~Loyola University Greyhounds 2024~

[lorin]

Time for coach to recruit a FOGO. Cant get dominated like they've been the past couple of seasons and expect to compete at a high level.

It sure makes a difference. Navy has not had a dominant F/O player since Dove and Varello, and those were the last years where the team could play more loose.

I wished we had a way to stat the F/O better so you could see how the individual does vs the 3v3 unit. Navy looked like they adjusted this week and put 11 on the wing….nice supporting role, which helped.

Loyola was at a huge disadvantage all year at the face off dot…this board can complain and criticize kids all day on Loyola on offense and defense but we started every game at a massive disadvantage

Defense has to play more minutes under pressure

Offense had to play really well to offset the possession and in some cases shot disadvantage

We finished 68th out of 73 teams in face off percentage. 68th!!!

With the out of conference schedule we play and the exponential disadvantage at the face off dot, I’m actually surprised we won 7 games.

And I’m not saying that’s acceptable or good - I’m just calling out the elephant in the room as the major part of the story this season

Last two games lost the FO battle 18-10 and I think 18-8…we lost both games by 2 goals. 10 days before at Navy we had an ok showing at FO still losing the stat of course (I think that night we only lost face offs 14-12)…and guess what, Loyola won that game and was in control most of the night.

Are there other things to talk about, sure - but just calling out the obvious.

Stop your crying about the FO, Army was 8th in FO% .333 in 2019 and won the Patriot leauge. Work harder

[Formerhound]

Yes FO % was a huge detriment. That said, another huge problem was Turnover to point ratio. Of the top ten scoring offensive players here is their listed turnover to point ratio:
Poitras 9/56
James: 15/51 (had 5 in one game)
Minicus: 24/43
Lindsay: 23/26
Kamish: 6/22
Heuston: 13/18
Binney: 6/9
Higgins: 12/8
Haberman: 6/5
Turner: 0/7

Now given those stats, and given the fact that Turner didn’t even play a shift until half way through the season, wouldn’t you think he’d be out there on Tuesday against Navy? He didn’t play a shift in the second half while Higgins played more than any middie.
Yes FO is an issue. The biggest problem this year was the OC playing guys who weren’t producing just like he has done in years past with guys like Bateman, Wigley and Seay. For whatever reason Van would rather lose with guys he “trusts” even though statistically they are not trustworthy.
Next year many of these guys are gone. Will Lindsay use his red shirt year? Will Staudt use his red shirt year? Next years middies are Turner, Dixon, Haberman, Murphy, McGory and Westin some order. I’d like to see Haberman at attack with Minicus and Lindsay/McCullough depending on Lindsay’s status.
Defensively we lose Bean. Reynolds, Houlihan, Ramon, Wilson, Gregory all return. StaudtWatkinson give us good net presence. Callahan, Erickson and Sullivan got good experience this year at SSDM. Hall will be the FOGO unless one of the two incoming freshmen 3stars take his spot. Tons of experience on defense and very little experience on offense for next season. Should be interesting. Go Hounds.

[laxbro11]

Time for coach to recruit a FOGO. Cant get dominated like they've been the past couple of seasons and expect to compete at a high level.

It sure makes a difference. Navy has not had a dominant F/O player since Dove and Varello, and those were the last years where the team could play more loose.

I wished we had a way to stat the F/O better so you could see how the individual does vs the 3v3 unit. Navy looked like they adjusted this week and put 11 on the wing….nice supporting role, which helped.

Loyola was at a huge disadvantage all year at the face off dot…this board can complain and criticize kids all day on Loyola on offense and defense but we started every game at a massive disadvantage

Defense has to play more minutes under pressure

Offense had to play really well to offset the possession and in some cases shot disadvantage

We finished 68th out of 73 teams in face off percentage. 68th!!!

With the out of conference schedule we play and the exponential disadvantage at the face off dot, I’m actually surprised we won 7 games.

And I’m not saying that’s acceptable or good - I’m just calling out the elephant in the room as the major part of the story this season

Last two games lost the FO battle 18-10 and I think 18-8…we lost both games by 2 goals. 10 days before at Navy we had an ok showing at FO still losing the stat of course (I think that night we only lost face offs 14-12)…and guess what, Loyola won that game and was in control most of the night.

