Greyhounds show they have a long way to go
Lopsided loss to Rutgers stunning disappointing
Rutgers men’s lacrosse was using its game against Loyola Maryland on Saturday as a barometer for the rest of the season, but it only showed that the Greyhounds have quite a rebuilding job before they regain their status as a national power.
Loyola (1-3) won the NCAA Division I national championship in 2012 and spent time as the No. 1 team in all the national polls during the 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2019 seasons.
But on Saturday the Greyhounds were outplayed and outclassed by No. 17 Rutgers in a 13-5 loss before an announced 1,379 fans at the Ridley Athletic Complex.
After an impressive
18-10 win against No. 19 Georgetown in the season opener, Loyola has lost three straight. Two of those losses were against No. 4 Maryland and No. 9 Johns Hopkins, which were somewhat expected.
But a trouncing by Rutgers?
“Ridley has always been a tough place to play for our opponents, but we didn’t play like that today,” Loyola coach Charley Toomey said. “We didn’t do enough to battle to the end and play with great energy.
“That’s my job: getting us ready to play, and today I didn’t do my job today.” This was no contest. Loyola trailed 5-1 at the end of the first quarter and 9-2 at the half. Midfielders Shane Knobloch and Jack Aimone and attackman Dante Kulas each had three goals for the Scarlet Knights, while midfielder James Evans and Dylan Binney had two goals each for Loyola.
The Greyhounds, though, will have a hard time winning this season because they can’t win faceoffs. Entering Saturday, they had only won 27 of 72, and then they lost 15 of 22 against Rutgers.
Loyola’s game has become the basketball version of “Make It, Take It.” But it’s not just faceoffs.
Toomey has tried different combinations with his short-stick midfielders, and they continue to get beat from behind and in front of the net. The Greyhounds also have an
attitude problem: They just don’t play mean or nasty.
This bunch needs to toughen up, especially playing crosstown rival Towson on Tuesday night at home.
Toomey even replaced starting goalie Luke Staudt with Max Watkinson early in the third quarter after the Scarlet Knights went ahead 11-2 on a shot by Kulas with 12:31 remaining.
Stoudt, who has been playing exceptionally well this season, wasn’t at fault.
There were quite a few times when his defense gave him little support.
“We have a slogan:
You either win or learn,” Toomey said. “This will be one of the most challenging weeks of the season.
“We’re going to have to do a lot of walkthroughs because we can’t beat them up physically, we have to take a lot of mental reps. I’d like to see this team come out of the locker room and play with a little more fire in their bellies. We need to
play with more emotion.
“I’d rather lose playing hard than short-arming passes and not going to the goal.
“Give Rutgers credit — they played hard and well. I always say you hug them after a loss and you bite them after a win. There is a lot of hugging going on in our locker room right now.”
Rutgers came to Baltimore in search of its own identity. The Scarlet Knights (3-1) beat Lehigh and Stony Brook in their first two games of the season but were beaten badly by No. 7 Army, 16-7, on Feb. 17.
But Loyola couldn’t slow down Rutgers’ motion offense, and the Scarlet Knights also got a strong game from redshirt freshman goalie Cardin Stoller (Boys’ Latin), who finished with 15 saves.
Rutgers dominated the first half as it won 10 of 13 faceoffs and outshot the Greyhounds 28-17. Loyola had only one goal in each of the first two quarters as Rutgers went into halftime with a 9-2 lead that appeared insurmountable.
The Scarlet Knights scored three of the final four goals in the last six minutes of the first quarter to take a 5-1 lead. Loyola’s short-stick middies took the brunt of Rutgers’ first-quarter assault, consistently getting beat.
Attackman Tanry Krummenacher scored an extraman goal with 5:24 left in the first quarter, and both Aimone and Colin Kurdyla scored in the remaining time for the Scarlet Knights.
The second quarter was a repeat of the first as Kulas scored the first two goals. Knobloch and attackman Ross Scott later scored, as Scott added an unassisted goal with 48.3 seconds left.
Rutgers converted on 2 of 4 extra-man situations in the first half.