAC stands to look much different. But Toomey was pleased to see that Loyola and fellow holdover Hobart, which is unbeaten and upset No. 11 Georgetown on Saturday, are among conference leaders. Asked what he thought of the state of the ECAC, Toomey replied, "Strong. It's very different than last year. If we didn't have an AQ, no team probably goes to the tournament. This year, everybody has refocused and regrouped, and it's going to be a battle...Hobart is playing defense with the best teams in the country right now. They've got an excellent goalie in [Max] Silberlicht...The ECAC's here, and it's for real."
