Television:  ESPNU

The Game: Johns Hopkins (8-4) welcomes Charles Street rival Loyola (10-3) to Homewood Field for a key late-season game. JHU is ranked 11th in this week’s USILA Poll, while Loyola carries a number seven national ranking into the game.

A Look Back: Johns Hopkins will carry a two-game winning streak into this week’s game against Loyola as the Blue Jays followed their win two weeks ago at top-ranked Maryland with a 15-4 win over Navy last Saturday. Seventh-ranked Loyola made the long return trip from Hobart an enjoyable one as the ‘Hounds raced past the Statesmen, 19-11.

Series History: This week’s game will be the 51st in a series that dates to a 20-1 Johns Hopkins win in 1939. The Blue Jays lead the series 47-3 and have won 13 straight against the Greyhounds.

Senior Day: The 11 seniors on the 2013 Johns Hopkins men’s lacrosse team will play their final regular season home game at Homewood Field this week. The 11 have helped the Blue Jays to a 40-19 record, three trips to the NCAA Tournament and two appearances in the NCAA Quarterfinals during their time at Homewood. There will be a ceremony recognizing the 11 before the game.

Program Ties: Johns Hopkins associate head coach Bill Dwan is the older brother of Loyola assistant coach Matt Dwan.

These are the Facts: Johns Hopkins enters this week’s game against Loyola with an all-time record of 932-302-15 (.752). The Blue Jays own nine NCAA titles, 29 USILA titles and six ILA titles for a total of 44 national championships.

1,250 and Counting: This week’s game against Loyola will be the 1,250th in the history of the Johns Hopkins men’s lacrosse program.

That’s 103 Games Over .500: Johns Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala picked up his 169th career win with Johns Hopkins’ victory over Navy last week and he now stands at 169-66 overall. Included in that mark is a 146-49 record at JHU and a 23-17 record in three seasons as the head coach at Cornell.
Pietramala ranks second all-time in school history in career coaching victories as only Hall of Fame coach Bob Scott (158 wins from 1955-74) has more victories than Pietramala while patrolling the sidelines at Homewood.

April Reign: Flipping the calendar to April has usually been a good sign for the Blue Jays, who are 52-11 (.825) under head coach Dave Pietramala in games played in April. JHU is 29-5 at home, 21-4 on the road and 2-2 on a neutral field in April under Pietramala’s guidance.

Must be the Speech: There must be something to what Johns Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala says in the locker room that sparks the Blue Jays as Johns Hopkins holds decided scoring advantages in the first and third quarters through 12 games. JHU has outscored the opposition 43-23 in the first quarter and 40-24 in the third.
The Blue Jays also hold a 28-20 scoring margin in the second quarter and a 37-29 advantage in the fourth quarter.

Attack Oriented: The Johns Hopkins starting attack trio of John Kaestner, Brandon Benn and Wells Stanwickfueled last week’s 15-4 win vs. Navy as they combined for nine goals and eight assists.
Kaestner totaled career highs of three goals, three assists and six points, while Benn tied his career high with five goals on the day. Stanwick scored once and matched his personal best with five assists.

Balancing Act: Johns Hopkins counts nine players with six or more goals and nine players with 12 or more points through 12 games. In all, 18 different players have found the back of the net for JHU and 22 players have at least one point.

It’s Been a While – Part I: Johns Hopkins held Navy to just four goals – and none in the final 28 minutes – in last week’s 15-4 victory. This defensive effort came seven days after JHU held Maryland to four goals in a 7-4 win. This marks the first time the Blue Jays have held back-to-back opponents to four goals or less since 2008, when JHU held Hofstra (10-4) and Navy (10-4) to four goals in victories in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.

It’s Been a While – Part II: More than six years had passed since Johns Hopkins last won a game when scoring seven goals or less. Prior to the 7-4 win at Maryland, the Blue Jays’ last win when scoring seven or less came on March 3, 2007, when JHU topped Princeton, 7-6, in double overtime in the Face-Off Classic at M&T Bank Stadium. Ironically, the win against Princeton that day came one week after a one-goal loss to Albany; as did this year’s win at Maryland.

The Key to Victory – Part I: Johns Hopkins is 7-1 on the year when scoring in double figures. The Blue Jays are 1-3 when scoring fewer than 10 goals. JHU scored its first win of the season when scoring less than 10 goals with the 7-4 win at Maryland.

The Key to Victory – Part II: Johns Hopkins improved to 8-0 on the year when holding the opposition to less than 10 goals with the win against Navy. On the flip side, JHU is 0-4 when allowing 10 goals or more.

EMO Among Nation’s Best: The Blue Jay extra-man offense is 25-of-56 (.446) on the year and currently ranks eighth in the nation in man-up offense.
Seven different players have scored at least one extra man goal for the Blue Jays with freshman Ryan Brown(8), junior Brandon Benn (6) and sophomore Wells Stanwick (4) leading the way. Brown’s eight extra man goals are already the most by a Johns Hopkins player since 2004, when Matt Rewkowski had 12 and Conor Ford had eight.

Welcome Back: Junior midfielder Rob Guida returned to the lineup at Maryland after missing eight games with injury. Guida took his customary spot on Johns Hopkins’ first midfield and scored one goal with two ground balls to his credit. He added another goal and two more GBs against Navy and now has three goals, one assist and eight ground balls on the year. Two of his goals are extra-man tallies.

Kaestner Enjoys Career Day: Senior attackman John Kaestner fueled JHU’s 15-4 win against Navy with the most productive game of his career. Starting again for an injured Zach Palmer, Kaestner totaled career highs of three goals, three assists and six points to go along with three ground balls on the day.
Despite playing in just eight of JHU’s 12 games, Kaestner now ranks seventh on the team in scoring with eight goals and seven assists for 15 points. In 21 career games played before this season, he had four goals and two assists.
He also represents the third-generation of Kaestners to play at JHU as his grandfather (Benjamin “Bud” Kaestner, Jr.) and uncle (Benjamin “Hank” Kaestner, III) both played lacrosse at Johns Hopkins, are members of the All-Time Johns Hopkins Team and the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame. His uncle was a two-time recipient of the Schmeisser Award as the nation’s top defenseman (1966 & 1967), His father, John, played lacrosse at Maryland, was a three-time All-American and the 1972 recipient of the Turnbull Award, which is presented annually to the nation’s top attackman.
In addition, Kaestner’s two older sisters were also accomplished Division I lacrosse players. His oldest sister, earned All-America honors three times at Georgetown, while another sister, Christie, played at Duke and was a First Team All-America pick for the Blue Devils.

Stanwick Leads Team in Scoring: Sophomore attackman Wells Stanwick had a nine-game streak with multiple points come to an end at Maryland as he was held scoreless for the first time this season, but he bounced back in a big way in the 15-4 win over Navy with one goal and a career-high five assists for six points.
Stanwick continues to lead the team in scoring with 23 goals and 21 assists for 44 points on the year and he has far surpassed his goal (9), assist (13) and point (23) totals from last season. He currently ranks 15th in the nation in points per game (4.00), 19th in assists per game (1.91) and second in shooting percentage (.535).
Stanwick has recorded at least two points in 10 of the 11 games he has played in this season and, despite not registering a point at Maryland, still has 36 points in his last eight games (4.5/game).
Stanwick enjoyed the finest game of his career in the 19-9 win over Mount St. Mary’s earlier this season as he totaled five goals and four assists for nine points. Previously he had never had more than two goals, three assists or four points in a game. Stanwick is the first Johns Hopkins player to post nine points in a game since Kyle Barrie had five goals and four assists in a 17-3 win over Navy in 2003. He is also the first JHU player with back-to-back six-point games since Dan Denihan did it against Villanova (8), Ohio State (6) and Maryland (7) during the 2000 season.

Poppleton Rolls On: Senior Mike Poppleton continued to enjoy a standout season as he won 15-of-17 faceoffs and grabbed 10 ground balls in last week’s win over Navy. It was the 11th time in is career he has won 14 or more faceoffs in one game.
Poppleton, who ranks second in the nation in faceoff winning percentage, is now 150-of-220 (.682) on the year and leads the team with 83 ground balls. He also improved to 340-of-530 (.642) in his career with his showing last week against Navy and now ranks seventh in school history in career faceoffs won and eighth in faceoffs attempted.

Palmer Ranks Third in Scoring: Despite missing the last two games after suffering an injury in practice, senior attackman Zach Palmer is still ranked third on the team in scoring with 12 goals goal and 12 assists on the year. He posted three goals and one assist at North Carolina and added one goal against Albany before missing the games against Maryland and Navy.
Palmer now has career totals of 71 goals and 68 assists for 139 points. He enters this week’s game against Loyola needing just two assists to become the 11th player in school history to amass 70 goals and 70 assists.

Benn Leads Team in Goals: Junior Brandon Benn continues to pace the team in goals (28) and ranks second in points (29) after punching up a career-high-tying five goals in last week’s win over Navy. He has scored 58 of his 63 career goals since the start of the 2012 season and has scored at least one goal in all 11 games this season and 14 straight dating back to last season.
Benn’s 14-game goal-scoring streak is currently the ninth-longest active streak in the nation.

