Too deep a hole
Greyhounds give up game’s first 8 goals and can’t fight all the way back vs. Blue Devils
NO. 13 DUKE 13, NO. 11 LOYOLA MARYLAND 10
Lethargic beginnings and the Loyola Maryland men’s lacrosse team apparently don’t mix.
The No. 11 Greyhounds allowed No. 13 Duke to score the first eight goals of the game, which proved to be too deep of a hole in a 13-10 setback before an announced crowd of 1,529 at Ridley Athletic Complex in Baltimore on Saturday afternoon.
The game mirrored a 12-9 loss at reigning NCAA Division I champion Virginia on Feb. 8 — which was the last time Loyola had lost — when the Cavaliers raced to a 9-2 advantage in the second quarter before the Greyhounds rallied in the second half.
“When you do down by eight, I don’t care who you’re playing — you’re really digging yourself a hole,” coach Charley Toomey said. “This team needs to play 60 minutes. That’s what the challenge was to them in the locker room. It’s to not play 45, but 60 minutes. We know we’re young and you kind of have to grow through some of those moments.”
Loyola (4-2) outscored the Blue Devils 6-2 to open the second half, including four straight goals over an 8-minute, 15-second
stretch spanning the third and fourth quarters to narrow the gap to 10-7 with 13:15 left in the final period. But Duke (5-2) scored three straight goals in 2:18 to capture its fourth straight victory in the series and sixth in the last seven.
“Believe it or not, it’s not easy playing with an eight-goal lead against a very talented team because you get this false sense of security,” Blue Devils coach John Danowski said. “You think it’s going to be easy the rest of the way. That’s human nature, [but] your opponent, they’re going to keep battling and fighting.
“Loyola kids, this is a very proud group. Charley does a phenomenal job with them. ... You saw what happened in the second half.”
Blue Devils freshman attackman Dyson Williams led all scorers with five points on four goals and one assist, and junior midfielder Nakeie Montgomery added four points on three goals and one assist.
Senior midfielder Peter Swindell paced the Greyhounds with four points on one goal and three assists, and senior midfielder Logan Devereaux chipped in three points on one goal and two assists. At halftime, freshman goalkeeper Colton Teitelbaum replaced junior Sam Shafer (eight goals allowed and six saves) and gave up five goals while making three stops.
Upping Uppgren’s game
Loyola’s inability to get on the scoreboard until junior attackman Kevin Lindley scored a man-up goal with 1:43 left in the second quarter had a lot to do with Duke graduate student goalkeeper Turner Uppgren, who made nine of his game-high 15 saves in the first half.
Uppgren’s performance was somewhat surprising considering he entered the game with a .392 save percentage and 14.01 goals-against average. In his last start, he made only one stop and surrendered seven goals before getting pulled in a 16-15 overtime win against Richmond on Feb. 28.
“The first couple games, I just had to let it go,” Uppgren said. “I didn’t want to think back. I’ve got a good defense in front of me, and the guys had my back. I was able to just focus on making saves today, but a lot of that has to do with the guys in front of me.”
Doubling down on defense
Lindley had entered the game as the Greyhounds’ leading goal scorer with 17 and was tied for 18th in the nation in average goals at 3.4. He ended up with two goals on eight shots Saturday, but only one occurred during even-strength situations.
Lindley’s struggles could be attributed to the play of Blue Devils senior defenseman
JT Giles-Harris, who limited Lindley to three shots in the first half and shadowed him for much of the game. Giles-Harris said he knew Lindley had scored many of his goals as an off-ball player.
“He doesn’t dodge a lot,” Giles-Harris said. “So it made it a lot easier that I just kind of didn’t need to slide off of him because everyone else was winning matchups. So we didn’t create any offense for them.
“It just so happened that [Uppgren] caught some, and it worked out for us.”
Getting extra on EMOs
Duke had allowed only four extra-man goals in 17 chances prior to Saturday. The man-down defense, however, was exposed by the Greyhounds, who converted 5 of 7 extra-man opportunities.
Swindell, who got all three of his assists in man-up situations, credited the offense with moving the ball quickly enough to keep the Blue Devils on their heels.
“The ball wasn’t sitting in anyone’s stick for too long,” he said. “When you move the ball fast, the defense gets rotating and that’s when you get lanes open.”
Danowski said Loyola’s success will force him and his assistants to scrutinize their man-down defense before Tuesday night’s home game against Jacksonville.
“They certainly tore us apart in that phase of the game,” he said. “Five-for-seven is a great day.”