Loyola University Lacrosse 2020

[MDlaxfan76]

My few thoughts.

1. We’re going to be fine in goal. No 2 showed me for the first time that he can start on this team.

2. Hughs didn’t play? That will be a huge issue if he’s injured.

3. The run and gun is back. That means we’re going to turn the ball over a lot. We going to take risks in order to create transition. We need to be bit more understanding when it comes to that stat. They are trying to play twice as fast. We also need 55 to shoot more. I think he was a passer and not a shooter yesterday.

4. This team was down by 6 and fought back. They have heart and are grinders. You can’t teach that. Some teams would roll over and die.

My take.

I think that's the best summation.

[blue angels]

anddd as i say it were down 6 in the middle of the 2nd quarter. Wasn't expecting a win but im not surprised by this spread so far

PB. Our greyhounds look awful. Once again turnovers and poor shot selection. It will be a long season

Been a tad busy with work fellas. Cheer up. If you read this thread we are the worst team in America. Relax. Lost by three with refs home cooking.

Do I owe any Hoos money or crabs? Speak up.

We will crush this team in May.

I did note army’s impressive victory. That has me thinking.

As I said above, ugly stuff to be expected this time of year and plenty of positives to be found.
But the whining and boasting stuff just deserves an eye roll.
You're 0-1 on your predictions PB.

Concur. You would think he would show some grace and respect for the opposition after a loss. The chances of a rematch with Virginia this year are at best, far from certain. He would be better served to Worry about next weekend’s tough rival, Hop, whom he has shown anything but sportsmanship towards. His boasting isn’t any credit to Loyola

[Peter Brown]

anddd as i say it were down 6 in the middle of the 2nd quarter. Wasn't expecting a win but im not surprised by this spread so far

PB. Our greyhounds look awful. Once again turnovers and poor shot selection. It will be a long season

Been a tad busy with work fellas. Cheer up. If you read this thread we are the worst team in America. Relax. Lost by three with refs home cooking.

Do I owe any Hoos money or crabs? Speak up.

We will crush this team in May.

I did note army’s impressive victory. That has me thinking.

As I said above, ugly stuff to be expected this time of year and plenty of positives to be found.
But the whining and boasting stuff just deserves an eye roll.
You're 0-1 on your predictions PB.

Concur. You would think he would show some grace and respect for the opposition after a loss. The chances of a rematch with Virginia this year are at best, far from certain. He would be better served to Worry about next weekend’s tough rival, Hop, whom he has shown anything but sportsmanship towards. His boasting isn’t any credit to Loyola

Do you guys have a sense of humor?! Do you even understand what an "LOL" face emoji means?! That emoji face I placed after the comment?

Put another way, do you actually think I truly care? On any list of mine 1-1000 what's important, the game would not actually make that list. r.e.l.a.x. If you can't have a little fun with lacrosse, I can not imagine the rest of your life. This country has become serious central.

Game is over. Congrats to the Hoos. A fantastic school. Great weather. great lacrosse venue. I hope we see them again; I think the Hounds are going to be a better team if we see the Hoos in May. Back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Try to have a little fun, fella's...lacrosse is a game.

[kramerica.inc]

Loyola may be in some trouble this year. The concern is if Shaffer didn’t have 12 Saves in 2nd half and Baily did win most of faceoffs this game was heading for 20-8 type game.it was 9-3 at half and UVA did not handle zone very well. I do give credit to Loyola as they did fight back but UVA also took seven penalties that Loyola took advantage of. The problem with Loyola is they are very one dimensional, and they play with way too many dodge to shoot type players on their team. They make it easy for goalies to lock on the ball on dodge to shoot mentally all the time. They don’t initiate and pass as well as former Loyola teams in the past. They probably need to start initiating from the midfield because way too much it is coming from the attack which struggles to find the open man.

...

The biggest issue for Loyola is now without guys who have a feed first mentality gthey can’t seem to get the ball inside to Lindley. He becomes an ineffective.

I disagree with most of these points.

-I think Shaffer looked good and very calm between the pipes. I think we are ok there. He appears to be a competitor and a good player.

-Bailey has had competition and rest for the first time in a year. It’s not unusual to see Fogos to improve by 2-5 percentage points year over year. I think that puts Savio right on schedule and probably averaged what we can expect on the year.