What Brown Does For Us: Freshman Ryan Brown has stepped in and made an immediate impact for the Blue Jays in his first year at Homewood. Brown has 14 goals and four assists through 12 games and leads the team with eight extra-man goals. He has registered at least one point in nine of 12 games this season and his eight extra-man goals are already the most by a Johns Hopkins player since 2004, when Matt Rewkowski (12) andConor Ford (8) led a potent JHU extra man unit.
Brown fired home the first hat trick of his career and added an assist for a career-high four points in the 15-8 win over Virginia and added two goals at North Carolina. He now has six multi-point and four multi-goal games to his credit this season.

Sanders Breaks Through: Junior midfielder Rex Sanders entered the 2013 season with one career goal to his credit. He has already far surpassed that total as he has scored 13 goals through 12 games. Sanders ranks fifth on the team in goals (13) and ranks ninth in points (13).

Cattoni Emerging: Freshman Holden Cattoni played in two of the Blue Jays’ first three games, but didn’t register a point in those two outings.
That changed quickly as the hard-shooting lefty punched up back-to-back two-point games against Princeton and Mount St. Mary’s. He fired home a pair of goals against the Tigers and added one goal and one assist against the Mount. He scored an extra man goal against Syracuse, added one goal and one assist vs. Virginia, one goal against Albany and an assist vs. Navy. He now has six goals and three assists for nine points on the year.

Bassett Among National Win Leaders: Senior Pierce Bassett enters this week’s game against Loyola with a 7.89 goals against average and a .591 save percentage after posting seven saves while allowing just four goals in last week’s win against Navy. He currently ranks ninth in the nation in both save percentage and goals against average.
Bassett enjoyed one of his finest games of the season against Virginia as he posted 16 saves and allowed just seven goals in 59:02. The 16 saves are tied for the second-highest total of his career and he followed that with a 15-save performance against Albany, a 12-save showing against Maryland and the seven-save effort against Navy that boosted his career total to 475 saves, good for seventh place on JHU’s career saves list. He passed Larry Quinn (462 saves • 1982-85) on the career saves list with his 12 against the Terps.
Bassett also enters this week’s game against Loyola tied for second among active Division I goalies in career wins after picking up number 35 against Navy.

Durkin Fuels Defense: Johns Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala has the luxury of returning the nation’s top defensive player in senior co-captain Tucker Durkin, who has picked up right where he left off a year ago.
Durkin has been on a roll of late as the two players he has primarly covered in his last two games – Albany’s Lyle Thompson and Maryland’s Kevin Cooper, combined for one assist in the two games. He held Thompson, the nation’s leading scorer at better than seven points per game, scoreless, while Cooper managed just a first-quarter assist.
Durkin currently ranks fifth on the team in ground balls (24) and leads the team with 15 caused turnovers. He is the anchor of a Johns Hopkins defense that ranks ninth nationally in scoring defense (8.08).

Lightner, Reilly Round Out Starting Defense: While senior Tucker Durkin has drawn the most headlines among JHU’s close defensemen, the Blue Jays also count talented senior Chris Lightner and junior Jack Reillyamong the key pieces to their defensive puzzle.
Lightner leads JHU’s close defensemen and ranks third on the team with 28 ground balls and also has eight caused turnovers to his credit, while Reilly has 13 ground balls and ranks second on the team with 13 caused turnovers. Lightner had five ground balls and two caused turnvoers in the recent win at Maryland.

Scoring Droughts Abound: Despite the new rules in place this season that aim to quicken the pace (and thus increase scoring), the Johns Hopkins defense has been able to hold the opposition scoreless for long stretches.
In the win at top-ranked Maryland, the Blue Jay defense was dialed in from the opening whistle and held the Terps off the scoreboard for stretches of 11:23, 22:02 and 13:13. Senior goalie Pierce Bassett and close defensemen Tucker Durkin, Chris Lightner and Jack Reilly combined to hold Maryland’s starting attack unit to one goal and one assist and the Terps’ potent first midfield managed just three goals and one assist. This is the first time this season JHU has held the opposition scoreless for 11 minutes or more three different times in one game.
The four goals the Blue Jays allowed are the fewest Johns Hopkins has allowed against a team ranked in the top five since April 5, 1986, when JHU topped third-ranked North Carolina, 16-4. The Blue Jays followed that with another strong showing as they held Navy to just four goals on 22 shots and twice held the Midshipmen scoreless for stretches of 20 minutes or longer.

• The Blue Jays have held the opposition scoreless for 11 minutes or more 19 times this season.
• The Blue Jays have held the opposition scoreless for 15 mnutes or more 12 times this season.
• The Blue Jays have held the opposition scoreless for 20 minutes or more seven times this season.

State Rivalries: Last week’s 15-4 win against Navy improved Johns Hopkins’ record to 61-7 (.897) under head coach Dave Pietramala in games played against teams from the state of Maryland. JHU is 5-0 this year against in-state teams.

Poll Position: The Blue Jays are ranked 11th in this week’s USILA Coaches Poll and the Nike/Inside Lacrosse Media Poll as well. The Johns Hopkins Athletic Communications Office uses the USILA Poll to represent JHU’s official ranking at the time of a game. Prior to falling out of the top 20 of the USILA Poll on April 26 and May 3, 2010 (JHU was receiving votes in both polls), the Blue Jays had been ranked in the top 20 in 367 consecutive polls dating back to the first poll in 1973.

More Poll Position: Including this week’s USILA Poll, there have been 407 weekly polls since the inception of the poll in 1973. Amazingly, JHU has been ranked in the top 20 in 405 of those 407 polls. The Blue Jays have been in the top 10 in 381 of the 407 and the top five in 299 of those 407. Johns Hopkins has been ranked number one 104 times since the poll debuted in 1973.

I’m Honored: The Blue Jays return four players who earned All-America honors last season in seniors Tucker Durkin, Pierce Bassett and John Ranagan and junior Rob Guida. Durkin earned First Team All-America honors on defense, while Ranagan and Guida grabbed second team honors at midfield. Bassett earned honorable mention honors in goal and he, Durkin and Ranagan are two-time All-America selections for the Blue Jays.

Odd, But True: Years ending in “3” have been kind, and unkind, to the Blue Jays. Since the formation of the NCAA Tournament in 1971, Johns Hopkins has advanced to the NCAA Championship game three times (1973, 1983, 2003) and the NCAA Semifinals once (1993) in the years ending in three. JHU fell in each of those three title games with the three loses coming by a total of four goals. In each of those instances the Blue Jays subsequently won a national championship within two years.

Representing the Stars and Stripes – Part I: Johns Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala will serve as an assistant coach for the United States at at the 2014 Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) World Championships in Denver Colorado.
Pietramala will serve under Richie Meade, the head coach at Navy from 1995-2011.

Representing the Stars and Stripes – Part II: Johns Hopkins sophomore defender Rob Enright was a member of the United States Team that won the 2012 FIL U-19 World Championship in Turku, Finland. Enright is the 17th Johns Hopkins player to represent the United States at the U-19 Championships since the formation of the event in 1988.

Working Overtime: The loss at North Carolina snapped a three-game winning streak for the Blue Jays in games that have gone to overtime. With the loss the Blue Jays are now 19-10 all-time in overtime under head coach Dave Pietramala.

Game Data

The 2013 regular-season comes to an end for Loyola men’s lacrosse on Saturday, April 27, 2013, when they make the short trip down Charles Street to face Johns Hopkins University.

Face-off is slated for 1 p.m. at Homewood Field.

Watch The Action

Saturday’s game will be the Old Spice College Lacrosse Game of the Week on ESPNU. Booker Coorigan will call the play-by-play, while Mark Dixon handles color analysis. The game can also be viewed on ESPN Mobile and WatchESPN platforms.

Series History

The Greyhounds and Blue Jays will be meeting for the 51st time in series history on Saturday when they take the field. Johns Hopkins holds a 47-3 advantage in the all-time series and is currently on a 13-game winning streak.

Loyola’s last win against the Blue Jays came on March 12, 1999, when the Greyhounds took a 14-5 decision on the road.

Last year, the Blue Jays held the Greyhounds scoreless for the game’s first 18-plus minutes and scored the first five goals en route to a 6-3 halftime advantage. Johns Hopkins eventually went ahead 9-5 on a Rob Guida goal with 14:13 left in regulation, but Loyola rallied to score four in a row.

Pat Laconi’s first career goal, in transition with 3:04 remaining, pulled Loyola within a goal, and Justin Ward dodged from X, scoring just off the left side of the crease with five seconds to play, sending the game to overtime.

With less than 10 seconds remaining, a Josh Hawkins trail-check sent a John Ranagan shot high and wide right, but the ball went right to the stick of Zach Palmer. He hit Guida with a pass on the doorstep, and Guida one-timed a shot into the net for the game-winner with 2.3 ticks left in overtime.