Are there other things to talk about, sure - but just calling out the obvious.

Stop your crying about the FO, Army was 8th in FO% .333 in 2019 and won the Patriot leauge. Work harder

Absolutely correct about faceoff percentage, but lets look at other factors that leads to possessions or lack there of


GBs: 29.27 per game, opponents had 51 more gbs than loyola.... all patriot league teams were better except Navy
Shooting %: 29% Army, BU,Colgate, Lehigh and Lafayette all better...Better shots, more goals
Clears: 84%:

The elephant in the room is that they struggled at other aspects of the game.

[laxbro11]

Yes FO % was a huge detriment. That said, another huge problem was Turnover to point ratio. Of the top ten scoring offensive players here is their listed turnover to point ratio:
Poitras 9/56
James: 15/51 (had 5 in one game)
Minicus: 24/43
Lindsay: 23/26
Kamish: 6/22
Heuston: 13/18
Binney: 6/9
Higgins: 12/8
Haberman: 6/5
Turner: 0/7

Now given those stats, and given the fact that Turner didn’t even play a shift until half way through the season, wouldn’t you think he’d be out there on Tuesday against Navy? He didn’t play a shift in the second half while Higgins played more than any middie.
Yes FO is an issue. The biggest problem this year was the OC playing guys who weren’t producing just like he has done in years past with guys like Bateman, Wigley and Seay. For whatever reason Van would rather lose with guys he “trusts” even though statistically they are not trustworthy.
Next year many of these guys are gone. Will Lindsay use his red shirt year? Will Staudt use his red shirt year? Next years middies are Turner, Dixon, Haberman, Murphy, McGory and Westin some order. I’d like to see Haberman at attack with Minicus and Lindsay/McCullough depending on Lindsay’s status.
Defensively we lose Bean. Reynolds, Houlihan, Ramon, Wilson, Gregory all return. StaudtWatkinson give us good net presence. Callahan, Erickson and Sullivan got good experience this year at SSDM. Hall will be the FOGO unless one of the two incoming freshmen 3stars take his spot. Tons of experience on defense and very little experience on offense for next season. Should be interesting. Go Hounds.

Take it for what it is worth, but talking with parents after Navy, players were not happy with how the season went and decisions that were made. It very well maybe sour grapes, but there is that talk. Will there be players that go into the portal? Have not heard anything. Coach Toomey does a great job retaining players

Loyola needs to work the portal this offseason

[Houndfan95]

Yes FO % was a huge detriment. That said, another huge problem was Turnover to point ratio. Of the top ten scoring offensive players here is their listed turnover to point ratio:
Poitras 9/56
James: 15/51 (had 5 in one game)
Minicus: 24/43
Lindsay: 23/26
Kamish: 6/22
Heuston: 13/18
Binney: 6/9
Higgins: 12/8
Haberman: 6/5
Turner: 0/7

Now given those stats, and given the fact that Turner didn’t even play a shift until half way through the season, wouldn’t you think he’d be out there on Tuesday against Navy? He didn’t play a shift in the second half while Higgins played more than any middie.
Yes FO is an issue. The biggest problem this year was the OC playing guys who weren’t producing just like he has done in years past with guys like Bateman, Wigley and Seay. For whatever reason Van would rather lose with guys he “trusts” even though statistically they are not trustworthy.
Next year many of these guys are gone. Will Lindsay use his red shirt year? Will Staudt use his red shirt year? Next years middies are Turner, Dixon, Haberman, Murphy, McGory and Westin some order. I’d like to see Haberman at attack with Minicus and Lindsay/McCullough depending on Lindsay’s status.
Defensively we lose Bean. Reynolds, Houlihan, Ramon, Wilson, Gregory all return. StaudtWatkinson give us good net presence. Callahan, Erickson and Sullivan got good experience this year at SSDM. Hall will be the FOGO unless one of the two incoming freshmen 3stars take his spot. Tons of experience on defense and very little experience on offense for next season. Should be interesting. Go Hounds.

All good points and good post

So by looking at production/ points to turnovers, Poitras and James followed by Kamish (midfielder) have the best ratios.

