Loyola University Lacrosse 2020

[GreyingHound]

I just watched Towson/ Cornell .. then v Loyola. Loyola not is not close to Cornell. The O looked stale

The outcome was the same though.

[Mr3Putt]

Wonderful! I’m telling u, Loyola is a nice team, but offensively it’s LEGO’s next to Cornell. Your goalie is v good, plus Savio you will be fine. Patriot is decent. Army is your competition.

[laxbro11]

What an excellent win. If not for the lights-out play of Towson's goalie, this game would have been 25-6.

Really...It was a two goal game with 20 minutes left to play. Loyola scores the next goal to make it 8-5 with a minute left in Q3.

Tigers could have been going in to the 4th, down one.

3 make-it/take-it goals were the result of the 2 min n.r. conduct penalty.

To say that Loyola played well is an understatement. Played good enough to win. And Towson was that bad and they did not play two of their starters.

This obsession with some of these middies is getting a little old. Swindell poitras (who did not play well) and wigley. Are your best so far. The others have shown some success but struggle putting the ball in the back of the net, but they do a good job wit turnovers and playing catch with the goalies. Deveraux Cox Bateman Hueston are non existent when it comes to helping Olmstead and lindley.

I will say that kamish is getting better. A nice snipe by raba. And a great feed by Pridemore that could not be handled by the middie ( I could not make out the number)

They should put 20 on the board vs Lafayette. The real test will be duke

How are you a Loyola fan?! 'The middies suck' but also 'we should drop 20 on Lafayette'. Your post is drop-dead serious, debbie downerish, and conflicted. Penn State, which seems to have a fairly good offense, put up 16 on Lafayette and only won by 7. If we suck so bad, how are we supposed to put up 20?!

Relax, man. Try to enjoy the season. Have a little levity. Have some nuance.

The boys are good and getting better. We lost 60% of our offense from last year. We are Three and One. The sideline is electric. Loyola is enjoying lacrosse the way it should be enjoyed. This team is fun to watch grow, not necessarily win the Natty. We are also kinda young. Our fans are the best looking in the country.

Where do these posters come from?

I am a fan, love watching the hounds play.... but i am not seeing improvement. I love that we are 3-1. But I know that as one poster posted our competition has not been the toughest and our mistakes will soon catch up with us. It seems like our current middies are not getting the job done. There has not been improvement after 4 games, is it because that is all the can do? Or as fans should be expect more?

[GreyingHound]

I’m a Tow- guy. The new goalie Shaefer*. is very good takes up space, plays angles. Honestly KL has too much of a green light. You have enough talent to spread it out. He is small, shot is solid( nothing earth shattering ). Charlie & staff does a great job. MCV offense could do more on GLE. It’s too much top & bottom. I just watched Cornell - the Offense could be top3 in the country. Army/ Loy for the Conference title. The stadium & the team etc is impressive. Long way from Curley field ! BOL

Thanks for insights. I agree with all of them (except maybe the one about Lindley having too much of a green light - most of his shots come from in tight and are high percentage). It's a shame the Tigers are off to such a rough start after such a successful season a year ago. Their schedule is brutal too, so no opportunity to catch their breath. I was really surprised to see Coach Nadalen lose his composure last night. He was absolutely right that Loyola stepped offsides and the ref missed it, but to protest the way he did really hurt his team. And it was an incidental offsides that didn't really affect the play (other than it should have been a turnover). I've seen teams score with 7 on a fast break and it didn't get called - that's more egregious.

I love the reference to Curley Field! Yes, the Hounds have come a long way! Fun bit of trivia: my very first summer job was on the grounds crew at Loyola College, and I got to repaint the lines on Curley Field. We used traffic paint, which dried so fast in the 90+ degree heat that the roller was dry before I could put it on the turf. If those lines were a little crooked, I take full responsibility.

