Loyola Greyhounds 2023

[Laxmaninamillion]

Yowan is currently not on 2023 roster.

https://loyolagreyhounds.com/sports/men ... sse/roster

Bailey Savio is back. That’s a nice surprise. Anyone see the goal incoming freshman Minicus scored last night in UA All Star game? What a set of hands on that kid.

[HopFan16]

Yowan is currently not on 2023 roster.

https://loyolagreyhounds.com/sports/men ... sse/roster

Bailey Savio is back. That’s a nice surprise.

feel like that has to be a mistake. he has exhausted his eligibility

[wgdsr]

Yowan is currently not on 2023 roster.

https://loyolagreyhounds.com/sports/men ... sse/roster

Bailey Savio is back. That’s a nice surprise.

feel like that has to be a mistake. he has exhausted his eligibility

if he can play another year, there are no rules.

[Laxmaninamillion]

Roster clearly says he’s returning as a grad student for his fifth year (lost one due to COVID).

[HopFan16]

Roster clearly says he’s returning as a grad student for his fifth year (lost one due to COVID).

but he's played in four full seasons already NOT including covid. last season was his fifth year

2018 - 17 games
2019 - 17 games
2020 - 6 games (covid)
2021 - 15 games
2022 - 16 games

[wgdsr]

Roster clearly says he’s returning as a grad student for his fifth year (lost one due to COVID).

he has played 4 full years and one covid year. this would be the widest break in div 1 eligibility of all time in any sport, if true.

[Laxmaninamillion]

Roster clearly says he’s returning as a grad student for his fifth year (lost one due to COVID).

he has played 4 full years and one covid year. this would be the widest break in div 1 eligibility of all time in any sport, if true.

Crazy. Just going by the team’s roster and it clearly says he’s returning. Not sure how.

[wgdsr]

Roster clearly says he’s returning as a grad student for his fifth year (lost one due to COVID).

he has played 4 full years and one covid year. this would be the widest break in div 1 eligibility of all time in any sport, if true.

Crazy. Just going by the team’s roster and it clearly says he’s returning. Not sure how.

he's not. he's up on the roster as a short-term mistake, as 16 says.

[saltydogs]

head that

[Houndfan73]

Savio is not back. He’s on the Whipsnakes roster fergodsakes.

[Farfromgeneva]

Isn’t some of this just,

really higher level,

you’ve got as many as 6 Ivy teams who leapfrogged ahead of
any number of teams after most of the prior two years off.

That had a dramatic effect on any number of teams, Patriot
League, ACCs.

So, how do you now compete with an exceptionally crowded
field, are expectations being set correctly ?

Probably got a bit spoiled w Spencer too

[kramerica.inc]

Isn’t some of this just,

really higher level,

you’ve got as many as 6 Ivy teams who leapfrogged ahead of
any number of teams after most of the prior two years off.

That had a dramatic effect on any number of teams, Patriot
League, ACCs.

So, how do you now compete with an exceptionally crowded
field, are expectations being set correctly ?

Probably got a bit spoiled w Spencer too

Absolutely spoiled.

Expectations are pretty consistent on Evergreen.

Loyola has 2:

1) To play AND BEAT the absolute best teams in the nation on a yearly basis. From any and every major conference. The more the better.
2) Earn the PL bid.

If you do those things, it's not out of the realm of possibility to win a national title or get deep on Memorial Day Weekend.

That mentality (particularly #1) has been engrained in the fabric of the program for 50 years, since Fr Sellinger was president and Cottle was the coach. Loyola has always been a conference outsider so conference play is most important because of where it can get you. But the rest of the schedule is important too to be battle tested. And Toomey was raised with that mentality too, so as long as he's there, (and the game hasn't passed him by) I personally think Loyola will be in good shape.

I think overall this whole covid thing, the extra years of elgibility, and transfer portal has thrown a wrench in the works.
PL is at a disadvantage with graduate students, so that may be something to watch. But I think a lot of this will iron itself out in the next few years.

[10stone5]

Expectations are pretty consistent on Evergreen.

Loyola has 2:

1) To play AND BEAT the absolute best teams in the nation on a yearly basis. From any and every major conference. The more the better.
2) Earn the PL bid.

Nothing wrong with that.

[Laxmaninamillion]

Isn’t some of this just,

really higher level,

you’ve got as many as 6 Ivy teams who leapfrogged ahead of
any number of teams after most of the prior two years off.

That had a dramatic effect on any number of teams, Patriot
League, ACCs.

So, how do you now compete with an exceptionally crowded
field, are expectations being set correctly ?

Probably got a bit spoiled w Spencer too

Absolutely spoiled.

Expectations are pretty consistent on Evergreen.