When the teams play for the 51st time, Johns Hopkins will overtake Penn State as Loyola second most-played in school history. Towson is the Greyhounds’ most-played opponent at 55 meetings.

In The Polls

Loyola moved up to seventh the USILA coaches poll while staying steady at eighth in the Inside Lacrosse media ranking.

Last Time Out

Loyola scored the first six goals of the game and then used a 7-0 run after Hobart closed the gap to one in the second quarter. The latter Greyhounds’ run broke open the game, and Loyola closed its ECAC Lacrosse League regular-season schedule with a 19-11 victory over the host Statesmen.

Justin Ward scored all three of his goals in the opening quarter, and the Greyhounds were ahead 5-0 on his final tally, a man-up strike with 1:23 on the first-quarter clock.

Hobart, however, scored the first five goals of the second quarter and drew within a point, 6-5, at 4:24 on an Alex Love score. Scott Raltiff scored in transition at 3:18, however, sparking three goals before the end of the half at the beginning of a 7-0 Greyhounds’ run.

Mike Sawyer was involved in the scoring of the first five goals of the run, scoring three and assisting on Ratliff’s goal and one by Zach Herreweyers. Sawyer finished with a game-high four goals and six points, while Herreweyers chipped in three goals and two assists, and Ward scored three with one assist.

Ratliff tallied two goals and an assist, while Sean O’Sullivan and Josh Hawkins each scored twice.

Back-To-Back Six-Point Games

Mike Sawyer put up his best offensive numbers of the season on April 13 against Denver, scoring four goals and recording two assists for six points, season-highs in all categories.

The senior attacker quickly replicated that effort on April 20 at Hobart, posting the same numbers in each category.

With his eight goals in two games, Sawyer has leapt into the team lead for goals scored with 27 this season. In seven ECAC Lacrosse League games this season, Sawyer leads the conference with 2.83 goals per game.

In 55 career games, Sawyer has scored 119 goals and has 25 assists for 144 points.

Earlier this year, against UMBC, he became the eighth player in school Division I history to reach 100 goals, and his 119 total place him are third-most on the program’s Division I career chart. He is one behind Gewas Schindler in second and 14 back of Pat Lamon in first. Sawyer’s 139 points rank 11th in school Division I history.

Hawkins On The Fly

In just six games this year, Josh Hawkins has already eclipsed his previous high in goals, scoring nine this season to beat his total of six from last season and his 2010 freshman campaign.

The defensive midfielder has scored twice in each of Loyola’s last three games and has at least one goal in every game he’s played this year.

He has put 13-of-20 shots on goal and scored on 45.0-percent of his total shots.

In 46 career games, Hawkins has scored 24 goals and has eight assists as a short-stick defender.

ECAC Weekly Honors For Ratliff

Scott Ratliff earned ECAC Lacrosse League Specialist of the Week honors on Monday, his third weekly award of 2013 from the conference office.

The long-stick midfielder posted another all-around performance at Hobart Saturday, scoring twice in transition and adding another assist on a Mike Sawyer goal in the third-quarter.

Defensively, Ratliff posted seven ground balls and three caused turnovers, while he and his teammates in the defensive midfield held the Statesmen’s starting midfield to three goals. Ratliff did not allow a goal against a player he was matched up against in the game.

He now has scored 13 goals this season, eclipsing his 2012 school record for scoring by a long-pole player.

Ratliff, who was the 2012 ECAC Defensive Player of the Year and 2013 ECAC Preseason Defensive Player of the Year, has earned seven weekly awards from the league. Earlier this season, he was named Defensive Player of the Week twice.

O’Sullivan Shooting On Target

Sean O’Sullivan’s game-tying goal with 2:11 to play in the third quarter against Denver gave him four for the game, tying his career-high set on February 25, 2012, against Towson. The senior needed just four shots against the Pioneers to score his four goals.

On Saturday at Hobart, O’Sullivan scored twice on four shots, and this season, he has scored his 16 goals on just 39 shots (.410 shot percentage), and he is putting 74.4-percent of his total shots on goal (29-of-39). His 16 goals rank third on the team this season, and his six extra-man tallies lead the team. O’Sullivan’s four extra-man goals in conference play lead the ECAC in that category.

Attack Stats

Loyola’s starting attack against Hobart – Mike Sawyer (four goals, two assists), Zach Herreweyers (three, two) and Justin Ward (three, one) – represented 10 of the Greyhounds’ 19 goals and 15 of the team’s 31 points against the Statesmen.

Ward and Sawyer are first and second, respectively, on the team in scoring this season with 53 and 33 points. Herreweyers, in just seven games, is fifth with 18. Nikko Pontrello, who started 10 games on attack this season, is third on the team with 30 points, 13 coming from goals.

Rookie Production

Zach Herreweyers recorded his fourth hat trick of the season Saturday at Hobart in just his seventh game of the season.

The freshman from London, Ontario, posted three goals and two assists against the Statesmen, raising his first-year total to 15 goals and three assists.

Herreweyers, who has hat tricks against Air Force, Georgetown, Michigan and Hobart, leads ECAC Lacrosse League freshmen with 2.14 goals per game and 2.6 points per contest.

Against Air Force, Herreweyers became the first Loyola freshman to score three times in a game since current senior Patrick Fanshaw scored five goals and assisted on another on March 20, 2010, also against Air Force.

Ratliff Sets Record

Scott Ratliff did something believed to be a first in the modern era of college lacrosse  (circa 1971) on April 6 in the Greyhounds’ win over visiting Fairfield. The senior long-stick midfielder scored four goals, becoming the first player with a pole to do so.

Ratliff scored once off a Loyola faceoff win, a second time on a give-and-go in transition with Pat Laconi and twice more off set plays in settled offense with feeds from Justin Ward and Nikko Pontrello.

In recent years, at least two long-sticks, Duke’s C.J. Costabile and Bryant’s Mason Poli, have recorded hat tricks.

Another Multi-Point Venture For Ward

With three first-quarter goals against Hobart, Justin Ward had his 13th multi-point effort in as many games this season. He has now tallied at least two points in all 13 games this season, and he has three or more in nine of those outings.

In the Georgetown game, he became the 10th player in the program’s Division I history (since 1982) to log 50 or more assists in his career. With 59 career assists, Ward is tied for eighth in school Division I history with Pat Lamon, one shy of Gewas Schindler in seventh.

Ward put up his second game with seven or more points on March 16 against Air Force, logging seven with two goals and five assists in the win over the Falcons. His five assists tied his career-high, set twice in 2012 against Towson and Fairfield.

On February 26, against UMBC, as the junior finished with seven goals and three assists for 10 points. His goal and point outputs were career-highs. He became the first player to score at least seven goals in a game since Gavin Prout tallied eight in a 19-11 win at Hobart on April 28, 2001.

Ward’s 10-point effort was the first 10-point game for a Greyhound since Tim Goettelmann tallied the same amount in a 19-9 win on March 25, 2000, against Fairfield. In that game, Goettelmann scored four goals and had six assists. Later that season, he would score seven goals on May 16 in the NCAA First Round against Notre Dame.

Through 13 games this year, Ward leads the team with 26 goals and 27 assists for 53 points. His 27 assists are ninth-most in school Division I single-season history.

CLASSy Senior Candidate

Two weeks ago, Scott Ratliff was named one of 10 finalists for the prestigious Senior CLASS Award, an honor given yearly to a NCAA Division I senior who has notable achievements in four areas of excellence – community, classroom, character and competition

Ratliff has continued his high production on defense, transition and offense that helped him earn USILA All-America Third Team and ECAC Defensive Player of the Year honors a year ago when he led the team last year in ground balls (88) and caused turnovers (37), was fifth in goals (12) and seventh in assists (7).

His career totals now stand at 29 goals and 14 assists, and his 43 career points are second-most among active long-poles to Bryant’s Mason Poli. Last year, he set the school’s single-season long-pole scoring record with 12 goals and seven assists, eclipsing the previous high of 16 points on 11 goals and five assists set in 1995 by current Loyola assistant coach Matt Dwan.

Additionally, Ratliff now stands 10th in school Division I history in career ground balls (204) and second in caused turnovers (88). His caused turnovers are two shy of tying the school record set in 2008 by P.T. Ricci.

Defensive Midfield Production

Loyola’s defensive midfield had a productive game against Fairfield, finishing the outing with six goals, an assists, six caused turnovers and six ground balls.

The unit posted another solid outing on both sides of the field with four goals and two assists at Hobart on April 20.

This season, long-stick midfielder Scott Ratliff has posted 13 goals and four assists, good for sixth on the team with 17 points, while short-stick Josh Hawkins has nine goals and an assist, and fellow short-stick Pat Laconi has four goals and six points. Kyle Duffy scored his first point of the season with an assist at Hobart.

Pontrello Keeps Tallying Points

Nikko Pontrello notched his third hat trick of the season on March 30 at Ohio State, scoring a game-high three against the Buckeyes. He also had three-goal outings against UMBC and Air Force earlier this year.