[GreyingHound]

Wonderful! I’m telling u, Loyola is a nice team, but offensively it’s LEGO’s next to Cornell. Your goalie is v good, plus Savio you will be fine. Patriot is decent. Army is your competition.

Can't argue there.

[kramerica.inc]

So when the schedule was released, in the PL thread, what were the predictions for the Hounds after 4 games?

I remember seeing a few.

Pretty sure many had us pegged for 2-2...best case scenario!

I’m happy with 3-1. Especially with how many moving parts we’ve had. This team has shown tremendous promise and improved in a number of ways in just the first few weeks. That’s a great sign. Lots of upside for the Hounds. Enjoy the ride!

[Peter Brown]

Exactly, kramerica, inc..

Back to the field.

Tomorrow is gonna be cold; Easton PA sees the sun in February for perhaps all of one day, and tomorrow will at least be sunny. But, cold.... I really hate outdoor lacrosse in February. All sorts of unpredictable weather. We should all just play inside the Carrier Dome until March 15.

I'll be happy to get out of there with a win...we'll need to figure out a way to keep warm and the blood flowing.

Let's go Hounds!!!!

[NovaHound]

Yeah - gonna be cold.

IRT several posters saying things like "don't see improvement from middies", "should Fans expect more", "who have Hounds really played with winning records", etc... ? I ask what team have you been watching. There has been improvement. Toomey is playing a lot of different players, getting them minutes to help them improve. Some of them scored their first college goals or had an assist Wednesday night. Looked like they were having fun and they were very happy with the win.

Enjoy the ride. Hounds will improve each week. Competition will be up and down. Some games harder than others. Good teams can make you look bad. Blah Blah Blah.

I was predicting a 3-2 start going into the Duke game. I hope this doesn't come true. Lafayette is not a "cake-walk" any more. Hounds should get the "W" but it could be close or it could be a stinker like Marist-Army. Who knows?? There were a lot of positives Wednesday night and I know Towson isn't the team from last year. So what. Neither is Loyola. Yeah - game broke open in the 4th, but a lot of games go like that. Be patient. Your shots will begin to hit the back of the net. Shot percentage is now inching upward.

Talk about team chemistry. How about the two assists from McNulty. He could have easily made the shots IMO but unselfishly passed the ball. How about many of the boys shaving their heads for a charity? Great kids! And that's a winning culture that creates impact on the field.

Don't be worried. Boys are having fun doing what they love and are improving each game. Enjoy the Ride!

[TheBigIguana]

Yeah - gonna be cold.

IRT several posters saying things like "don't see improvement from middies", "should Fans expect more", "who have Hounds really played with winning records", etc... ? I ask what team have you been watching. There has been improvement. Toomey is playing a lot of different players, getting them minutes to help them improve. Some of them scored their first college goals or had an assist Wednesday night. Looked like they were having fun and they were very happy with the win.

Enjoy the ride. Hounds will improve each week. Competition will be up and down. Some games harder than others. Good teams can make you look bad. Blah Blah Blah.

I was predicting a 3-2 start going into the Duke game. I hope this doesn't come true. Lafayette is not a "cake-walk" any more. Hounds should get the "W" but it could be close or it could be a stinker like Marist-Army. Who knows?? There were a lot of positives Wednesday night and I know Towson isn't the team from last year. So what. Neither is Loyola. Yeah - game broke open in the 4th, but a lot of games go like that. Be patient. Your shots will begin to hit the back of the net. Shot percentage is now inching upward.

Talk about team chemistry. How about the two assists from McNulty. He could have easily made the shots IMO but unselfishly passed the ball. How about many of the boys shaving their heads for a charity? Great kids! And that's a winning culture that creates impact on the field.

Don't be worried. Boys are having fun doing what they love and are improving each game. Enjoy the Ride!

