Lindley leads Loyola Maryland to ‘upset’
It may have been an upset based off the latest Inside Lacrosse media poll.
However, it most certainly was not a surprise based off history.
Loyola Maryland has been the dominant men’s lacrosse program in the Patriot League since joining in 2014. The Greyhounds have captured four championships and entered 2021 as the preseason favorite for an unprecedented eighth straight season.
Meanwhile, the Greyhounds have dominated the in-state rivalry with Navy, winning eight of the last nine meetings dating back to 1993. The Midshipmen have three wins in the series but the last was in 1943.
Senior attackman Kevin Lindley had three goals and two assists to lift 18th-ranked Loyola past No. 14 Navy 14-10 on a sunny Saturday in Annapolis. Sophomore attackman Joey Kamish totaled two goals and two assists for the Greyhounds, who have four straight and nine of the past 10 against the Mids.
Bailey Savio dominated the faceoffs as Loyola controlled possession and pretty much played make-it, take-it. Savio captured 19 of 28 draws with three different Navy specialists unable to solve the senior.
“When Bails is on, we can kind of control the game and momentum stays on our side,” Lindley said.
Senior attackman Aidan Olmstead scored two goals and assisted another for Loyola (5-3), which improved to 3-1 in the Patriot
League. Midfielders Dan Wigley and Riley Seay scored two goals apiece for the Greyhounds, who jumped out to a 4-0 lead and never looked back.
“We challenged our locker room to get off the bus and show that type of energy. Obviously,
when you see an effort like we did from Bailey Savio at the faceoff stripe, that’s instant energy,” Loyola coach Charley Toomey said. “We also got great energy and competed off the ground. We made some tough ground ball plays.”
Long-stick midfielder Ryan McNulty had a superb field game for the Greyhounds, scoring a goal and adding an assist while leading the transition game. The graduate student was also credited with three ground balls and two caused turnovers.
“Any time the ball is Ryan’s stick we’re very comfortable offensively. He’s as good as anyone we’ve had between the lines,” Toomey said.
Loyola was coming off a disappointing 7-6 loss to Charles Street rival Towson. The Greyhounds were sloppy with the ball, committing 29 turnovers and finishing with only two assists. Toomey and offensive coordinator Marc Van Arsdale spent the past week pushing the attackmen and midfielders to play at a higher tempo and do a better job of sharing the ball.
“It was simple fixes. If you look at the Towson game, our pace of play just was not there,” Lindley said. “It starts with whenever you step on the field on the offensive side of the ball, you’re sprinting. If you’re not going to sprint, you’re not going to get on the field.”
Loyola displayed fast, crisp ball movement and that produced a bunch of high-percentage shots. Navy goalie Spencer Rees (13 saves) did not have a chance on many of the shots that came from 10 yards and in.
“We came into the game knowing the Navy goalie was really good, so we knew we had to get kill shots so to speak,” Lindley said. “I think we worked really hard to get those today and made them count.”