In his first season as a starter, Pontrello has scored 13 goals while assisting on 17 for 30 points, third-most on the team. As a freshman in 2012, he scored four goals and assisted on six.

He posted his second six-point game this season March 16 against Air Force, scoring a career-high four goals to go with two assists. He scored in the first quarter, tallied a pair during Loyola’s 4-0 third-quarter run and added his fourth in the final frame. Earlier this year against UMBC, Pontrello posted three goals and three assists for six points against the Retrievers.

Fletcher Turns Up ‘D’

Joe Fletcher earned ECAC Defensive Player of the Week honors on March 18 after picking up three ground balls and causing a turnover against Air Force. More impressive was the defense Fletcher played on Air Force’s offensive quarterback, preseason All-American Keith Dryer.

Dryer entered the game with four goals and a team-leading 10 assists, but Fletcher held him without a point.

This season, Fletcher, who was a Preseason All-America First Team honoree, has 49 ground balls and 17 caused turnovers, numbers that are second and third, respectively, on the team.

ECAC Championships Approaching

After Loyola plays at Johns Hopkins to wrap up its 2013 regular-season on Saturday, the Greyhounds will embark on a return trip to Hobart College in Geneva, N.Y., where they will play in the 2013 ECAC Lacrosse League Tournament.

Loyola, at 6-1 in conference play, is guaranteed no lower than the No. 2 seed in the tournament. Denver, which enters this weekend at 5-1, can earn the top seed with a win Saturday at Michigan by virtue of its head-to-head win against Loyola.

Fairfield and Ohio State have also qualified for the ECAC Championships and play this weekend. If Fairfield wins and Denver loses, the Stags will be the No. 2 seed. If Denver wins, the winner of Fairfield-Ohio State will be the third seed, and the loser will be the fourth.

Helmet Stickers

Loyola players are wearing three stickers on their helmets this season to remember those who have passed away. The stickers are in memory of Adam Pomper, a member of the 2012 team who passed away on June 12, 2012, Mandy O’Sullivan, mother of current players Sean and Ryan O’Sullivan who died in March 2012 from pancreatic cancer, and the 26 victims of the Newtown, Conn., shooting in December 2012 where Loyola put on a youth lacrosse clinic in January.

Well-Represented In MLL Draft

Five members of the Loyola men’s lacrosse team were selected in the top 26 of the January 11 Major League Lacrosse draft. The Greyhounds tied Virginia for the most draft picks in the selection process.

Josh Hawkins and Mike Sawyer were both taken in the first round, going fifth and eighth overall to the Hamilton Nationals and Charlotte Hounds, respectively.

Scott Ratliff was the first pick of the second round, going ninth to the Boston Cannons, and Davis Butts was taken early in the third round, 19th overall to the Denver Outlaws. Joining Hawkins in Hamilton will be Reid Acton, the team’s fourth round pick, 26th overall.

Preseason Accolades

Six Loyola players were named to the Inside Lacrosse Face-Off Yearbook Preseason All-America teams: defender Joe Fletcher and short-stick midfielder Josh Hawkins (first team); attackman Mike Sawyer and long-stick midfielder Scott Ratliff (second); midfielder Davis Butts (third); and, defender Reid Acton (honorable mention).

All six earned All-America honors last season with Sawyer earned Second Team honors and Ratliff was named to the Third Team. Acton, Butts, Fletcher and Acton earned Honorable Mention along with graduate student Eric Lusby.

Toomey Receives Morris Touchstone Award

Loyola Head Coach Charley Toomey was named the ECAC Coach of the Year for the third time in his seven-year career, and in December, he received the coaches association’s Morris Touchstone Award as the national coach of the year.

The Greyhounds became the second team in USILA Coaches Poll history to start a season unranked and ascend to the No. 1 spot in the rankings. The only other team was Duke in 2007 – a year after the Blue Devils had their season suspended in March – which accomplished the feat after being unranked in the first poll, moving to second in the next version and first in the third. Duke was knocked from its perch as No. 1 that season when it lost to the Greyhounds at the First Four in San Diego.

The win over Georgetown this was the 70th victory of his coaching career, becoming the second coach in Loyola history to win 70 or more, joining – Dave Cottle (181-70, 1983-2001).

Big Runs

Last season, runs of three-plus goals were critical in the Greyhounds success, as they had runs of 3-0 or better in all 19 games. In all, Loyola scored three or more in a row on 37 occasions last year.

The Greyhounds have opened the 2013 season in similar fashion as they scored three-straight in the second quarter to take a 4-2 lead against Delaware after trailing, 2-1. They then had two runs of 3-0 or better at Towson.

Against UMBC, Loyola had a 3-0 first-half run before putting together a 10-0 stretch in the third and fourth quarters. The Greyhounds then had a 4-0 run that spanned both halves to help beat Bellarmine, and they runs of 3-0 and 4-0 to beat Air Force.

In the Georgetown game, Loyola had its longest run of the year, scoring eight straight.

At Ohio State, the Greyhounds went on a 6-0 run that spanned the final three quarters to take control of the game. A 5-0 first-quarter run spurred the win over Fairfield.

The game against Hobart saw the Greyhounds go on a pair of major runs en route to the win. Loyola scored the game’s first six goals and, after the Statesmen went on a 5-0 run to pull within a goal in the second quarter, the Greyhounds used a 7-0 run that spanned both halves to break open the game.

Second-Half Success

Last season, the Greyhounds outscored opponents 66-22 in the third quarters of games, and 123-63 overall in the second half (including overtime). The second-half scoring continued a trend from 2011 when Loyola outscored opponents, 69-52, after halftime (including two overtime goals), and 77-56.

This year, Loyola is outscoring opponents 52-24 in the third quarter and 83-56 overall after halftime.

ECAC LACROSSE WEEKLY AWARDS

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Alex Love, Hobart, Jr., Attack, Geneva, N.Y./ Salisbury School
Love recorded a team-high 10 points in a 1-1 week for the Statesmen and in the process broke his own team record for goals in a season. At then fifth-ranked Syracuse on Tuesday, he scored a game-high six goals and produced a new career-high with seven points as the Statesmen scored a 13-12 upset. Love’s goal with 2:13 remaining in the contest proved to be the game winner. His career-high matching six-goal effort raised his season total to 42, eclipsing his own season record set last season (38). On Saturday against then No. 8 Loyola, Love recorded his 19th career hat trick in a 19-11 loss to the Greyhounds. He leads Hobart with 53 points, three off the Statesmen season record set by current Assistant Coach Mark Williamson in 2004.

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Jack Murphy, Fairfield, Junior Goalkeeper, Cohasset, Mass./Cohasset
Murphy was stellar once again in the Stags win at #1 Denver, stopping 11 shots. His biggest save came at the buzzer of
regulation, stopping Chase Carraro’s shot, to preserve the tie and setup the overtime winner. Murphy stopped four shots in the fourth quarter, with six saves coming after the intermission. He also picked up two ground balls, something he has done in every game this year, and caused a turnover.

ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
Robby Haus, Ohio State, Freshman, Defense, Lutherville, Md./Gilman
At Air Force: 4 gb, part of man-down unit that was 2-for-3 (including stopping 2-man down chance to start 2nd half)
Haus had a career-high tying four groundballs in the Buckeyes’ win at Air Force and was a leader in the Buckeye defensive effort that held the Falcons to just two second-half goals and 14 second-half shots as Ohio State came back to win. He was part of the man-down unit that was 2-for-3 and held Air Force scoreless on a two-man down situation that moved to a oneman down, keeping it a one-goal game to start the third quarter and allowing the Buckeyes to come from behind for the win. Haus has started all 12 games as a true freshman and has 25 groundballs and seven caused turnovers.

SPECIALIST OF THE WEEK
Scott Ratliff, Loyola, LSM, Senior, 6-0, 185, Marietta, Ga./George Walton H.S.
Ratliff was the leader of the Greyhounds’ defense on Saturday and finished with two goals and an assist to go with seven ground balls and three caused turnovers. He helped hold Hobart’s first midfield to just three goals in the game, and he did not allow a goal against a man against whom he was matched up. Ratliff sparked a 7-0 Loyola run that would break open an eight-goal margin for the Greyhounds. He scored his first of the game with 3:18 left in the second quarter after the Statesmen had scored five in a row. Ratliff added an assist on a Mike Sawyer goal with 11:41 to go in the third quarter, and he scored again in transition with 6:50 left in the third, tallying the sixth goal of the run. His second goal of the game, his 13th of the year, broke his Loyola single-season goals scored record for a long-pole player.

SPECIAL NOTES
Thomas Paras, Michigan, Senior, Attack, Lakewood, Ohio/St. Ignatius
Paras had three goals and two assists for five points on only five shots in Michigan’s first win of the season against St. Joe’s.

Logan Schuss, Ohio State, Senior, Attack,Delta, British Columbia/Ladner
Schuss led the Buckeyes with four goals, an assist and five points. Schuss scored all three Ohio State goals in the third
quarter as the team took a 9-7 lead, then assisted on the game-winning goal, scored at 6:48 of the fourth quarter.