Loyola has 2:

1) To play AND BEAT the absolute best teams in the nation on a yearly basis. From any and every major conference. The more the better.
2) Earn the PL bid.

If you do those things, it's not out of the realm of possibility to win a national title or get deep on Memorial Day Weekend.

That mentality (particularly #1) has been engrained in the fabric of the program for 50 years, since Fr Sellinger was president and Cottle was the coach. Loyola has always been a conference outsider so conference play is most important because of where it can get you. But the rest of the schedule is important too to be battle tested. And Toomey was raised with that mentality too, so as long as he's there, (and the game hasn't passed him by) I personally think Loyola will be in good shape.

I think overall this whole covid thing, the extra years of elgibility, and transfer portal has thrown a wrench in the works.
PL is at a disadvantage with graduate students, so that may be something to watch. But I think a lot of this will iron itself out in the next few years.

Fans may have gotten spoiled but Toomey hasn’t. This year’s recruiting class is as good as any in years. Minicus, West, Brown, McCullough and more. Tons of 4 Kids. Even the guys who aren’t 4 like Haberman and Cote(Western PA player of the year twice) are extremely talented. My kid has been playing with and against these boys for years. Can’t wait to see if they can make an impact at the next level.

[Turnandrake]

Isn’t some of this just,

really higher level,

you’ve got as many as 6 Ivy teams who leapfrogged ahead of
any number of teams after most of the prior two years off.

That had a dramatic effect on any number of teams, Patriot
League, ACCs.

So, how do you now compete with an exceptionally crowded
field, are expectations being set correctly ?

Probably got a bit spoiled w Spencer too

Absolutely spoiled.

Expectations are pretty consistent on Evergreen.

Loyola has 2:

1) To play AND BEAT the absolute best teams in the nation on a yearly basis. From any and every major conference. The more the better.
2) Earn the PL bid.

If you do those things, it's not out of the realm of possibility to win a national title or get deep on Memorial Day Weekend.

That mentality (particularly #1) has been engrained in the fabric of the program for 50 years, since Fr Sellinger was president and Cottle was the coach. Loyola has always been a conference outsider so conference play is most important because of where it can get you. But the rest of the schedule is important too to be battle tested. And Toomey was raised with that mentality too, so as long as he's there, (and the game hasn't passed him by) I personally think Loyola will be in good shape.

I think overall this whole covid thing, the extra years of elgibility, and transfer portal has thrown a wrench in the works.
PL is at a disadvantage with graduate students, so that may be something to watch. But I think a lot of this will iron itself out in the next few years.

Fans may have gotten spoiled but Toomey hasn’t. This year’s recruiting class is as good as any in years. Minicus, West, Brown, McCullough and more. Tons of 4 Kids. Even the guys who aren’t 4 like Haberman and Cote(Western PA player of the year twice) are extremely talented. My kid has been playing with and against these boys for years. Can’t wait to see if they can make an impact at the next level.

McCullough is the best of the class coming in.

[10stone5]

Even the guys who aren’t 4 like Haberman and Cote(Western PA player of the year twice) are extremely talented.

Mars (PA) is very well coached, Mars pretty well took it to the
eastern PA schools in winning the PA state title (for that class).

For Mars, Cote and the defenseman going to Jacksonville stood out the most from what I observed, then again, those were the two players I was most interested in assessing.

[houndace1]

From USLaxMagazines very early top 25 rankings:

"23. LOYOLA
2022 record: 8-8 (6-2 Patriot)

Last seen: Closing out an uneven season with a 14-13 loss to Army in the Patriot League semifinals.

Initial forecast: It’s not hard to guess where many of the questions directed at the Greyhounds will come from. How do they replace longtime attack mainstays Kevin Lindley and Aidan Olmstead? Who wins the opportunity to succeed goalie Sam Shafer and faceoff specialist Bailey Savio? With long pole Ryan McNulty’s graduation, who’s the next in a long line of impact players at that spot? Some of those are easier to answer than others — for example, an offense with Adam Poitras (29 goals, nine assists), Evan James (26 goals, 11 assists), Joey Kamish (19 goals, nine assists), Seth Higgins (15 goals, 11 assists) and Davis Lindsey (eight goals, 20 assists) isn’t starting out in a bad place. The more concerning thing on Cold Spring Lane is coming off two years of things largely not fitting together well. Loyola solved it in time to make the tournament in 2021 but could not last spring despite oodles of experience. They’ll be old (if not as tested) this year with 11 seniors and seven graduate students, but it’s still safe to expect some changes."


I am actually okay with this ranking. They need to fight and earn their way back into the fold after two seasons of pieces not exactly fitting the into the same sized pegs (think squares pieces going into circle pegs). The team also absorbed big losses after graduation which this little excerpt highlights about Shafer, Lindley, Olmstead, Bailey, McNulty. Those are pretty big names that departed.