Loyola didn’t match up well. Where were Railey and Hughes? Coaching staff went with the m2m plan without them to start. Didn’t work, So they in game adjusted to zone. A little late, but it Was good enough, we had enough depth to stop the bleeding, and the guys we had gave us a chance. If Railey and Hughes contribute this year, we should improve.

On offense, You can’t teach a kid to become More athletic, dodge, beat your man, and get the defense to move. We have those guys. 7 of 9 goals were assisted. That is a good thing. If they make an extra pass the offense will shine. Not worried with the offense with mva in charge. Additionally we have kids who understood transition and when to slow it down.

Yes, we hit a hot goalie. But we made him
Look good too. We shot 16%. We shot it in Rode’s stick quite a few times. If the offense can improve their shooting percent to a reasonable (but not amazing) 25 percent we win the game. By a few.

[MDlaxfan76]

anddd as i say it were down 6 in the middle of the 2nd quarter. Wasn't expecting a win but im not surprised by this spread so far

PB. Our greyhounds look awful. Once again turnovers and poor shot selection. It will be a long season

Been a tad busy with work fellas. Cheer up. If you read this thread we are the worst team in America. Relax. Lost by three with refs home cooking.

Do I owe any Hoos money or crabs? Speak up.

We will crush this team in May.

I did note army’s impressive victory. That has me thinking.

As I said above, ugly stuff to be expected this time of year and plenty of positives to be found.
But the whining and boasting stuff just deserves an eye roll.
You're 0-1 on your predictions PB.

Concur. You would think he would show some grace and respect for the opposition after a loss. The chances of a rematch with Virginia this year are at best, far from certain. He would be better served to Worry about next weekend’s tough rival, Hop, whom he has shown anything but sportsmanship towards. His boasting isn’t any credit to Loyola

Do you guys have a sense of humor?! Do you even understand what an "LOL" face emoji means?! That emoji face I placed after the comment?

Put another way, do you actually think I truly care? On any list of mine 1-1000 what's important, the game would not actually make that list. r.e.l.a.x. If you can't have a little fun with lacrosse, I can not imagine the rest of your life. This country has become serious central.

Game is over. Congrats to the Hoos. A fantastic school. Great weather. great lacrosse venue. I hope we see them again; I think the Hounds are going to be a better team if we see the Hoos in May. Back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Try to have a little fun, fella's...lacrosse is a game.

Actually that's a crying emoji, PB, not a laughing one.
You whined, not a laugh. Sore loser stuff.
But goes with with the over the top boasting.

I quite agree that the Hounds are likely to be a better team in May in February. One would certainly hope so, not because of any shortcomings now, but merely because that's the natural progression as a season evolves, especially with the good coaching a team like Loyola gets. Absent injuries, teams should be expected to get better. And, hey, playing lax in April and May sure beats February!

Same, of course, should be true of the Cavaliers.

I'm more of a UVA fan than Loyola one, but I do root for Loyola in many situations.
It's been a real pleasure to see one of the programs local to me evolve into a powerhouse, with great coaching, and a terrific fan base.
My brother-in-law played for Loyola way, way back, and I know a whole bunch of the kids over the last decade.
Add on that my son worked for Toomey, a great experience, and I'm a fan.

[loyola11]

Loyola may be in some trouble this year. The concern is if Shaffer didn’t have 12 Saves in 2nd half and Baily did win most of faceoffs this game was heading for 20-8 type game.it was 9-3 at half and UVA did not handle zone very well. I do give credit to Loyola as they did fight back but UVA also took seven penalties that Loyola took advantage of. The problem with Loyola is they are very one dimensional, and they play with way too many dodge to shoot type players on their team. They make it easy for goalies to lock on the ball on dodge to shoot mentally all the time. They don’t initiate and pass as well as former Loyola teams in the past. They probably need to start initiating from the midfield because way too much it is coming from the attack which struggles to find the open man.

...

The biggest issue for Loyola is now without guys who have a feed first mentality gthey can’t seem to get the ball inside to Lindley. He becomes an ineffective.

I disagree with most of these points.

-I think Shaffer looked good and very calm between the pipes. I think we are ok there. He appears to be a competitor and a good player.

-Bailey has had competition and rest for the first time in a year. It’s not unusual to see Fogos to improve by 2-5 percentage points year over year. I think that puts Savio right on schedule and probably averaged what we can expect on the year.

Loyola didn’t match up well. Where were Railey and Hughes? Coaching staff went with the m2m plan without them to start. Didn’t work, So they in game adjusted to zone. A little late, but it Was good enough, we had enough depth to stop the bleeding, and the guys we had gave us a chance. If Railey and Hughes contribute this year, we should improve.

