Finnerty, Loyola 'D' Help Hounds Top Towson
from press release
BALTIMORE, Md. –Jake Hagelin made a
season-high 15 saves, and the Loyola University Maryland defense
put together another outstanding effort, as the 14th-ranked
Greyhounds defeated Towson University, 7-6, on Saturday afternoon
in non-conference action on Awalt Field at Ridley Athletic
Complex.
Hagelin's final save, which left him one short of his career-high
set in 2008 as a freshman, came with time expiring as Towson's Matt
Lamon rocketed a shot that would have tied the game.
"Our defense did a good job of letting me see the ball today,"
Hagelin said. "They made Towson work for a lot of their shots, and
they gave me a good lane to see things."
Loyola (5-2 overall) took a 7-3 lead on a broken play with 10:41 to
play in the fourth quarter.
Taylor Ebsary cleared the ball for the Greyhounds and took a
transition shot that was saved by Towson goalkeeper Travis
Love.
The ball squirted out of the crease, however, and Collin Finnerty
picked up the ground ball. He then finished with a low shot,
beating Love for his game-high third goal.
Towson (1-5) mounted a comeback, however, scoring three times in
the final 4:01.
Lamon scored on a Will Harrington assist to make it 7-5 in Loyola's
favor, and Christian Pastirik delivered a goal 19 seconds later
despite a solid hit from the Loyola defense.
Pat Britton then scored with 56 seconds remaining, drawing the
Tigers within one.
The Tigers won the ensuing faceoff, but Michael Crimmins caused a
turnover that Scott Ratliff picked up. After a failed Loyola clear,
Towson had another possession in their offensive zone, but the
Greyhounds forced a second turnover. Again, however, Loyola lost
the ball in its end of the field, leading to Lamon's last second
shot.
"The first thing I told the team was that you never take a win for
granted," Loyola Head Coach Charley Toomey said. "But, there are a
lot of things that we have to correct. We made too many mistakes
today, and we cannot do that going forward."
Loyola finished the game with 19 turnovers, but eight came in the
final quarter. The Greyhounds did, however, have a 36-28 advantage
in ground balls and a 9-15 lead in faceoffs.
Finnerty scored the game's opening goal, on an extra-man
opportunity, less than five minutes in.
Eric Lusby gave Loyola a 2-0 advantage with less than three minutes
to go in the quarter, and Cooper MacDonnell took a Matt Langan pass
and dodged his defender to score Loyola's third in a row 1:48 into
the second quarter.
Lamon put Towson on the board with 8:30 to play in the quarter, but
Finnerty answered with a goal for Loyola 40 seconds later.
Towson cut Loyola's halftime lead to 4-2 when Will Harrington
scored 4:33 before the break.
The Tigers pulled to within a goal with 2:33 left in the third on a
Brock Armour goal.
Loyola, however, went on a 3-0 run as Stephen Murray and Cooper
MacDonnell scored goals' before Finnerty's third.
The Greyhounds wrap-up a four-game homestand on Saturday, April 3,
when they host Ohio State in an ECAC Lacrosse League game at 2 p.m.
-----
Senior attackman Collin Finnerty (Massapequa H.S./Massapequa,
N.Y.) scored a game-high three goals, including the eventual
game-winning goal in the fourth quarter, as 14th-ranked Loyola
University Maryland (5-2) held off a late rally by Towson
University (1-5) to earn its second straight win, a 7-6
non-conference victory over the Tigers at the Ridley Athletic
Complex on Saturday afternoon.
Finnerty, who has scored eight goals with an assist in his career
against the Tigers, gave the Greyhounds a 7-3 lead with 10:41
remaining on an unassisted goal. But, Towson scored three goals in
the final five minutes of regulation to pull within 7-6.
Finnerty gave the Greyhounds a 1-0 lead with 10:30 remaining in
the first quarter when he scored an unassisted extra-man goal past
junior goalkeeper Travis Love (Winters Mill H.S./Westminster, Md.).
With 2:58 remaining in the first quarter, Loyola extended its
advantage to 2-0 when junior midfielder Eric Lusby (Severna Park
H.S./Severna Park, Md.) tallied an unassisted marker.
Senior attackman Cooper MacDonnell (Darien H.S./Darien, Conn.)
upped the Greyhounds’ cushion to 3-0 early in the second
quarter when he took a pass from junior attackman Matt Langan
(Madison H.S./Madison, N.J.) and scored his tenth goal of the
season.
The Tigers trimmed the margin to 3-1 with 8:30 remaining in the
first half as sophomore attackman Matt Lamon (St. Mary’s
H.S./Annapolis, Md.) scored an unassisted goal. It ended a nearly
23-minute scoring drought for the Tigers, dating back to the fourth
quarter against Virginia last Sunday.