Reasons for pessimism - This is largely the same team with the same names that have contributed big minutes since 2020. The record of the team in the last 3 years has equated to 22-14 with a win percentage of 61%. Its not like they are doing anything new per say since the end of 2020 till now, i just personally think they need to define what each persons role is especially on offense as it looks like they were just floating around waiting for someone to do something. As good as Aidan was, he was also turnover friendly with forced feeds and having the ball stripped. As good as a shooter that Evan James is, he didn't create much offense on his own compared to 2021. Seth Higgins may be a fast dodger but he's a dodge down the alley and pass to the adjacent guy. i don't mean to harp on these guys but it was just something that stuck out watching essentially 32-33 games of the same thing happening again and again. Defensive wise, they lose Mcnulty who was banged up at the end of the year but still had a good final send off season, Shafer who was on a yo yo type of leash, and Leblanc who was a consistent good glue guy. Matt higgins is gone and had a decent season after missing out on fall ball. Finally face-off with Bailey graduating after doing a remarkable job over 5 years with Pacheco and Cottone remaining. Overall, there are pieces missing over the field.


Reasons for optimism- While this is largely the same team with the same contributing names, they have also won big games against schools when they play to their POTENTIAL. They made Navy look BAD this year and navy is not a bad team at all. They led 10-2 against Duke at halftime. They came out hot against Hopkins, Rutgers, Towson, Lehigh, Army (both times). This team can play with the best, they just need to figure out what to adjust and change. The cupboard is not bare with talent, and the core of James, Kamish, Poitras, Higgins are all back for at least two more years together. Wyers and Hughes are back for one more go, Middleton can replace Mcnulty as the LSM and I have heard they might bump hughes back down to his natural LSM position. My money for the next close D spot is Josh Fairey. They still have guys like Vandenheuval, Chuevront and Roman to fill in and get good playing time (these guys have been described as the quintessential LSM/Close D prospect and are very good). Sally and Razanka are back as the short sticks, and i think you'll see improvement from Sherwood and Mcgillicuddy as they have another year of experience to learn systems.

There are two big variables that come into play for Davis Lindsey and the remaining crop of the young guys/incoming freshman. Lets not forget that Davis Lindsey put up 28 points with only 3 official games where he just started getting up to speed after recovering from a broken collarbone. This kid was expected to start as a freshman in 2021 mind you. He's a redshirt sophomore now and has at least 3 years left. Barring any injuries, i think he will be a great QB X attackman. My next point with the young guys. Its now your time to show you can play with how many open spots are now on offense. I count at least 4-5 potential open spots. Mcgorry needs runs and he showed flashes, Binney can improve his game, guys like Brett Daubert can emerge. Heuston popped out of nowhere. This midfield needs tinkering and heck why not make 3 midfields because of how many guys need to show they can create and score. Minicus is going to be a starter day 1, he looks like a blend of Aidan and Kevin. Kids like Hugh Brown, Austin Cote, Brady west are absolute ballers and if they show out in practice, i think all these young guys can really contribute.


The last thing i will say is that these men are salivating at the chance to play again and to right the wrongs that occurred during the 2022 season. They took it very hard after the Army loss in the Patriot league semi finals last year. 2023 might experience some lumps but i trust the staff and they know what needs to be tweaked in order to succeed.

[Exlaxbro]

Nice recap. I have never been a fan of Dwan as a coach so what you say about the defense would not surprise me. Hughes was by far the best close defender last year. Moving him would be a huge mistake. Roman is not a close defender. He should stay as LSM. I would think Bean or Vanderhueval would be in over Fairey. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out but I am leaning more pessimistic on this squad in ‘23.

[houndace1]

I think the reason they had Hughes play at close D for two years is because they already had McNulty as the top LSM. If you look at Hughes profile, he fits more of an LSM guy especially playing up at the top of the defense.

Where would you have Middleton play?

Is there any particular reason you haven’t been a fan of Dwan? He’s coaches good defenses in the past and has coached some first team all Americans before.

[Exlaxbro]

Middleton is an LSM too. I think he and Roman could be a good 1-2 punch. Hughes and Wyers are solid there and with an inexperienced goalie they need stability. Especially with the third guy being a wild card.

I just don’t like Dwan’s style. He has always had good players. My impression is that he is lazy. He is easy to figure out which is partially why the d mids always seem to be an issue. I used to be a fan of Toomey but I think the game is changing and he and his staff have not. Good recruiting has not translated into Memorial Day. Even when they had a generational player a few years ago. I hope I am wrong but the needle is pointing down for me in evergreen.