On offense, You can’t teach a kid to become More athletic, dodge, beat your man, and get the defense to move. We have those guys. 7 of 9 goals were assisted. That is a good thing. If they make an extra pass the offense will shine. Not worried with the offense with mva in charge. Additionally we have kids who understood transition and when to slow it down.

Yes, we hit a hot goalie. But we made him Look good too. We shot 16%. We shot it in Rode’s stick quite a few times. If the offense can improve their shooting percent to a reasonable (but not amazing) 25 percent we win the game. By a few.

I agree with you with shafer and the D they will be fine. I do think the rope unit needs to be worked on, i know Millhouse is fast, but he needs to help Savio out. Fast does not help if you do not have the ball.

Offensively, Kamish 0-10, 3 sog, omstead 2-10 6 sog, i could go on. 55 shots and only 27 on goal. Some of the saves the UVA goalie made where good, but most of his saves where easy.

Ground balls win games, 44-30 UVA and only 40% on EMO,

This is a game that we could have won... just need to right personnel. I dont think we have it yet. If Van Arsdelle finds it, we could be very good.

But I worry about Hopkins next week.

[Peter Brown]

anddd as i say it were down 6 in the middle of the 2nd quarter. Wasn't expecting a win but im not surprised by this spread so far

PB. Our greyhounds look awful. Once again turnovers and poor shot selection. It will be a long season

Been a tad busy with work fellas. Cheer up. If you read this thread we are the worst team in America. Relax. Lost by three with refs home cooking.

Do I owe any Hoos money or crabs? Speak up.

We will crush this team in May.

I did note army’s impressive victory. That has me thinking.

As I said above, ugly stuff to be expected this time of year and plenty of positives to be found.
But the whining and boasting stuff just deserves an eye roll.
You're 0-1 on your predictions PB.

Concur. You would think he would show some grace and respect for the opposition after a loss. The chances of a rematch with Virginia this year are at best, far from certain. He would be better served to Worry about next weekend’s tough rival, Hop, whom he has shown anything but sportsmanship towards. His boasting isn’t any credit to Loyola

Do you guys have a sense of humor?! Do you even understand what an "LOL" face emoji means?! That emoji face I placed after the comment?

Put another way, do you actually think I truly care? On any list of mine 1-1000 what's important, the game would not actually make that list. r.e.l.a.x. If you can't have a little fun with lacrosse, I can not imagine the rest of your life. This country has become serious central.

Game is over. Congrats to the Hoos. A fantastic school. Great weather. great lacrosse venue. I hope we see them again; I think the Hounds are going to be a better team if we see the Hoos in May. Back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Try to have a little fun, fella's...lacrosse is a game.

Actually that's a crying emoji, PB, not a laughing one.
You whined, not a laugh. Sore loser stuff.
But goes with with the over the top boasting.

I quite agree that the Hounds are likely to be a better team in May in February. One would certainly hope so, not because of any shortcomings now, but merely because that's the natural progression as a season evolves, especially with the good coaching a team like Loyola gets. Absent injuries, teams should be expected to get better. And, hey, playing lax in April and May sure beats February!

Same, of course, should be true of the Cavaliers.

I'm more of a UVA fan than Loyola one, but I do root for Loyola in many situations.
It's been a real pleasure to see one of the programs local to me evolve into a powerhouse, with great coaching, and a terrific fan base.
My brother-in-law played for Loyola way, way back, and I know a whole bunch of the kids over the last decade.
Add on that my son worked for Toomey, a great experience, and I'm a fan.

Showing your age MD!

From Emojipedia, drum roll please:

Face with Tears of Joy
A yellow face with a big grin, uplifted eyebrows, and smiling eyes, each shedding a tear from laughing so hard. Widely used to show something is funny or pleasing.

[Peter Brown]

And we will crush the Hoos in May!

[MDlaxfan76]

And we will crush the Hoos in May!

I am indeed old.
Maybe I just didn’t get the joke. Sure looks like a whine to me or were you saying nothing at all about refs?

Wouldn’t be the first time I didn’t get a joke.

[Peter Brown]

And we will crush the Hoos in May!

I am indeed old.
Maybe I just didn’t get the joke. Sure looks like a whine to me or were you saying nothing at all about refs?

Wouldn’t be the first time I didn’t get a joke.