Agree with most of what you've said. One thing though: Lafayette really still needs to be a cakewalk if we want to get where expectations are for most Loyola teams. They lost by 7 (after a garbage time rally), 14 and 16 to the three ranked teams they played. Loyola should be up double digits after 3 quarters or something isn't quite right.

[Peter Brown]

Yeah - gonna be cold.

IRT several posters saying things like "don't see improvement from middies", "should Fans expect more", "who have Hounds really played with winning records", etc... ? I ask what team have you been watching. There has been improvement. Toomey is playing a lot of different players, getting them minutes to help them improve. Some of them scored their first college goals or had an assist Wednesday night. Looked like they were having fun and they were very happy with the win.

Enjoy the ride. Hounds will improve each week. Competition will be up and down. Some games harder than others. Good teams can make you look bad. Blah Blah Blah.

I was predicting a 3-2 start going into the Duke game. I hope this doesn't come true. Lafayette is not a "cake-walk" any more. Hounds should get the "W" but it could be close or it could be a stinker like Marist-Army. Who knows?? There were a lot of positives Wednesday night and I know Towson isn't the team from last year. So what. Neither is Loyola. Yeah - game broke open in the 4th, but a lot of games go like that. Be patient. Your shots will begin to hit the back of the net. Shot percentage is now inching upward.

Talk about team chemistry. How about the two assists from McNulty. He could have easily made the shots IMO but unselfishly passed the ball. How about many of the boys shaving their heads for a charity? Great kids! And that's a winning culture that creates impact on the field.

Don't be worried. Boys are having fun doing what they love and are improving each game. Enjoy the Ride!

Agree with most of what you've said. One thing though: Lafayette really still needs to be a cakewalk if we want to get where expectations are for most Loyola teams. They lost by 7 (after a garbage time rally), 14 and 16 to the three ranked teams they played. Loyola should be up double digits after 3 quarters or something isn't quite right.

Never bank on scores in cold weather...you never know which team shows up and which doesn't. Skill and ability can easily be neutralized in this kind of freeze.

Lafayette's freshman FOGO Turco has steadily gotten better; when he gets close to 50%, Lafayette stays competitive. He started his season slowly but has crawled his way close to 50%.

Lafayette's defense and goalie are suspect at this stage. Until they prove otherwise, that is what we should look to in this game. Teams are outshooting Lafayette by 2-1 margins. Their defense seems susceptible to backdoor cuts which plays to Lindley's strength.

For their offense, Robbins is taking a ton of their overall shots, with no assists.

UNC blasted Lafayette with backdoor cuts all day long. I'm impressed they kept the PSU game as close as they did.

Biggest hurdle will be to keep warm. A win is all I want...could not care less about margin.

[laxpere]

Penn State vs Lafayette was not "close". Penn State was up 15-4 after three quarters when Coach Tambroni took his foot off the gas and cleared the bench. In the fourth, Lafayette out scored them 5-1, but Penn State only scored once on five shots so my guess is Penn State held back. Backup face-off guy went 3 for 6. Only surprise is that the Penn State starting goalie played 12 minutes in the fourth and gave up four before the backup played.

It seemed like the same thing happened in the Towson game after scoring three during the non-releasable conduct penalty, but clearly the foot was on the gas and the bench had the green light. Coach Amplo cleared the bench in the Furman game and they didn't take a shot in the fourth after they were up 19-zip, probably out of respect for Coach Meade.

I wish more coaches would clear the bench when the outcome is clear. Good for player development and team morale.

[houndace1]

Finally have time to write my review of the Towson game.

Very very happy that some of the freshmen scored their first collegiate goals.

Defense looked good at times and Shafer made nice saves. His outlet passes to spark transition are nice to see which really gives an opportunity to score on fast break opportunities.

6v6 offense looked better. I really think Swindell can have a breakout senior year. Not only can he dish out some assists with good spacing, he has the prettiest shot form with time and room and most times its an instant goal. Swindell can possibly also operate as a 3rd QB option in case Olmstead, Kamish can't beat their guy.