Turner is kind of an incomplete as you note because he just didn’t play a ton. I would have liked to see more of him.

On the topic of midfield rotation, most games we ran 10 guys and they ran 3 to 3.3 lines and a lot of times it was one for one meaning the “first line” ran the same amount of runs as the other lines. Most teams at this level run a predominant line 1 that will get 60-65% of the run and then a line 2 gets the rest…that is truth. And those lines play together so they form some chemistry. We were all over the board this year.

Honestly the combinations were perplexing.

Of the true midfielders this year, the most productive were Kamish and Heuston. Kamish had 22 points and rarely turned it over and it was his second best year as a hound. Heuston had his best year (18 points) as a hound. With that said I watched games where those two got very little run or equal run to all the other guys. I would not call those two getting playing time because they were favorites…the opposite, I wanted to see them more. The reality is, using 10 plus midfielders is not normal and it’s even more abnormal when your always losing the face off battle and hence fewer possessions and runs

Now, if you want to argue we should have seen more of Turner and maybe Murphy in place of a couple others that got more run, I’d agree with you.

It’s over now and a lot of those younger guys are gonna get a lot of run next year. Haberman, Murphy, McCullough, and Turner are gonna be immediately logging huge play loads and we will see how the do. I sure hope they are great. We need them to be great! Agree, Haberman should play attack.

This year didn’t go as planned and we’re all disappointed but as it relates to the 5th offensive guys, I just thank them for all the hard work they put in

James (176 points) and Poitras (177) had great careers and always battled and played a ton of lacrosse for us because they were able to stay healthy. Those two were far and away our leaders and showed it

Kamish (89 points) and Heuston (39) points both had moments but both battled injuries that stripped them of games and probably much more production. They both battled hard to do what the could do. Both were finally healthy for a full year this year.

I thank all the 5th years and seniors. Proud Loyola Alumni now and thank you all for your efforts.

On to 2025. Hope we regroup and have more success in the future

Go Hounds!

[Hound93]

Understand the frustration from the posters. I will say that the GB disparity that was posted is a result of the faceoffs lost. Back out the GBs won by opposing teams during the faceoff and I’m confident that Loyola won more GBs in offensive and defensive sets than their opponent.

My quick thoughts on the Navy game would be that the rope unit really struggled, especially during the draw. The Navy middies won this game for them. Navy’s attack had 3 total goals, 1 each. Were the 18 saves by the Navy goalie a result of great goal tending or bad shots? Probably both. At some point you knew the defense was going to break in the 2nd half. They played so much on that end. This was the case against Navy and so many other games as well.

Toomey is one of the most competitive coaches out there and doesn’t settle for mediocre seasons. I’m sure he and the staff are as disappointed as anyone. He probably believed this year would be another deep run into the PL tournament and possibly the NCAA. They had the talent and I’m confident he and the staff feel as bad as the players and worse than the fans or parents. Look forward to seeing what they do with the portal and with recruiting. They’ve gotta get better and back to Loyola standards.

[houndace1]

Some not so positive news this Friday morning. Ty xanders reported that Luke Staudt entered the transfer portal this morning as a grad student. Looks like he’s leaving the program for a new one after 4 years.

[laxbro11]

Some not so positive news this Friday morning. Ty xanders reported that Luke Staudt entered the transfer portal this morning as a grad student. Looks like he’s leaving the program for a new one after 4 years.

Arguably the best defensive player is leaving, Go back home and play for SU? Not a good start to the offseason for the hounds

[Hound93]

Some not so positive news this Friday morning. Ty xanders reported that Luke Staudt entered the transfer portal this morning as a grad student. Looks like he’s leaving the program for a new one after 4 years.

Arguably the best defensive player is leaving, Go back home and play for SU? Not a good start to the offseason for the hounds

Staudt has been a great player for the Hounds and wherever he ends up they’ll be lucky. I have no issue with him pursuing the portal. He will graduate a Greyhound and get a masters elsewhere. Maybe Loyola doesn’t have the masters he looking for. Wish him nothing but the best! As we saw this year, the next man up is ready.

[Exlaxbro]

Tough loss but good for Luke. He has been a very good goalie for the Hounds. Next man up.