I was just kidding. Away game/weather/refs. Anything but our squads performance. Lol. Hence the laughing emoji.

I never accept excuses. We lost. Better team that day won. No excuses.

We shall return. Team looks good in spite of the worry warts on this board. Lots to be excited about, Savio and McNulty being two great examples! And I’m not even counting out starting 0-2. At this stage of the season, it’s all about finding our rhythm.

[TheBigIguana]

Thought there were some decent signs there despite the loss. The biggest take away for me was that the defense still can't play man to man. It killed them last year and it was ugly again to start this season. They won't play teams with as much dodging talent as UVA often, but the inability to effectively communicate and cover during any type of slide will be a problem.

The good news is the switch to zone worked wonders, and Shafer looks like he can handle it if they give him a chance. Ryan McNulty was awesome and he is a player Loyola needs to build around, which might mean playing zone and letting him try to force turnovers and cover shooters from that center spot. More aggressive transition would be nice too, as they passed up a few opportunities.

On offense it was alright. I think Rode's performance might hide that they did pretty well for the first time out. Olmstead isn't Pat, so they'll need to have less one on one dodging from X and more ball movement, but he still did well. Lindley was his usual self aside from the low shooting percentage, but that will come around. Kamish looked frisky, but he wasn't all the way there yet.

The midfield was a mixed bag. Deveroux can bring it even if he isn't offering much else, Wigley and Swindell can dodge and should do well, and Poitras looks a real player and would almost certainly be starting attack if we didn't have two leftys already. The rest didn't really make much of an impression. Finding depth there will be crucial to the offense functioning when one guy isn't getting you 100 points.

They have a shot against Hopkins, but the defense will be a major key. Charley needs to go zone earlier if it isn't happening with the man to man, and hopefully we can get enough saves to win that way.

[MDlaxfan76]

And we will crush the Hoos in May!

I am indeed old.
Maybe I just didn’t get the joke. Sure looks like a whine to me or were you saying nothing at all about refs?

Wouldn’t be the first time I didn’t get a joke.

I was just kidding. Away game/weather/refs. Anything but our squads performance. Lol. Hence the laughing emoji.

I never accept excuses. We lost. Better team that day won. No excuses.

We shall return. Team looks good in spite of the worry warts on this board. Lots to be excited about, Savio and McNulty being two great examples! And I’m not even counting out starting 0-2. At this stage of the season, it’s all about finding our rhythm.

One of your more rational posts, PB.

I quite agree, plenty to look forward to.

As you know, you made yourself a target with all the trolling on other school threads, as well as the hyperbolic predictions, to the point of silliness, on this one as well.

One of the things I’ve appreciated about the Loyola program over the years has been the tendency to outperform ‘lax pundit’ expectations, UA and IL player ratings etc. To me that’s a mark of coaching and a gritty attitude.

To be appreciated, so whatever this team’s journey turns out to be my guess is they will provide some opportunities for their fans to cheer.

[OCanada]

I think Loyola had 6 EMO to VA 1. Lot of stupid fouls a few away from the ball

[laxfam]

We are longtime Loyola fans. I would have to agree with some of the others in that there are several concerns with this years team. Kudos to GK and Dline. Senior middies seem to have it together but lack of decent feeds are forcing Olmstead and Lindley to make something out of nothing. Pridemore will secure the third spot at attack. Kamish is meh at best but will grow. one striking detail is how vehemently the coaches are forcing these freshman into the mix. They seem to be getting more opportunities to play with less results compared to past incoming classes that seemed to have had to work harder to get into a line up. It’s like the coaches are throwing jello at the wall and hoping something sticks. Housten is lackluster and I noticed they moved 22 back to wing and remembered he may have speed but lacks stick skills, a positive attitude and ability to mesh with his teammates. Savio needs backup and he’s not getting it with someone whose afraid to get dirty. Solid middies find the skip passes and not play catch with the GK.

[loyola11]

Onto Hopkins. Some of the posters have rose colored glasses on and are not seeing the reality of the situation. It is great being an optimist, but at some point we need to have a reality check.

Watched the Hopkins game against Towson. We could be in for a long day.

FOGO, Pouty looked very good. Savio will need help to go 50/50 next saturday

Hopkins offense; Loaded, Williams, Zinn Baskin, Desimone, Smith Degnon, and Epstein if he is back will give us a nightmare match up. Better Zone right off the bat.

GK: Darby looked strong in goal.