Eric Warden, Fairfield, Junior, Attack/Midfielder, 5-11/195, Glen Mills, Pa./Garnet Valley
Warden scored a game-high four goals, including the Stags last three tallies of regulation.

GENEVA, N.Y. – Loyola University Maryland men’s lacrosse used runs of six and seven unanswered goals to win its ECAC Lacrosse League regular-season finale on Saturday, 19-11, at host Hobart College.

Loyola (10-3 overall, 6-1 ECAC) scored the first six goals of the game, and after Hobart (6-7, 2-4) reeled off the next five, the Greyhounds strung together a 7-0 run that spanned both halves to take control of the game.

The Greyhounds’ starting attack of Mike Sawyer (four goals, two assists), Zach Herreweyers (three, two) and Justin Ward (three, one) combined to score 10 goals and finish with 15 points, and Loyola’s defensive midfield tallied four goals and two assists. Scott Ratliff recorded a pair of goals and an assist, while Josh Hawkins carded his third-straight two-goal game. Kyle Duffy added an assist for Loyola.

Ratliff also led the Greyhounds with seven ground balls and three caused turnovers.

It took Loyola just 150 seconds to score its first three goals of the game. Herreweyers scored the first and drew a slash on Hobart, giving a man-up opportunity on which Sean O’Sullivan scored from at 13:05.

A Sawyer shot was saved, but Ward picked up the ground ball and scored his first of the game at 12:30 to put Loyola in front, 3-0.

Loyola did not score for nearly nine minutes, but it was Ward again who scored for Loyola at 3:50. More than a minute later, O’Sullivan ran right-to-left and dumped a pass to Davis Butts who used a face-dodge to beat his defender and score from seven yards out at 2:12.

Ward then tallied his third of the quarter, taking a Harry Kutner feed to score on an extra-man opportunity at 1:23, pushing the Greyhounds’ advantage to 6-0 before the end of the first quarter.

Hobart, however, controlled possession early in the second frame and scored five-straight goals in a span of less than 10 minutes.

Cam Stone put the first point on the board at 14:09, and Branden Kessler made it 6-2 at 11:36. Jake McHenry shoveled in a loose ball from just outside the crease at 10:59 before Alex Love scored back-to-back goals for the Statesmen at 8:19 and 4:24.

Love’s final goal cut the Greyhounds’ lead to 6-5, but a Jack Runkel save started a transition opportunity for Loyola, and Sawyer fed Ratliff for his first goal of the game at 3:18.

Ratliff’s first sparked a 7-0 run that would see Loyola go up 10-5 at the half and 13-5 late in the third quarter.

Sawyer scored his first of the game shortly after Ratliff’s goal, taking a Ward feed from behind for a high-to-low shot, and he scored his second with 39.7 ticks left in the first half after Ward shot a pass out to Herreweyers on the top right, and the freshman quickly got a pass to Sawyer for a goal.

After scoring the first goal of the first half, Herreweyers repeated the feat in the second, scoring at 11:56 off a Sawyer assist, and Sawyer scored his second of the day, in transition 15 seconds later after a give-and-go with Ratliff.

Ratliff caused a turnover and executed a clear with Duffy, taking a pass and scoring at 6:50 to put Loyola up 12-5, and Hawkins capped the run with a goal at 4:38. He used a fake-flip to Sawyer, keeping the ball while running in from the left to score.

Hobart got a pair of goals back at 3:29 and 3:08 as McHenry scored on a man-up possession, and Jake Silberlicht tallied his first of two.

Loyola returned to the scoring column with 2:29 left in the third quarter when Butts raced past his man on the right side and fed O’Sullivan who scored his second of the game.

Love bounced a goal in with just over 32 seconds left in the third quarter, pulling the Statesmen within six, 14-8, entering the final quarter.

The Greyhounds stretched their advantage back to seven 3:11 into the fourth quarter when Herreweyers came up with a groundball in an unsettled situation behind the cage and fed Sawyer who whipped a 13-yard sidearm shot for his game-high fourth goal.

Silberlicht scored one for Hobart at 8:58 before Herreweyers caught a hard Nikko Pontrello pass and used a multiple shot-fake to score his third of the afternoon.

Loyola scored two goals with the 30-second timer on, wrapped around a Hobart goal. Kevin Ryan scored unassisted at 5:20, and Chris Layne used a Brian Schultz in-stride feed to tally one at 2:26.

After the Greyhounds killed a penalty late, Hawkins tallied his second after caused turnover by Joe Fletcher. Patrick Fanshaw assisted on the Hawkins’ score.

Loyola outshot Hobart, 49-35, and the Greyhounds cleared the ball successfully in all 27 of their attempts.

Jack Runkel made 10 saves in three quarter of action in goal for the Greyhounds, allowing eight goals. Pat Frazier caused a career-high three turnovers, while Fletcher and Hawkins each caused two.

The Greyhounds close the 2013 regular-season on Saturday, April 27, at 1 p.m. when they travel down Charles Street to face Johns Hopkins University.

Game Data

Loyola University Maryland wraps up ECAC Lacrosse League regular-season play on Saturday, April 20, when it travels to Geneva, N.Y., for a conference game at Hobart College.

Faceoff is set for 1 p.m. at Boswell Field.

Series History

The Greyhounds will meet Hobart for the 16th time in series history when the teams take the field on Saturday and the ninth time as ECAC foes. Both programs joined the league for the 2005 season.

Loyola holds a 12-3 advantage in the previous 15 games that have been played between the teams, including a 17-6 victory last season on April 21 in Geneva.

Mike Sawyer scored four goals and assisted on another, while Davis Butts and Scott Ratliff each added three points – Butts had two goals and an assist, while Ratliff tallied a goal and two assists.

In The Polls

Loyola checks in as the No. 8 team in both the USILA coaches and Inside Lacrosse media polls.

Last Time Out

Denver took five goals leads on two occasions, 8-3 just before halftime and 9-4 in the third quarter, but Loyola scored eight of the final 11 goals in regulation, tying the score at 12-12 on a Sean O’Sullivan strike with just over two minutes remaining.

Both teams had offensive possessions in the final minute, but neither scored and the game went to overtime. The Pioneers’ Cameron Flint picked up the ground ball off the opening faceoff of extra time and scored 16 seconds in to lift Denver to a 13-12 victory last Saturday.

Flint matched O’Sullivan and Mike Sawyer for game-high honors with four goals. Sawyer’s four were a season-best for him, and he added a pair of assists for six points.

Josh Hawkins scored twice in transition for the second game in a row, and Davis Butts and Zach Herreweyers each scored once. Justin Ward and Nikko Pontrello joined Sawyer with two assisted each.

Hawkins On The Fly

In just five games this year, Josh Hawkins has already eclipsed his previous high in goals, scoring seven this season to beat his total of six from last season and his 2010 freshman campaign.

The defensive midfielder has scored twice in each of Loyola’s last two games and has at least one goal in every game he’s played this year.

He has put 10-of-16 shots on goal and scored on 43.8-percent of his total shots.

In 45 career games, Hawkins has scored 22 goals and has eight assists as a short-stick defender.

O’Sullivan Shooting On Target

Sean O’Sullivan’s game-tying goal with 2:11 to play in the third quarter against Denver gave him four for the game, tying his career-high set on February 25, 2012, against Towson.

The senior needed just four shots against the Pioneers to score his four goals. This season, O’Sullivan has scored his 14 goals on just 35 shots (.400 shot percentage), and he is putting 74.3-percent of his total shots on goal (26-of-35). His 14 goals rank third on the team this season.

Sawyer Has Season-Best Game

Mike Sawyer put up his best offensive numbers of the season last Saturday against Denver, scoring four goals and assisting on two for six points. All of those represented season-highs in the respective categories.

Sawyer is tied with Justin Ward for the team lead with 23 goals this season, and his 2.3 goals per game lead the team.

He scored the game’s first goal against Denver 32 seconds into the contest, picking up a ground ball at midfield and racing down the right side for a goal, and he added his second with 4:22 left in the fourth quarter. Sawyer then tallied two in a row within 26 seconds of each other late in the fourth quarter to draw the Greyhounds within a goal.

In 54 career games, Sawyer has scored 115 goals and has 23 assists for 139 points.

Earlier this year, against UMBC, he became the eighth player in school Division I history to reach 100 goals, and his 115 total place him in a tie for third with Tim O’Shea on the Division I career chart. He is five behind Gewas Schindler in second and 18 back of Pat Lamon in first. Sawyer’s 139 points rank 11th in school Division I history.

Ratliff Sets Record

Scott Ratliff did something believed to be a first in the modern era of college lacrosse  (circa 1971) on April 6 in the Greyhounds’ win over visiting Fairfield. The senior long-stick midfielder scored four goals, becoming the first player with a pole to do so.

Ratliff scored once off a Loyola faceoff win, a second time on a give-and-go in transition with Pat Laconi and twice more off set plays in settled offense with feeds from Justin Ward and Nikko Pontrello.

