Detwiler digs into her bag of tricks
Greyhounds make their way to the NCAA quarterfinals
Katie Detwiler has been Loyola Maryland women’s lacrosse’s do-everything playmaker — with the exception of making a dent in the scoring department.
So it seemed timely that Detwiler’s third goal of the season and sixth goal of her career kickstarted the No. 8 seed Greyhounds to a 9-8 victory over visiting Stony Brook Sunday afternoon in an NCAA Tournament second-round game before an announced 612 at Ridley Athletic Complex.
Loyola, the seven-time Patriot League Tournament champion, improved to 19-2 and extended its winning streak to 14. The team advanced to its second NCAA quarterfinal in as many years and will challenge No. 1 seed Northwestern (18-1) on Thursday at a time to be announced in Evanston, Illinois.
The Wildcats, who captured the Big Ten Tournament crown, rallied from a 6-5 deficit in the third quarter to complete an 8-7 come-from-behind win against Michigan (12-8).
Another quarterfinal appearance for the Greyhounds seemed in jeopardy as they struggled to pull away from the Seawolves in the first two quarters and could only manage a 4-4 tie at halftime.
But when Stony Brook failed to clear the ball early in the third quarter, senior attacker Anna Ruby, a Westminster graduate, spied Detwiler streaking down the field and hit her with a pass. Detwiler continued down the right alley and found the bottom left corner of the net behind graduate student goalkeeper Hailey Duchnowski with 11:27 left.
“In these types of games, you have to capitalize on every single opportunity,” said Detwiler, who scored her last goal in a 21-5 romp at Bucknell on April 19. “Ruby locked eyes on me, and I was like, ‘OK, I’m going.’ Just using my energy wherever I can.”
Coach Jen Adams joked that Detwiler had told her teammates that she didn’t know she had scored because she had closed her eyes before taking the shot. But a workload that included that goal, three draw controls, one caused turnover and the defensive assignment of limiting Colonial Athletic Association Midfielder of the Year Ellie Masera (who finished with one goal on eight shots,
three assists and eight fouls) reminded Adams of how crucial Detwiler has been to the program’s success.
“Katie’s done this from day one since she’s stepped foot on campus, and we’ve been asking that of her,” Adams said of the threetime Patriot League Defender of the Year. “She’s that kind of player. She’s one of those rare breeds with a motor that just keeps going, and she’s so competitive, insanely competitive, but really plays it in the right way.”
Seawolves coach Joe Spallina is well aware of Detwiler’s prowess after coaching her during tryouts for the U.S. national team in 2021.
“She’s a great player, she’s a stud,” he said. “We knew kind of coming in, we figured she would be on either [senior attacker Kailyn] Hart or Masera depending on what the matchups were. We thought with Ellie playing a little more midfield, she’d get lost, and we’d be able to change matchups.”
Detwiler’s goal ignited a 4-0 run in the third quarter for Loyola. That burst included a pair of goals from sophomore midfielder Chase Boyle, who finished with four goals after scoring that many in Friday’s opening-round win over Fairfield.
“I feel like especially today, [5-foot-8 graduate student midfielder] Jillian [Wilson] and I are just so tall,” the 5-10 Boyle said. “So we get put in the middle, and we’ve gotten really good about working off of each other and working off our defenders, whoever is guarding us. I think today, these last two games have been good days for me shooting, and I’m just glad I’ve been able to step up for my team.”
When Hart scored a goal with 9:15 left in the fourth quarter, that marked the Seawolves’ first in a 20:49 stretch during which they committed more turnovers (six) than had shots (five).
“We’ve played tough defense all year,” Adams said. “I think we’re one of the stingiest defenses in the country, and we stepped out and did that today and played our game.”
The Greyhounds’ four-goal advantage at the start of the fourth quarter was trimmed to one after Hart scored her fourth goal of the period with 17.4 seconds remaining.
Adams used a Seawolves timeout to set up a defense in the event that Loyola did not control the ensuing draw but was quickly stopped by Wilson, who then proceeded to win the draw and help the Greyhounds run out the clock.
“Literally came, grabbed me, and said, ‘You don’t need to talk like that. I’m winning us this draw,’ ” Adams said of the Hampstead resident and Gerstell graduate who compiled two goals, two assists, four draw controls, one ground ball and one caused turnover. “And that’s exactly what she did. That was Jillain Wilson in a nutshell. She’s extremely confident, but she backs it up, and that’s been her all season.”
Beside Hart and Masera, the Seawolves (15-4) struggled to find holes in the Greyhounds’ defense. Spallina credited the work in the draw circle by Wilson, Detwiler and junior attacker Sydni Black (a game-high five draw controls) for limiting his offense’s touches.
“I think they went on a run, and they kind of fed off the momentum of them controlling a lot of those draws,” he said. “It’s make-it, take-it for them. So even when you’re making stops, we don’t score, they’re back, they get a goal, they win the draw, and they’re right back on. So it’s really hard to go on a run against a team that’s been able to control draws like that.”
Terps women fall to JMU
The Terps couldn’t hold a four-goal fourth-quarter lead and lost to the No. 7 seed Dukes, 15-14, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in Harrisonburg, Virginia, Sunday afternoon.
Maryland went on a 6-1 run between the second and third quarters to take a 12-8 lead and answered back-to-back goals by JMU with two of its own for a 14-10 advantage with 9:18 remaining. But the Dukes reeled off five straight goals, the last of which came with 54 seconds left by Caitlin McElwee, to rally for the win. Maryland (15-7) had possession with 48 seconds left but couldn’t find the back of the net.
Isabella Peterson scored seven goals to lead JMU, which also beat the Terps, 8-7, on March 1. Hannah Luebecker (four goals), McDonogh graduate Kori Edmondson (three goals), Glenelg Country graduate Shaylan Ahearn (two goals), Hereford
graduate Libby May (two goals), Chrissy Thomas (two goals) led Maryland, which won 21 of 33 draw controls.
The seven losses for the Terps tie the most in a season under coach Cathy Reese.
Natalie Smith (four goals) paced Syracuse, which will play No. 7 seed JMU in the next round.