Of Olmstead's 4 assists, the only one that made me have a small moment of fear was his first, where he threw it all the way backside after running past GLE to lindley. Other than that, the rest of the assists were nice!

Midfield looks to be better with their initiating

Some cons;
We had 3 transition opportunities after 3 failed clears and failed to convert on every single one. Have to cash in at least one of those. Poitras didn't have a great game but i expect him to bounce back against Lafayette.

[DALaxDad]

Where do these posters come from?

PB, you need them. Without all the negativism, how you ever going to catch JHU's page count?

[loyola11]

Yeah - gonna be cold.

IRT several posters saying things like "don't see improvement from middies", "should Fans expect more", "who have Hounds really played with winning records", etc... ? I ask what team have you been watching. There has been improvement. Toomey is playing a lot of different players, getting them minutes to help them improve. Some of them scored their first college goals or had an assist Wednesday night. Looked like they were having fun and they were very happy with the win.

Enjoy the ride. Hounds will improve each week. Competition will be up and down. Some games harder than others. Good teams can make you look bad. Blah Blah Blah.

I was predicting a 3-2 start going into the Duke game. I hope this doesn't come true. Lafayette is not a "cake-walk" any more. Hounds should get the "W" but it could be close or it could be a stinker like Marist-Army. Who knows?? There were a lot of positives Wednesday night and I know Towson isn't the team from last year. So what. Neither is Loyola. Yeah - game broke open in the 4th, but a lot of games go like that. Be patient. Your shots will begin to hit the back of the net. Shot percentage is now inching upward.

Talk about team chemistry. How about the two assists from McNulty. He could have easily made the shots IMO but unselfishly passed the ball. How about many of the boys shaving their heads for a charity? Great kids! And that's a winning culture that creates impact on the field.

Don't be worried. Boys are having fun doing what they love and are improving each game. Enjoy the Ride!

Agree with most of what you've said. One thing though: Lafayette really still needs to be a cakewalk if we want to get where expectations are for most Loyola teams. They lost by 7 (after a garbage time rally), 14 and 16 to the three ranked teams they played. Loyola should be up double digits after 3 quarters or something isn't quite right.

Never bank on scores in cold weather...you never know which team shows up and which doesn't. Skill and ability can easily be neutralized in this kind of freeze.

Lafayette's freshman FOGO Turco has steadily gotten better; when he gets close to 50%, Lafayette stays competitive. He started his season slowly but has crawled his way close to 50%.

Lafayette's defense and goalie are suspect at this stage. Until they prove otherwise, that is what we should look to in this game. Teams are outshooting Lafayette by 2-1 margins. Their defense seems susceptible to backdoor cuts which plays to Lindley's strength.

For their offense, Robbins is taking a ton of their overall shots, with no assists.

UNC blasted Lafayette with backdoor cuts all day long. I'm impressed they kept the PSU game as close as they did.

Biggest hurdle will be to keep warm. A win is all I want...could not care less about margin.

I understand where laxbro is coming from and see that at 3-1 is a snapshot of the season after 4 games. and the games we have won are teams that have a 3 and 8 record, with wins against towson, quinipiac and st johns. we should be playing better and developing against teams that are not competitive. Time will tell.
Questions to think about as the season progresses.
1. Can Savio continue on as a stud? we he get worn out and will they give pachecko more opportunities? Our FO unit will have to be there to protect Savio and help him with Gbs
2. WIth attack at 27% shooting percentage and middies at 19%. Will we be competitive against the stronger teams. Olmstead and Linley have been trying to do too much and taking poor shots.
3. EMO, Can we be better, seems like we take a lot of time to get things moving. IMO we lost a lot of time with the 2 minute unreleasble during th townson game. Would Pridemore be a better feeder?