In recent years, at least two long-sticks, Duke’s C.J. Costabile and Bryant’s Mason Poli, have recorded hat tricks.

Defensively Speaking

Loyola allowed just 22 goals over a four-game stretch from March 20-April 6, an average of 5.5. In the first two games, at Georgetown and Michigan, the Greyhounds gave up just one goal before halftime, and they then allowed only one after the break at Ohio State.

In those four games, Loyola’s opponents have made just 19.8-percent of their shots, converting on 22-of-111 attempts.

The Greyhounds forced 67 turnovers in the games, as Georgetown committed 20, Michigan had 18, Ohio State, 16 and Fairfield, 13. Of those 67 turnovers, Loyola was credited with 44 caused turnovers.

The 17 caused at Georgetown were the most this season by Loyola and the most by a Greyhounds’ team since they posted 19 in back-to-back games against St. John’s and Massachusetts in March 2009.

CLASSy Senior Candidate

Last week, Scott Ratliff was named one of 10 finalists for the prestigious Senior CLASS Award, an honor given yearly to a NCAA Division I senior who has notable achievements in four areas of excellence – community, classroom, character and competition

Ratliff has continued his high production on defense, transition and offense that helped him earn USILA All-America Third Team and ECAC Defensive Player of the Year honors a year ago when he led the team last year in ground balls (88) and caused turnovers (37), was fifth in goals (12) and seventh in assists (7).

He had one of his stat-sheet filling games against Air Force, scoring a goal and assisting on another while picking up five ground balls and causing three turnovers, and he turned in another with a goal, four ground balls and two caused turnovers while going 4-of-4 on faceoffs against Georgetown. Ratliff came one shy of his career-high with eight ground balls at Michigan.

His career totals now stand at 27 goals and 13 assists, and his 40 career points are second-most among active long-poles to Bryant’s Mason Poli. Last year, he set the school’s single-season long-pole scoring record with 12 goals and seven assists, eclipsing the previous high of 16 points on 11 goals and five assists set in 1995 by current Loyola assistant coach Matt Dwan.

Additionally, Ratliff now stands 10th in school Division I history in career ground balls (197) and second in caused turnovers (85). His caused turnovers are five shy of tying the school record set in 2008 by P.T. Ricci.

Defensive Midfield Production

Loyola’s defensive midfield had a productive game against Fairfield, finishing the outing with six goals, an assists, six caused turnovers and six ground balls.

This season, long-stick midfielder Scott Ratliff has posted 11 goals and three assists, good for fifth on the team with 14 points, while short-stick Pat Laconi has four goals and five points, and fellow short-stick Josh Hawkins has five goals and an assist.

Another Multi-Point Venture For Ward

With two assists against Denver, Justin Ward had his 12th multi-point effort in as many games this season. He has now tallied at least two points in all 12 games this season, and he has three or more in eight of those outings.

In the Georgetown game, he became the 10th player in the program’s Division I history (since 1982) to log 50 or more assists in his career. With 58 career assists, Ward now stands ninth in school Division I history, one shy of Pat Lamon’s 59 in eighth place.

Ward put up his second game with seven or more points on March 16 against Air Force, logging seven with two goals and five assists in the win over the Falcons. His five assists tied his career-high, set twice in 2012 against Towson and Fairfield.

On February 26, against UMBC, as the junior finished with seven goals and three assists for 10 points. His goal and point outputs were career-highs. He became the first player to score at least seven goals in a game since Gavin Prout tallied eight in a 19-11 win at Hobart on April 28, 2001.

Ward’s 10-point effort was the first 10-point game for a Greyhound since Tim Goettelmann tallied the same amount in a 19-9 win on March 25, 2000, against Fairfield. In that game, Goettelmann scored four goals and had six assists. Later that season, he would score seven goals on May 16 in the NCAA First Round against Notre Dame.

Through 10 games this year, Ward leads the team with 21 goals and 22 assists for 43 points.

Pontrello Keeps Tallying Points

Nikko Pontrello notched his third hat trick of the season on March 30 at Ohio State, scoring a game-high three against the Buckeyes. He also had three-goal outings against UMBC and Air Force earlier this year.

In his first season as a starter, Pontrello has scored 13 goals while assisting on 14 for 27 points, second most on the team. As a freshman in 2012, he scored four goals and assisted on six.

He posted his second six-point game this season March 16 against Air Force, scoring a career-high four goals to go with two assists. He scored in the first quarter, tallied a pair during Loyola’s 4-0 third-quarter run and added his fourth in the final frame. Earlier this year against UMBC, Pontrello posted three goals and three assists for six points against the Retrievers.

Fletcher Turns Up ‘D’

Joe Fletcher earned ECAC Defensive Player of the Week honors on March 18 after picking up three ground balls and causing a turnover against Air Force. More impressive was the defense Fletcher played on Air Force’s offensive quarterback, preseason All-American Keith Dryer.

Dryer entered the game with four goals and a team-leading 10 assists, but Fletcher held him without a point.

This season, Fletcher, who was a Preseason All-America First Team honoree, has 37 ground balls and 13 caused turnovers.

Offensive Addition

Freshman Zach Herreweyers made his first career start on March 16 against Air Force on attack for the Greyhounds, and he made his debut to the opening 10 an impressive one.

Herreweyers scored his first collegiate goal with 12.3 seconds left in the first quarter, and he finished with a hat trick, tallying goals for Loyola in the third and fourth quarters, as well. He also picked up three ground balls.

He followed that game with a four-goal outing Wednesday at Georgetown, a hat trick at Michigan and a goal and an assist at Ohio State.

The freshman from London, Ontario, made his collegiate debut against Duke on March 8. In five games played, he is tied for fourth on the team with 11 goals.

Herreweyers became the first Loyola freshman to score three times in a game since current senior Patrick Fanshaw scored five goals and assisted on another on March 20, 2010, also against Air Force.

Helmet Stickers

Loyola players are wearing three stickers on their helmets this season to remember those who have passed away. The stickers are in memory of Adam Pomper, a member of the 2012 team who passed away on June 12, 2012, Mandy O’Sullivan, mother of current players Sean and Ryan O’Sullivan who died in March 2012 from pancreatic cancer, and the 26 victims of the Newtown, Conn., shooting in December 2012 where Loyola put on a youth lacrosse clinic in January.

Well-Represented In MLL Draft

Five members of the Loyola men’s lacrosse team were selected in the top 26 of the January 11 Major League Lacrosse draft. The Greyhounds tied Virginia for the most draft picks in the selection process.

Josh Hawkins and Mike Sawyer were both taken in the first round, going fifth and eighth overall to the Hamilton Nationals and Charlotte Hounds, respectively.

Scott Ratliff was the first pick of the second round, going ninth to the Boston Cannons, and Davis Butts was taken early in the third round, 19th overall to the Denver Outlaws. Joining Hawkins in Hamilton will be Reid Acton, the team’s fourth round pick, 26th overall.

Sawyer will be joined in Charlotte by former teammate Eric Lusby who was the top waiver pick after the NCAA season ended in early June. After missing the majority of the MLL season with an injury, the NCAA Championships Most Outstanding Player made his MLL debut on July 28 at Long Island and scored a goal. He then tallied three goals  in an August 11 win over Rochester.

Preseason Accolades

Six Loyola players were named to the Inside Lacrosse Face-Off Yearbook Preseason All-America teams: defender Joe Fletcher and short-stick midfielder Josh Hawkins (first team); attackman Mike Sawyer and long-stick midfielder Scott Ratliff (second); midfielder Davis Butts (third); and, defender Reid Acton (honorable mention).

All six earned All-America honors last season with Sawyer earned Second Team honors and Ratliff was named to the Third Team. Acton, Butts, Fletcher and Acton earned Honorable Mention along with graduate student Eric Lusby.

In his first year as a starter, Fletcher was named to the NCAA and ECAC Championships All-Tournament Teams and earned a reputation as one of the top defenders in the nation. In 19 games as a sophomore, Fletcher caused 26 turnovers, second most on the team, and had 41 ground balls.

Hawkins has continued to be one of the top defensive midfielders in the nation and garnered considerable respect nationally for his play during the NCAA Championships. He earned NCAA All-Tournament honors and helped the Greyhounds limit Notre Dame and Maryland to a combined eight goals on Championships weekend. In addition to his six goals and two assists in 15 games last year, Hawkins was second on the team with 63 ground balls.

Sawyer was a finalist for the Tewaaraton Award as the nation’s top player last season when he scored 52 goals and assisted on 10 more and was named the team’s Offensive Most Valuable Player. During the regular-season, he led the ECAC in goals and goals per game while earning All-ECAC First Team honors. He became the second player to score 50 or more goals in a season and was joined by a third on last year’s team.

Ratliff continued to be one of the top long-stick midfielders in the nation and set a Loyola scoring record for the position last year. He finished with 12 goals and seven assists, exceeding current Loyola Assistant Coach Matt Dwan’s previous record for a long-stick midfielder set in 1995. In addition to his scoring, he tallied 88 ground balls and 37 caused turnovers while earning ECAC Defensive Player of the Year, ECAC Championships Most Valuable Player, NCAA All-Tournament Team and team co-defenisve player of the year honors.