After Finnerty scored to give Loyola a 4-1 lead with 7:50 left in
the stanza, senior midfielder Will Harrington (Friends
School/Baltimore, Md.) scored an unassisted goal to cut the deficit
to 4-2 with 4:33 left in the first half.
Senior midfielder Brock Armour (Western Reserve Acad./Victoria,
B.C., Canada) took a feed from graduate student Christian Pastirik
(St. Mary’s H.S./Annapolis, Md.) and scored his first goal of
the season with 2:33 remaining in the third quarter for a 4-3
margin.
But, the Greyhounds answered with three straight goals for a
four-goal lead with 10:41 left in regulation. With 29 seconds left
in the third period, junior midfielder Stephen Murray (Albemarle
H.S./Earlysville, Va.) tallied an unassisted goal to give Loyola a
5-3 advantage. MacDonnell upped the lead to 6-3 by converting a
pass from Murray before Finnerty’s goal with 10:41 left in
the fourth quarter extended the advantage to four goals.
Trailing by 7-3 late in regulation, the Tigers rallied to close
within one goal. With 4:01 left, Lamon scored his second goal of
the game off a feed from Harrington to make it 7-4. Just 19 seconds
later, Pastirik added an unassisted goal past junior goalkeeper
Jake Hagelin (Boys Latin School/Havre de Grace, Md.) for a 7-5
deficit.
Senior midfielder Pat Britton (Seneca Valley H.S./Germantown, Md.)
followed with his fourth goal of the season, an unassisted goal
with 56 seconds left. But, the Tigers were unable to get any closer
and the Greyhounds secured the win.
While Finnerty scored three goals to lead Loyola, MacDonnell
contributed two goals in the victory. Hagelin added a season-high
15 saves, including eight in the first half.
Lamon tallied a season-high two goals for the Tigers in a losing
effort while Pastirik and Harrington each scored a goal with an
assist. Love made 14 saves for Towson, which was outshot by a 39-32
margin.
The Tigers will return home next Saturday to open their Colonial
Athletic Association schedule against the University of Delaware at
Unitas Stadium in the second game of a doubleheader at 3 p.m.
Meanwhile, the Greyhounds will finish their four-game homestand
next Saturday against Air Force at Ridley Athletic Complex at 2
p.m.
College Men’s Lacrosse: #14 Loyola University 7, Towson
University 6
Towson
(1-5)
0
2
1
3
- 6
Loyola
(5-2)
2
2
1
2
- 7
Goals: TOW – Matt Lamon 2, Will Harrington 1, Christian
Pastirik 1, Pat Britton 1, Brock Armour 1; LOY – Collin
Finnerty 3, Cooper MacDonnell 2, Stephen Murray 1, Eric Lusby 1.
Assists: TOW – Will Harrington 1, Christian Pastirik 1; LOY
– Matt Langan 1, Stephen Murray 1. Saves: TOW – Travis
Love 14 (58:10, 7 goals allowed), David Edens 0 (1:50, 0 goals
allowed); LOY – Jake Hagelin 15 (60:00, 6 goals allowed).
Shots: TOW – 32; LOY – 39. Extra-Man Opportunities: TOW
– 0 for 4; LOY – 1 for 3. Attendance: 2,412.
Post-Game Notes:
· The Tigers and
the Greyhounds were meeting for the 52nd time in a series that
Towson leads by a 27-25 margin … However, Loyola has won the
last three meetings.
· Towson Coach
Tony Seaman is now 14-9 all-time against Loyola.
· The Tigers were
held scoreless in the first quarter, marking the second time this
season Towson had been held without a goal in a single period
… The Tigers were outscored 6-0 in the fourth quarter
against Bucknell on February 27.
· The Tigers have
now lost eight straight road games, dating back to last season
… The Tigers’ last road victory came on March 28, 2009
against Drexel.
· The Tigers were
held without an extra-man goal in four opportunities on Saturday
… Over the last four games, the extra-man unit has converted
just 3 of 23 chances … The Tigers are now 8-for-33 this
season in extra-man situations.
· Harrington took
a season-high 10 shots against Loyola on Saturday … It was
the most shots taken by a Towson player this season.
· Britton had
scored his first three goals this year at home before Saturday
… He has scored just five goals on the road since the start
of last year.
· Junior
attackman Tim Stratton had his 11-game point-scoring streak snapped
against Loyola on Saturday … It is the first time he has
been held without a point since April 11, 2009 against Hofstra.
· Since becoming
the Tigers’ starter last week against Navy, Love has posted a
.587 save percentage and a 10.44 goals against average … He
is also averaging 14.67 saves per game.