Sometimes we need to look critically at ourselves in order to make improvements, the goal is to go deep in the playoffs, not just win patriot league or get to playoffs. We need to do a better job of taking care of the ball, stopping the unforced turnovers and taking advantage of the transition game.

Need to get out of Lafeyette with a W, rest and get ready for Duke, they will be a benchmark on how well we are progressing

[Peter Brown]

Where do these posters come from?

PB, you need them. Without all the negativism, how you ever going to catch JHU's page count?

Well, the one thing I do not want to do is compare ourselves to JHU...they have their own issues without me piling on. Plus, I'm scared they will in fact fire Petro and thereby regain their elite lacrosse status. I pray they retain him!

I can't tell if some of these Fanlax Loyola board posters are trolls, or god's honest Loyola fans. Jesus mary and joseph, if Loyola doesn't start out every game with a 15-goal lead, for some here it's like our squad is the 'worst team in D1 history'. I mean, we lost 60% of our offense from last year, and are playing a ton of freshmen this year, you'd think you might wait until the regular season begins before lobbing metaphorical hand grenades.

If you've ever attended a game at the RAC, you'd see that we have some really passionate but generally really positive fans; I cheer for the other team if I see them make a sweet play tbh.

This Hounds team is on the younger side and plays with a ton of hustle...there's no way you'd harshly critique their every move if you actually support them. So, I don't know where some of these people do come from...but I have my suspicions, cough-Quint Kessenich-cough.

Some of this debbie-downer posting is a very unique lacrosse personality where unless you win the Natty by 20, your team is 'awful'. It's a weird perfection psychosis found in US lacrosse and European soccer fan bases. I blame it on unsatisfied personal achievement.

[kramerica.inc]

Savio took every faceoff last year. He should be ready if necessary. And it's nice to have 2 capable backups there should the need arise.
F/O is a position of strength for the Hounds.

[NovaHound]

Where do these posters come from?

PB, you need them. Without all the negativism, how you ever going to catch JHU's page count?

Well, the one thing I do not want to do is compare ourselves to JHU...they have their own issues without me piling on. Plus, I'm scared they will in fact fire Petro and thereby regain their elite lacrosse status. I pray they retain him!

I can't tell if some of these Fanlax Loyola board posters are trolls, or god's honest Loyola fans. Jesus mary and joseph, if Loyola doesn't start out every game with a 15-goal lead, for some here it's like our squad is the 'worst team in D1 history'. I mean, we lost 60% of our offense from last year, and are playing a ton of freshmen this year, you'd think you might wait until the regular season begins before lobbing metaphorical hand grenades.

If you've ever attended a game at the RAC, you'd see that we have some really passionate but generally really positive fans; I cheer for the other team if I see them make a sweet play tbh.

This Hounds team is on the younger side and plays with a ton of hustle...there's no way you'd harshly critique their every move if you actually support them. So, I don't know where some of these people do come from...but I have my suspicions, cough-Quint Kessenich-cough.

Some of this debbie-downer posting is a very unique lacrosse personality where unless you win the Natty by 20, your team is 'awful'. It's a weird perfection psychosis found in US lacrosse and European soccer fan bases. I blame it on unsatisfied personal achievement.

Thank you PB for expressing my sentiments better than I can. If I wanted all of this negativity I'd hang out on the Hopkins thread. For all of you lax experts out there (armchair quarterbacks) - chill. Or if you are a Hound fan - really chill and enjoy what's going on. It's a culture of sustained success on and off the field. This is the team we have. Could we commit fewer turnovers? Yeah, I suppose we could but we aren't suited up and playing and I'm not sure we can channel out thoughts to the players on the field - wish we could. That would be awesome. Gosh, they way I read it anything less than undefeated is a disaster. Again, one more time, this is the team we have and Toomey is bringing players along by getting them minutes. It's the Patriot League Championship that punches your ticket into the NCAA - guaranteed. I suspect Toomey understands that and there might be some growing pains and mistakes made by younger players. Heck, the Hounds might not match up good against some teams and beat them. Or maybe they will? We could have some close games that many expect to be blowouts. A W is a W.

