Shocking, not surprising
Attackman Lindley leads Loyola Maryland to ‘upset’ of No. 14 Navy
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 afternoon 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.”
The Patriot League has divided the nine men’s lacrosse programs into North and South Divisions. Only the top two teams in each division make the Patriot League Tournament and Loyola would have been in danger of being left out had it lost to Navy.
“We felt with the way the Patriot League is set up this season, this was a must-win. We talked in the locker room all week that this was an absolute must win,” said Toomey, whose squad already had a South Division loss to Lehigh (5-0, 4-0).
McNulty and Swindell are among five Class of 2020 graduates that returned for an extra year of eligibility granted by the NCAA because last season was cut short by the coronavirus crisis. Navy coach Joe Amplo thought the Loyola fourth- and fifth-year seniors showed a sense of urgency.
“Credit to Loyola. What a performance. Their backs were up against the wall,” Amplo said. “Credit to the Loyola upperclassmen. They dodged hard early, they picked up the ground balls and kind of willed their team to win. Those guys made game-winning plays in the first half and we didn’t. Those guys just outplayed us, especially in that first half.”
Sophomore midfielder Patrick Skalniak had three goals and two assists to lead Navy (3-1, 1-1), which was shut out in the first quarter and played catch-up the rest of the way. Senior attackman Christian Daniel scored three goals to become the 36th player in program history to surpass 100 career points.
Freshman attackman Jon Jarosz netted two goals, while sophomore midfielder James Flannery contributed a goal and two assists for Navy, which trailed 8-2 at halftime. Junior attackman Nick Cole added three assists for the
Midshipmen, who outscored the visitors 8-6 in the second half to make the final score respectable.
“I think we were a little flat in the first half. We didn’t come out with the same energy as Loyola,” Daniel said. “They played a full 60 minutes and we just played a half. That was the deciding factor in the game.”
A crowd of 974 saw Navy’s seven-game winning streak at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium snapped.
Amplo said the Navy defensive strategy was not to slide off Olmstead and Lindley, who lead Loyola with 35 and 28 points, respectively. The Midshipmen challenged the offensive midfielders to make plays for the Greyhounds and they did — amassing nine points.
In addition to Seay and Wigley, James Swindell and Evan James both scored goals, while Adam Poitras dished off two assists.
“We wanted to put the game in the hands of our short sticks and hope they could win those matchups.,” Amplo said. “If we were going to lose the game, we were going to have those guys beat us and they did.”
Now Navy finds its back against the wall as far as making the Patriot League Tournament. The Midshipmen face somewhat of a must-win next week at Lehigh.
“We haven’t proven we can play 60 minutes,” Amplo said. “We’re not there yet where we can play 60 minutes.”