[Houndfan95]

Tough loss but good for Luke. He has been a very good goalie for the Hounds. Next man up.

That’s correct. He was here 4 years, graduated and was good for us. We wish him well on the way out. Thank you Luke!

If he wants to go try 1 year somewhere else and get his advanced degree from a different school, you can’t blame him

[Formerhound]

Time to rebuild Hounds. With Lindsay entering the Transfer Portal earlier today, Minicus is the only offensive player who played meaningful minutes this past year for Loyola. Looks like Minicus, Haberman, McCullough, Turner, McGory, Dixon, MurphyCote and West will be battling each other for playing time next season. Fall ball will be interesting to see who comes out on top. We’ll see if they get any transfers in but it would shock me if they get a top 6 offensive player as almost every transfer Toomey gets lately is an LSM or a D-Middie. Only Houlihan and Reynolds return as starters on D. Watkinson in goals (two starts), Ramon, Wilson, Gregory on D/LSM. Sullivan, Ericson and Callahan at D-Mid and Hall at FOGO.
By far the least experienced team at Loyola in many years. Wonder if Van wishes he’d played a few of these guys a bit more this year. Don’t see any freshmen (Maybe Brady Quinn) coming to the rescue either. Could be a long season next year.

[houndace1]

Time to rebuild Hounds. With Lindsay entering the Transfer Portal earlier today, Minicus is the only offensive player who played meaningful minutes this past year for Loyola. Looks like Minicus, Haberman, McCullough, Turner, McGory, Dixon, MurphyCote and West will be battling each other for playing time next season. Fall ball will be interesting to see who comes out on top. We’ll see if they get any transfers in but it would shock me if they get a top 6 offensive player as almost every transfer Toomey gets lately is an LSM or a D-Middie. Only Houlihan and Reynolds return as starters on D. Watkinson in goals (two starts), Ramon, Wilson, Gregory on D/LSM. Sullivan, Ericson and Callahan at D-Mid and Hall at FOGO.
By far the least experienced team at Loyola in many years. Wonder if Van wishes he’d played a few of these guys a bit more this year. Don’t see any freshmen (Maybe Brady Quinn) coming to the rescue either. Could be a long season next year.

This season was eerily similar to my freshman year of college (their 2015 season). Had a ton of contributors back from a decent/good 2014 squad. Had a couple talented freshmen/sophomore classes. And yet they also finished 7-8. They just couldn't put the pieces together and struggled on different facets of the game.

You can even ask GreyingHound on his thoughts for the 2014 season as they were also super young.


Your points on the returners at each position are spot on. I dont know if it will be a long, rough year but they'll definitely surprise some people. IMO minicus needs to be what Pat was, a dual threat QB. Or one guy that can step up is Kenan Everhart. He was an X attackman all throughout HS and club.

[laxbro11]

Davis Lindsey in the portal

[Formerhound]

Davis Lindsey in the portal

Losing Lindsay isn’t a big deal. Over the past two years he’s had almost as many turnovers as points. What concerns me is the limited playing time of all but one of the returning offensive players. Without guys like Poitras and James, their top two offensive talents the past two years, these inexperienced players will need to step up big time next season. Other than Minicus, who has a very slight decline in numbers his second year, almost all of the rest of the group that got extended play time this past year all regressed. 2023’s freshmen Murphy, McCullough,Haberman,West, Cote (injured) all were better their freshman year. In addition 4 star juniors Dixon and McGory didn’t do much in their limited time in the lineup. Freshman Trent Turner was the only guy who produced more than what was expected of him this past year. In limited time he showed speed and dodging ability that was greatly needed.
In order for the Hounds to be successful next year we need guys like McGory, a top 100 recruit, Dixon, Haberman, Murphy, West, McCullough and Cote to be the players that earned them high marks coming into Loyola. Injuries have affected Dixon, McGory and Cote (each missed a year and have been red shirted I believe). The staff needs to figure out which of these guys can produce at the D1 level this fall and needs to develop them properly. Heard from a few people who left the program this past year that the young guys were scared shitless about making mistakes because one bad shot or turnover may result in them not playing the rest of the game or for the next ones after that. Guys can’t play scared. They need to be given enough room to gain confidence. That’s on the staff and it needs to change quickly.