Butts was a first-line midfielder for the Greyhounds for the second year in a row. He excelled as a dodger and finisher and ranked fourth on the team in points (35) and third in goals scored (21). A versatile player, Butts also saw plenty of action on the wings of faceoffs and in the defensive midfield where he picked up 40 ground balls.

Acton will enter 2013 having started on the Greyhounds’ defense each of the last three years. He finished the 2012 season with 44 ground balls and 20 caused turnovers, while helping Loyola record a 7.21 goals allowed per game average, the fifth-best mark in Division I. The Greyhounds set a pair of defensive records during Championship Weekend, holding Notre Dame and Maryland to a combined eight goals in the two games and allowing the Terrapins just three in the title match.

Toomey Receives Morris Touchstone Award

Loyola Head Coach Charley Toomey was named the ECAC Coach of the Year for the third time in his seven-year career, and in December, he received the coaches association’s Morris Touchstone Award as the national coach of the year.

The Greyhounds became the second team in USILA Coaches Poll history to start a season unranked and ascend to the No. 1 spot in the rankings. The only other team was Duke in 2007 – a year after the Blue Devils had their season suspended in March – which accomplished the feat after being unranked in the first poll, moving to second in the next version and first in the third. Duke was knocked from its perch as No. 1 that season when it lost to the Greyhounds at the First Four in San Diego.

The win over Georgetown this was the 70th victory of his coaching career, becoming the second coach in Loyola history to win 70 or more, joining – Dave Cottle (181-70, 1983-2001).

Big Runs

Last season, runs of three-plus goals were critical in the Greyhounds success, as they had runs of 3-0 or better in all 19 games. In all, Loyola scored three or more in a row on 37 occasions last year.

The Greyhounds have opened the 2013 season in similar fashion as they scored three-straight in the second quarter to take a 4-2 lead against Delaware after trailing, 2-1. They then had two runs of 3-0 or better at Towson.

Against UMBC, Loyola had a 3-0 first-half run before putting together a 10-0 stretch in the third and fourth quarters. The Greyhounds then had a 4-0 run that spanned both halves to help beat Bellarmine, and they runs of 3-0 and 4-0 to beat Air Force.

In the Georgetown game, Loyola had its longest run of the year, scoring eight straight.

At Ohio State, the Greyhounds went on a 6-0 run that spanned the final three quarters to take control of the game. A 5-0 first-quarter run spurred the win over Fairfield.

Second-Half Success

Last season, the Greyhounds outscored opponents 66-22 in the third quarters of games, and 123-63 overall in the second half (including overtime). The second-half scoring continued a trend from 2011 when Loyola outscored opponents, 69-52, after halftime (including two overtime goals), and 77-56.

This year, Loyola is outscoring opponents 47-21 in the third quarter and 73-50 overall after halftime.

Keith Booth Named Men’s Basketball Assistant Coach

BALTIMORE – No stranger to Loyola University Maryland athletics or the Baltimore-Washington metro area, Keith Booth has been named an assistant coach for the Loyola men’s basketball team, head coach G.G. Smith announced today.

Booth, 38, has served as an assistant women’s basketball coach at Loyola for the last two seasons and was an assistant coach at the University of Maryland from 2004-2011 for then head coach Gary Williams.

“I am excited that Keith will be bringing his basketball knowledge as a player, coach and recruiter to our staff,” Smith said. “In learning to know him as a co-worker at Loyola for the past two years, I have seen that he has a tremendous care for players, and (Loyola head women’s basketball coach) Joe Logan could not have spoke higher of Keith as a person or a coach.

“Keith brings an broad understanding of not only Baltimore basketball and recruiting, but his experience as a player and coach at Maryland and player in the NBA will be huge benefits to our program.”

A Baltimore native, Booth played at Dunbar High School, earning Parade and McDonald’s All-America honors for the Poets in 1993. He helped guide his team to the Maryland Class ‘A’ State Championship and was named the Baltimore City and State of Maryland Player of the Year that season by The Baltimore Sun.

“It is an honor to continue to be a part of Loyola athletics, and I am looking forward to working with these players and Coach Smith to continue the success Loyola men’s basketball has accomplished,” said Booth.

He continued his playing career at the University of Maryland as one of Williams’ first major recruits to College Park. Booth led the Terrapins to four NCAA Tournaments, including a pair of Sweet Sixteen appearances, helping Maryland begin its streak of 11 consecutive NCAA berths in 1994.

In his senior season at Maryland, Booth led the Terrapins in scoring (19.5 ppg), rebounding (7.9 rpg) and steals (2.0 spg) and is still Maryland’s all-time leader in free throws made (576). Booth finished his impressive career at Maryland among the program’s all-time leaders in scoring (9th, 1,776 points), rebounding (6th, 916 points), steals (5th, 193) and he is one of 15 players to have his jersey honored above the Terrapins’ home court at Comcast Center.

Booth earned All-Atlantic Coast Conference honors four times at Maryland, garnering honorable mention as a freshman and sophomore before receiving second-team honors as a junior and first-team laurels in his final season, 1996-1997.

He was a member of the Associated Press All-America Third Team following his senior season. Booth played alongside the likes of Joe Smith, Rodney Elliott and Johnny Rhodes in his four seasons as a Terrapin.

Booth’s teams appeared in two NCAA Sweet Sixteens and finished his sophomore season as ACC regular season co-champions and ranked No. 10 in the country in the final AP poll. That year (1994-95), the Terrapins compiled a 26-8 record, including a perfect 16-0 record at Cole Field House. Booth finished his Maryland career with averages of 14.1 points per game and 7.3 rebounds.

After completing his career at Maryland, Booth was a first-round draft pick (28^th overall) in 1997 by the NBA’s Chicago Bulls. He was a member of the Michael Jordan-led Bulls team that won the 1998 NBA Championship.

Booth continued his basketball career as a coach, earning his bachelor of arts in criminology and criminal justice degree from Maryland in 2003. He became an assistant at Maryland in 2004 and helped guide the Terrapins to no fewer than 19 wins in his seven seasons on Williams’ bench.

During his time at Maryland, the team reached three NCAA Tournaments and compiled an overall record of 146-87 (.627). The 2009-2010 version of the Terrapins went 13-3 in ACC action and tied for the conference regular-season title.

Denver Scores 16 Seconds Into Overtime To Edge Men’s Lacrosse

BALTIMORE – Cameron Flint picked up a ground ball off the opening faceoff of overtime, ran the length of the field and scored 16 seconds into overtime to lift visiting University of Denver to a 13-12 victory over Loyola University Maryland in front of 3,285 at Ridley Athletic Complex in an ECAC Lacrosse League game.

The Greyhounds (9-3 overall, 5-1 ECAC) trailed by as many as five goals twice during the game, at halftime when Denver’s Eric Law scored with five seconds to go in the second quarter, and late in the third quarter when Sean Cannizzaro tallied an unassisted goal at 4:01.

Canizzaro’s goal from just in front of the crease pushed the Pioneers’ lead to 9-4, but Loyola reeled off three goals in the quarter’s final three minutes to pull within a pair, 9-7.

Zach Herreweyers started the run when Pat Laconi came into the box on transition and sent a pass to goal-line extended on the right side where Herreweyers got to the crease and used a shot-fake to score at 3:54.

Sean O’Sullivan, who tied Mike Sawyer and Flint for game-high honors with four goals, scored his second extra-man goal of the game at 1:57 off a Sawyer assist.

After Jack Runkel made a save for Loyola and sent an over-the-top outlet pass to Josh Hawkins, the defensive midfielder scored on an overhand seven-yard try to make it 9-7 Denver with 16 ticks left in the third.

The Pioneers (10-2, 5-0), however, scored the first two of the final period in regulation as Eric Adamson tallied one by rolling off a check and shooting form the left side 1:58 into the quarter. Gordie Koerber then scored 58 seconds later off a Garrett Holst assist in transition, and Denver’s lead was back to four, 11-7.

O’Sullivan recorded his third of the game at 10:50, scoring after Nikko Pontrello reversed the ball from right-to-left, creating space for O’Sullivan.

Denver took possession after the faceoff following O’Sullivan’s goal – the Pioneers won 18-of-28 restarts – but Reid Acton caused a turnover and picked up the ground ball for Loyola. He got an outlet pass to Hawkins who again cleared it himself, scoring with another overhand shot at 9:20.

Adamson momentarily stopped the Loyola run for the Pioneers, scoring his second of the quarter with 8:40 remaining to make it 12-9 Denver.

Sawyer restarted the rally for Loyola, tallying a pair within 26 seconds. His first was a behind-the-head highlight reel shot from the right side of the crease after Justin Ward threaded a pass in front of the crease to Sawyer’s stick.

His second came unassisted as he ran from right to left, burying the shot at 6:03 to draw the Greyhounds within a goal, 12-11.