Defense: Very agressive. For our turnover prone team, this could be a problem. For three weeks i have been saying the midfield needs to create and move the D. This will be very important this week. Swindell, Wigley can dodge and redodge, clear the hands and shoot. Others not so much. Loyola needs to find those middies that are tough, can handle the ball, make the pass, and rotate the d. There is alot of talent on this team.

[Peter Brown]

Onto Hopkins. Some of the posters have rose colored glasses on and are not seeing the reality of the situation. It is great being an optimist, but at some point we need to have a reality check.

Watched the Hopkins game against Towson. We could be in for a long day.

FOGO, Pouty looked very good. Savio will need help to go 50/50 next saturday

Hopkins offense; Loaded, Williams, Zinn Baskin, Desimone, Smith Degnon, and Epstein if he is back will give us a nightmare match up. Better Zone right off the bat.

GK: Darby looked strong in goal.

Defense: Very agressive. For our turnover prone team, this could be a problem. For three weeks i have been saying the midfield needs to create and move the D. This will be very important this week. Swindell, Wigley can dodge and redodge, clear the hands and shoot. Others not so much. Loyola needs to find those middies that are tough, can handle the ball, make the pass, and rotate the d. There is alot of talent on this team.

And some of our posters are perma-debbie downers. One game in and we need to have a reality check?!?!

I wouldn't take one Hopkins attackman (including a healthy Epstein) over Lindley or Olmstead. You're scared of Hopkins' offense? Our defense might be the best in the nation. I ain't scared of anyone let alone Hopkins. Stay one-on-one, and strip these Jays of the little white ball.

I agree that Prouty might be Hopkins best surprise upside recruit in, well, forever. He showed his grit last year after he basically replaced Naerewski. But, you might recognize that Bailey has game, too, right? And that Bailey owned Prouty when they went head to head (whereas, Nawrewski fared much better against Bailey, so watch for that switch this game).

Anyhow, whatevs. We are finding our rhythm, looking for the magic. It'll come. Too much talent.

Loving the fact that Sam Shafer had a solid first game (PSU and UVA have probably the best collection of shooters in the country, so that is no small accomplishment first time out). Good for confidence.

Gonna be a tad chilly this Saturday...bring out the heaters.

[TheBigIguana]

Onto Hopkins. Some of the posters have rose colored glasses on and are not seeing the reality of the situation. It is great being an optimist, but at some point we need to have a reality check.

Watched the Hopkins game against Towson. We could be in for a long day.

FOGO, Pouty looked very good. Savio will need help to go 50/50 next saturday

Hopkins offense; Loaded, Williams, Zinn Baskin, Desimone, Smith Degnon, and Epstein if he is back will give us a nightmare match up. Better Zone right off the bat.

GK: Darby looked strong in goal.

Defense: Very agressive. For our turnover prone team, this could be a problem. For three weeks i have been saying the midfield needs to create and move the D. This will be very important this week. Swindell, Wigley can dodge and redodge, clear the hands and shoot. Others not so much. Loyola needs to find those middies that are tough, can handle the ball, make the pass, and rotate the d. There is alot of talent on this team.

I've watched Darby and Prouty enough to know that they're nothing to be terrified of. The issue is going to be man to man defense. Williams and Epstein will probably run by us a good deal and we don't look like we know how to deal with it. I'd agree with the zone. But even then I think we can still win. Hop is at least 3 goals worse than UVA too.

[loyola11]

Onto Hopkins. Some of the posters have rose colored glasses on and are not seeing the reality of the situation. It is great being an optimist, but at some point we need to have a reality check.

Watched the Hopkins game against Towson. We could be in for a long day.

FOGO, Pouty looked very good. Savio will need help to go 50/50 next saturday

Hopkins offense; Loaded, Williams, Zinn Baskin, Desimone, Smith Degnon, and Epstein if he is back will give us a nightmare match up. Better Zone right off the bat.

GK: Darby looked strong in goal.

Defense: Very agressive. For our turnover prone team, this could be a problem. For three weeks i have been saying the midfield needs to create and move the D. This will be very important this week. Swindell, Wigley can dodge and redodge, clear the hands and shoot. Others not so much. Loyola needs to find those middies that are tough, can handle the ball, make the pass, and rotate the d. There is alot of talent on this team.

And some of our posters are perma-debbie downers. One game in and we need to have a reality check?!?!

I wouldn't take one Hopkins attackman (including a healthy Epstein) over Lindley or Olmstead. You're scared of Hopkins' offense? Our defense might be the best in the nation. I ain't scared of anyone let alone Hopkins. Stay one-on-one, and strip these Jays of the little white ball.