You watch the games and this is what you might see; Swindell out there on the wings for a face-off. Playing defense. Playing the last 6 minutes of a game (Rutgers - if memory serves me correct). He's getting moved all over the place because that's where they need him. The coaches will do what it takes to win the Patriot and build this program. Young players are getting time on the field. Some of you were probably thinking what the coaches saw in Kamish because he was still at Attack after Hopkins. No goals - many shots. Didn't the Hounds have someone better? What was going on? Etc... Well, Hat tricks in the past two games. They saw something and know something.

I don't mean to sound critical, but dang, some of the negativity is simply excruciating. Lighten up Francis. This team and its players, I believe, will continue to improve and get better each week. If they loose it won't be from a lack of effort or preparation, it just happens.

As Sun Tzu said, "perfect is the enemy of good". Let's just hope the Hounds are Good.

UNC 2016 - Natty - who saw that happening? Anything can happen this season - take the long view.

Come on Back Peter - help me out.

[TheBigIguana]

Yeah - gonna be cold.

IRT several posters saying things like "don't see improvement from middies", "should Fans expect more", "who have Hounds really played with winning records", etc... ? I ask what team have you been watching. There has been improvement. Toomey is playing a lot of different players, getting them minutes to help them improve. Some of them scored their first college goals or had an assist Wednesday night. Looked like they were having fun and they were very happy with the win.

Enjoy the ride. Hounds will improve each week. Competition will be up and down. Some games harder than others. Good teams can make you look bad. Blah Blah Blah.

I was predicting a 3-2 start going into the Duke game. I hope this doesn't come true. Lafayette is not a "cake-walk" any more. Hounds should get the "W" but it could be close or it could be a stinker like Marist-Army. Who knows?? There were a lot of positives Wednesday night and I know Towson isn't the team from last year. So what. Neither is Loyola. Yeah - game broke open in the 4th, but a lot of games go like that. Be patient. Your shots will begin to hit the back of the net. Shot percentage is now inching upward.

Talk about team chemistry. How about the two assists from McNulty. He could have easily made the shots IMO but unselfishly passed the ball. How about many of the boys shaving their heads for a charity? Great kids! And that's a winning culture that creates impact on the field.

Don't be worried. Boys are having fun doing what they love and are improving each game. Enjoy the Ride!

Agree with most of what you've said. One thing though: Lafayette really still needs to be a cakewalk if we want to get where expectations are for most Loyola teams. They lost by 7 (after a garbage time rally), 14 and 16 to the three ranked teams they played. Loyola should be up double digits after 3 quarters or something isn't quite right.

Never bank on scores in cold weather...you never know which team shows up and which doesn't. Skill and ability can easily be neutralized in this kind of freeze.

Lafayette's freshman FOGO Turco has steadily gotten better; when he gets close to 50%, Lafayette stays competitive. He started his season slowly but has crawled his way close to 50%.

Lafayette's defense and goalie are suspect at this stage. Until they prove otherwise, that is what we should look to in this game. Teams are outshooting Lafayette by 2-1 margins. Their defense seems susceptible to backdoor cuts which plays to Lindley's strength.

For their offense, Robbins is taking a ton of their overall shots, with no assists.

UNC blasted Lafayette with backdoor cuts all day long. I'm impressed they kept the PSU game as close as they did.

Biggest hurdle will be to keep warm. A win is all I want...could not care less about margin.

Penn State wasn't actually close. It was 15-4 after 3 and the Leopards made it close against the backups in the 4th.

[NovaHound]

Not sure I get your point...

Who cares what Penn State did?

Different day. Different teams.

[Peter Brown]

If any of you Hounds players are reading this board, it's gonna be cold tomorrow, so get ready! Bring your A game!

Let's go, Hounds faithful!!!