~Loyola University Lacrosse 2019~

[Peter Brown]

Georgetown is a relatively consistent squad...they haven't been blown out of any games even when losing significantly at FOGO. Their best win IMO is their absolute beatdown of Hofstra at Hoftsra. Their worst loss IMO was at Denver.

I mentioned to the one other Hounds' regular here, houndace, that Loyola's two losses this year have both been at night, so that's a worry. However, this is Georgetown's first night game this year, so perhaps it's a push. The last time I went to a nighttime Georgetown Loyola game at the RAC, Loyola eked by the HOyas by all of 1 goal, 11-10. Most of the games between these two the last five years have been tight affairs.

[10stone5]

I haven't seen Georgetown yet this year and am planning to head to the RAC for what should be a nice night. Does GT have enough to make this game competitive, or is something like the Lehigh game a more realistic expectaion?

^^^ this

If it was last year’s Hoya squad, I’d be thinking differently.

[10stone5]

G-town has shut out Loyola the entire 4th quarter.
I would not have thought that was possible.
4 minutes remaining.

[10stone5]

Looks like Loyola is going to escape.
Warne is like that, he can coach his team to perform like rabid dogs.

[houndace1]

Well! what a gritty... yet ugly win. Every year Georgetown plays Loyola close. If you were to tell me they would outscore loyola in the 2nd half after being down 5 goals then i would call you nuts...

But game notes:
Olmstead and Lindley were huge today with their production. Spencer had a relatively quiet night with 4 points. Glad to see that the offense bulled their necks and kept shooting even when the georgetown defense and goalie got remarkably hot and stoned so many shots. Speaking of shots, please be on cage most of the time... Looks like Spencer got nicked up in the late 3rd quarter

Holy cow Georgetown can play. What a feisty, energized bunch that responds well to their coach. Bucaro and Carraway is a nasty 1-2 punch of senior leaders/scorers for that team. Their goalie is great, the defense is hard nosed and have quick sticks.

Loyola D seemed like they took two steps back today in development. Rotations seemed a little off, communication maybe lacked as georgetown shooters had time and room from 10-12 yards out for high heaters, low angle rips and two bounce shot goals. Defense needs to resharpen to make a run again.

Kudos to Bailey and the wings for winning a majority of face offs again. Good/Decent GB play. Stover stood tall and made great saves to seal the Win

[thatsmell]

Minor correction.Spencer actually had a bad day with “just” 2G 3A.

[cantrelax]

Dodged a bullet last night. Hoyas were prepared and came out hungry in the second half,largely without Bucaro. As someone else has mentioned, mid-week games do not seem the strength of recent Loyola squads.

[youthathletics]

Look at it like this, Georgetown did Loyola a solid by double and triple teaming 7, it advanced the development for the rest of the team.

[Peter Brown]

Look at it like this, Georgetown did Loyola a solid by double and triple teaming 7, it advanced the development for the rest of the team.

Agree with one caveat. At the very end of the game, with the game on the line, Spencer gave up the ball to others way too willingly; at that stage, Georgetown had backed off Spencer and he could have made easy moves to the goal. Was he injured along the way? The G-town defenders were whacking him the entire first 3 quarters, and I thought the refs let those beatdowns go way too willingly. Same thing against Lehigh; Spencer takes an absolute beating by heavy d-poles with no repercussion except him getting hacked off and taking revenge by scoring.

Scanlan imo is the single best freshman in the country. His dodging skills plus his confidence are what was missing from last year's team. Scanlan gives the Hounds this other iso threat beside Spencer, opening the field up for exceptionally talented finishers like Lindley and Olmstead (and Duffy and McGovern and Brown etc...).

Before last Saturday, I thought Lehigh would be the Hounds' toughest out; now I feel like it will be BU: Hounds have had 3 tough games in 7 days, and BU have had a full week to prepare and rest. Charlie will prove his coaching chops if the Hounds come out with a win. This is yet one more Patriot League team which has been in every single game they've played, maybe excepting an early contest against Ohio State. But just like Georgetown, BU can beat any team any day. And you just know their defense will whack away at Spencer if the refs permit it. Which they will because it's in Boston.

[NovaHound]

Kudos to the Hoyas. They played aggressively and well enough to beat many other teams. Hounds did what they needed to do pull out the win. Wasn't pretty. Had some uncharacteristic turnovers. Stover should be First Team AA. He makes the stop when needed. Sometimes there doesn't appear to be much separation between teams on any given day and that is what I saw last night. Loyola is not one dimensional - it has weapons, many that compliment Spencer. Georgetown may be able to build upon that loss and make some noise in their conference from here on out.

[Peter Brown]

One other criticism...why is the Hounds' defense so timid sometimes? A very loose pick was set for Carraway late in the 4th, he had a shortie on him, plus McNulty was the defender on the pick. Neither one came out to deny Carraway who simply wound up and fired, and scored. Man, if I were the defensive coach, I'd have gone nuts. YOu have got to deny their top two shooters, especially at that stage.

[molo]

Is Scanlan en route to first team AA as a freshman?

[10stone5]

The overall freshmen class is much better than I had initially thought, Scanlon, yes looks like 1st team.
New rules seem taylor made for some incoming freshmen.

Spencer now 6th all time in scoring.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCAA_Di ... se_records

He should pass the others, except Thompson, shortly.

[Peter Brown]

Agree for the most part about Scanlan, except the freshman middie from Penn (Handley) is making a case as well.