I agree that Prouty might be Hopkins best surprise upside recruit in, well, forever. He showed his grit last year after he basically replaced Naerewski. But, you might recognize that Bailey has game, too, right? And that Bailey owned Prouty when they went head to head (whereas, Nawrewski fared much better against Bailey, so watch for that switch this game).

Anyhow, whatevs. We are finding our rhythm, looking for the magic. It'll come. Too much talent.

Not a debbie downer, it has been three in a row, the same mistakes, and turnovers. At what point do you say, this is not working. In the games that i have watched, villanova and uva, offensively we are making the same mistakes. Did not see Richmond, but posters have said the same. When does it become concerning?

Loving the fact that Sam Shafer had a solid first game (PSU and UVA have probably the best collection of shooters in the country, so that is no small accomplishment first time out). Good for confidence.

Gonna be a tad chilly this Saturday...bring out the heaters.

[51percentcorn]

I wouldn't take one Hopkins attackman (including a healthy Epstein) over Lindley or Olmstead.

That's just a stupid, homer statement. A healthy Epstein may very well win the Tewaaraton one day - I have the utmost respect for Lindley and Olmstead but not likely to happen. I might hazard a guess that if Joey was wearing Green, Grey and White he would be the next coming to a certain poster. That being said - Epstein is NOT healthy and may very well not play. I think the game may certainly be more competitive than last year but I would honestly think this is a really tough out for Hopkins. With no Sunday, Monaghan, Maloof (for that game) the Towson boys were really challenged to score goals - they had a close defenseman with 2 goals and 2 assists and an EMO goal so they pretty much had 2 really settled 6v6 goals. Aside from the obvious contributions of Spencer and Scanlon last year, the two things that would worry Hopkins fans the most were the 16 turnovers and the 8-15 clearing - absolutely atrocious. The Hounds also put 29 out of their 42 shots on goal - virtually 70%. That's almost impossible. Loyola actually put 28 shots on goals last week but took 55 - so 50% essentially. For Hopkins to have any chance they must take better care of the ball - clearing and turnovers were an issue Saturday and the sole reason really Towson had life early in the 3rd - and give Loyola less optimal looks at the goal. 70% SOG again and the Jays go back to 34th and Charles 1-1. We will definitely see if Hopkins defense is any better.

[stupefied]

I wouldn't take one Hopkins attackman (including a healthy Epstein) over Lindley or Olmstead.

That's just a stupid, homer statement. A healthy Epstein may very well win the Tewaaraton one day - I have the utmost respect for Lindley and Olmstead but not likely to happen. I might hazard a guess that if Joey was wearing Green, Grey and White he would be the next coming to a certain poster. That being said - Epstein is NOT healthy and may very well not play. I think the game may certainly be more competitive than last year but I would honestly think this is a really tough out for Hopkins. With no Sunday, Monaghan, Maloof (for that game) the Towson boys were really challenged to score goals - they had a close defenseman with 2 goals and 2 assists and an EMO goal so they pretty much had 2 really settled 6v6 goals. Aside from the obvious contributions of Spencer and Scanlon last year, the two things that would worry Hopkins fans the most were the 16 turnovers and the 8-15 clearing - absolutely atrocious. The Hounds also put 29 out of their 42 shots on goal - virtually 70%. That's almost impossible. Loyola actually put 28 shots on goals last week but took 55 - so 50% essentially. For Hopkins to have any chance they must take better care of the ball - clearing and turnovers were an issue Saturday and the sole reason really Towson had life early in the 3rd - and give Loyola less optimal looks at the goal. 70% SOG again and the Jays go back to 34th and Charles 1-1. We will definitely see if Hopkins defense is any better.

Good 51 is a JHU fan otherwise Id also have to question the propriety of the "for Hopkins to have any chance" statement. Valid points made on JHU shortcomings in last Loyola matchup but new year with differences in roster and development stages, 19-23 clearing and 15 turnovers for Jays in opener vs Towson isn't shabby and Jays had 65% sog themselves and Stover aint manning the net. Team that lost last week is getting more credit than team that won based on opponents played . See how that holds. Hounds have slight edge as home team but this is likely to be close either way. Transition D and limiting unsettled possessions seem to be the key beyond the usual fogo and goalie results. .If Epstein plays, expect some rust and tentativeness and for him not to factor much.