So far as BU, the Hounds' defense must get more aggressive; Gray is a tiny guy and really fast, so he presents massive problems for defenders (reminds me of Joey Manown). Bailey has a good chance here against Christman at FOGO. Christman had a great game against Army so he'll have confidence. BU rotates two FOGO's, so that presents some issues so far as getting comfortable with technique on the other side.

BU has had one bad quarter in each game they've played, win or loss. Expecting some rain in the morning, so a slick field and goalies need to be looking for little bounce. To the extent the refs don't allow defenders to bash Spencer all game long, Spencer should be able to get some here...Army and Ohio State put up big numbers on BU.

This should be yet another great game. Hope the boys are rested.

[GreyingHound]

I was at the game last night, but haven't had a chance to watch the TV broadcast. Spencer did not look like himself (aside from being shut off and double teamed). He looked like he might be injured. Did the announcers say anything?

[Peter Brown]

I had the television on CBSSports, with the game, but no sound because we had guests over, so not sure.

I was surprised Spencer simply passed the ball off in the 4th quarter rather than going to the goal; then again, he had the ball on the double with 40 seconds to go and had the assist to Scanlan for the final goal. YOu don't put the ball in the stick of a guy who is injured in that situation, so who knows. But I have to agree: I felt something was off about Spencer last night. He did have 2 and 3, but he's made expectations so high for us fans, we tend to think he's injured if he only gets 2 and 3.

BU will be a real test for this team. 3 games in 7 days, all tight affairs (assuming BU is tight). I am not super confident that Loyola wins at both BU and Army. I like the Army game more, but BU will have had time for this event, and they are offering free BBQ to anyone who shows up to root for the Terriers. Seriously. This is their Super Bowl.

[houndace1]

Looking at the tape of the 2018 games, BU definitely has something to prove after absorbing back to back losses from us. The 23-9 W was a blowout but it was insanely close at the end of the first half. Same with the PL semifinal game. loyola absolutely needs to start out quick like how they did against Bucknell, Navy, Colgate, Lehigh because this BU offense by Chris Gray and James Burr can really light it up quickly. They just dropped 15 on army who is top 10 in the nation in lowest goals allowed average.

Obviously a big game for them, but if loyola squeaks out this win. it can show signs that they play 3 huge games in 7 days and get wins, proving that if they make a run in May, they can play the 2 biggest games in 3 days.

[Peter Brown]

Looking at the tape of the 2018 games, BU definitely has something to prove after absorbing back to back losses from us. The 23-9 W was a blowout but it was insanely close at the end of the first half. Same with the PL semifinal game. loyola absolutely needs to start out quick like how they did against Bucknell, Navy, Colgate, Lehigh because this BU offense by Chris Gray and James Burr can really light it up quickly. They just dropped 15 on army who is top 10 in the nation in lowest goals allowed average.

Obviously a big game for them, but if loyola squeaks out this win. it can show signs that they play 3 huge games in 7 days and get wins, proving that if they make a run in May, they can play the 2 biggest games in 3 days.

Got to say, this BU game has me nervous. Forget that BU is a darn good squad...that alone would be enough to make you question the Hounds' chances. Add in: BU is doing everything they can to get Boston fans out to the game (free food is a good draw); Loyola IMO did not look too sharp against Georgetown in the second half (carryover?); the travel debate alone is enough to swing the game (I assume the team flies up Friday, practices late afternoon, etc...); wet field; hostile crowd; hometown refs; the tail end of 3 games in 7 days. If any game was tailor-made to lose, this one is it.

I hope Toomey can find these guys their extra gear, and somehow the boys come back to Baltimore with a victory. I'm just nervous; a lot going against the Hounds here.

[laxbro11]

Looking at the tape of the 2018 games, BU definitely has something to prove after absorbing back to back losses from us. The 23-9 W was a blowout but it was insanely close at the end of the first half. Same with the PL semifinal game. loyola absolutely needs to start out quick like how they did against Bucknell, Navy, Colgate, Lehigh because this BU offense by Chris Gray and James Burr can really light it up quickly. They just dropped 15 on army who is top 10 in the nation in lowest goals allowed average.

Obviously a big game for them, but if loyola squeaks out this win. it can show signs that they play 3 huge games in 7 days and get wins, proving that if they make a run in May, they can play the 2 biggest games in 3 days.

Got to say, this BU game has me nervous. Forget that BU is a darn good squad...that alone would be enough to make you question the Hounds' chances. Add in: BU is doing everything they can to get Boston fans out to the game (free food is a good draw); Loyola IMO did not look too sharp against Georgetown in the second half (carryover?); the travel debate alone is enough to swing the game (I assume the team flies up Friday, practices late afternoon, etc...); wet field; hostile crowd; hometown refs; the tail end of 3 games in 7 days. If any game was tailor-made to lose, this one is it.

I hope Toomey can find these guys their extra gear, and somehow the boys come back to Baltimore with a victory. I'm just nervous; a lot going against the Hounds here.

Was at the gtown game, Loyola was sluggish and that was to be expected after a physical Lehigh game, plus a 2 day turn around. They will be rested and ready to go against BU. Loyola close D is playing well as a unit, Offensively others have stepped up, it will be difficult for BU to defend all of Loyola's shooters, let alone Spencer.

[GreyingHound]

I'm nervous about this one as well. The Hounds were outplayed (and outscored 8-5) in the second half by G'town. I expect this BU game to be high scoring, and I think we will rely on Stover to be the difference maker.