O’Sullivan tied it with his career-high tying fourth of the game at 2:11, whipping a sidearm show from 12 yards out after a Pontrello pass. It marked the game’s first tie since Eric Law gave the Pioneers a 2-1 lead at 11:02 of the first quarter.

Denver had an offensive possession in the final minutes thwarted when Scott Ratliff caused a turnover by Adamson and picked up the ground ball. Loyola cleared it to its offensive end, but a Sawyer shot sailed wide and the teams headed to overtime.

The Pioneers used a 10-3 advantage in faceoff wins in the first half to build its five-goal halftime advantage, scoring four unanswered in the first quarter after Sawyer tallied the game’s first score just 32 seconds in.

Sawyer finished with a season-high six points on four goals and two assists. O’Sullivan scored four time, and Hawkins tallied two, while Herreweyers and Davis Butts each added goals for the Greyhounds. Pontrello, Sawyer and Justin Ward each had two assists, and Laconi added another.

Ratliff posted four ground balls and three caused turnovers, and Jack Runkel made 13 saves on defense for the Greyhounds.

The loss snapped a 13-game ECAC winning streak for the Greyhounds, dating back to March 2011.

Quotes from Texas Tech Head Coach Tubby Smith about his son, G.G.:

“It is a great day for the Smith family; it is a great feeling, and I am really proud of G.G., not only as his mentor and father, but also as his former college coach, watching him grow and mature into the person he is today. He was part of some of the six or seven winningest years of my coaching career, so he has the pedigree of being around winning programs. He has also benefitted being with Jimmy Patsos and helping restore that program to greatness at Loyola.

“His mom, and I… you are talking about one proud mother and father. He is a credit to our profession. He has always done things the right way, growing up as a youngster, as a player, as an assistant coach, and I believe he will be as a head coach. He is a remarkable, hard-working person. G.G. was mature beyond his age as a kid, and he has a beautiful family now with Lorie and Jayne.

“Anything I can do to help him and the Loyola program, I am happy to do it. We will be in constant contact, as we always are.

“There are a lot of proud family members in the Maryland area because that is where G.G. was born (Leonardtown, Md.). I think it was destiny that he became a head coach in that state.”

G.G. Smith Named Loyola University Maryland Men’s Basketball Coach

BALTIMORE – Orlando “G.G.” Smith has been named the head men’s basketball coach at Loyola University Maryland, the school’s president, Rev. Brian F. Linnane, S.J., announced today at a press conference in Reitz Arena.

Smith, who is the son of current Texas Tech University Head Coach Tubby Smith, has been an assistant at Loyola for the past six seasons under former coach Jimmy Patsos.

“At Loyola, we take great pride in a Greyhounds athletics program where our students’ achievements and contributions in the classroom and in the community are as remarkable as their accomplishments in competition,” Fr. Linnane said. “G.G. Smith shares this commitment, and I know he will build on our program’s recent successes to bring even greater excitement and spirit to Loyola basketball and our university.”

Smith, 36, is the 20^th head coach in Loyola history and takes the reins of a program that won 62 games over the last three seasons and reached the postseason in each of the last two.

“It is an honor to be asked to continue building on what Loyola men’s basketball has accomplished,” Smith said. “Loyola is a wonderful school that has been a great home for the last six years, and I look forward to leading the program going forward. I would like to thank Father Linnane, (executive vice president) Susan Donovan, (vice president) Marc Camille and (assistant vice president and director of athletics) Jim Paquette for their support and commitment to Loyola basketball and me.”

Smith was a three-year starter at guard at the University of Georgia where he earned his bachelor’s degree in 1999, and he later received his master’s degree from the University of Kentucky.

“G.G. is the right person to lead our men’s basketball program as Loyola transitions to the Patriot League next season,” said Jim Paquette, Loyola’s assistant vice president and director of athletics. “His knowledge of basketball, care for our student-athletes and desire to develop them as leaders has been evident in his time at Loyola, and we are excited that G.G. will build on the success Loyola basketball has achieved in recent years.”

As a member of the Loyola coaching staff, Smith helped guide the Greyhounds to their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1994 when Loyola won the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference title in 2012. That season, the Greyhounds won a school Division I record 24 games and also were successful in a school-best 13 conference games.

“G.G. was a huge part of our success,” Patsos said of his former assistant. “G.G. is not only a tremendous coach, but he is a better person. His knowledge of the game is outstanding, and I believe that he will be a great leader of the program going forward.”

During his time at Loyola, Smith has handled many on-court coaching and scouting responsibilities for the Greyhounds. In the last two seasons, Loyola posted its first two Division I 20-win seasons, and this year’s trip to the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament Quarterfinals marked the first back-to-back postseason appearances since 1951-1953.

Smith has been instrumental in the development of Loyola guard Dylon Cormier, a back-to-back All-MAAC performer who earned First Team honors in 2012-2013 when he averaged 16.4 points per game. In his six years at Loyola, Smith has coached 10 All-MAAC performers, four members of the league’s All-Rookie Team, four MAAC Sixth Players of the Year and a Rookie of the Year.

“I am very excited that G.G. Smith is our next coach,” Cormier said. “He has played at the highest levels, and as a team, we are looking forward to playing for him. He knows us as players, but he knows so much about basketball that we love to learn from him.”

Prior to joining the staff at Loyola prior to the 2007-2008 season, Smith was an assistant at nearby Johns Hopkins University in 2006-2007, helping the Blue Jays to a 24-5 record and berth in the NCAA Division III Tournament.

He spent two seasons, 2004-2006, at Armstrong Atlantic State University. The Pirates finished 23-8 in 2005-2006 and earned a No. 2 seed in that season’s NCAA Division II Tournament. Smith was an assistant at Tennessee Tech University in 2002-2003 when the Eagles went 21-10 and were the runners-up in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.

After graduating from Georgia, Smith was an assistant coach for a year at Lexington (Ky.) Catholic High School before spending two years, 2000-2002, as a graduate assistant coach at the Kentucky. The Wildcats advanced to a Sweet Sixteen and won an Southeastern Conference regular-season title in his time at Rupp Arena.

“While all of us at Loyola know that the men’s basketball coaching position is a great job and the vacancy comes at an exciting point in time due to the team’s recent successes and the University’s impending move to the Patriot League, it quickly became evident to me that the college basketball world has caught on as well,” said Marc Camille, Ed. D. Loyola’s vice president of enrollment management and communications, who chaired the search process. “The level of interest in the position from quality candidates around the country made the process of narrowing down the pool more challenging, but equally so, more promising. We could not be more pleased with how things turned out.”

Smith earned his bachelor of science in health and physical education from Georgia in 1999. He was a three-year starter and four-year letterwinner for the Bulldogs as a point guard. He earned All-SEC Third Team honors and helped Georgia advance to the NCAA Tournament twice, including to the 1996 Sweet Sixteen.

He graduated as the program’s all-time leader in games played (129), wins in a season (24) and 3-pointers in a game (three).

Smith then earned his master’s degree in education in sports management from Kentucky in 2002.

Smith, and his wife, Lorie, have a young daughter, Jayna.

Game Data

Loyola University Maryland plays its final regular-season home game of the 2013 season on Saturday, April 13, when it host the University of Denver at Ridley Athletic Complex.

Faceoff is slated for 1 o’clock. The Greyhounds will celebrate Senior Day, beginning at approximately 12:40 p.m. and will honor their 14 players who will take the field at Ridley for the final time in regular-season action: Reid Acton, Michael Bonitatibus, Davis Butts, Phil Dobson, Patrick Fanshaw, Tyler Foley, Will Fredericks, T.J. Harris, Josh Hawkins, Harry Kutner, Chris Layne, Sean O’Sullivan, Scott Ratliff, and Mike Sawyer.

Series History

Loyola and Denver will meet for the sixth time in series history when the teams take the field on Saturday. The Greyhounds hold a 3-2 lead in the all-time series with all three of those victories coming last season.

The Greyhounds won all three games last year, but by just five combined goals.

Loyola used a 5-1 run to close the game, overcoming an 8-7 third-quarter deficit on April 14, 2012, in Denver to beat the Pioneers, 12-9, in last year’s regular-season meeting.

The teams met again with Loyola as the No. 1 seed, and Denver the fourth, in the ECAC Semifinals on May 2, again in Denver. Loyola opened up a 13-6 lead with 13:14 left in regulation before the Pioneers scored seven-straight to tie the game at 13-13 with 3:30 remaining on the clock. Scott Ratliff picked up the ground ball to start overtime, and he scored eight seconds later, lifting Loyola to the ECAC title game.

Last year’s final meeting came at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Md., in the NCAA Quarterfinals. The Greyhounds built a 10-6 lead early in the fourth quarter and held off a Pioneers’ charge to win 10-9 and advance to the NCAA Semifinals. Eric Lusby had five goals and two assists in the win.

In The Polls

Loyola remained at No. 5 in the Nike/Inside Lacrosse media poll this week while checking in at No. 6 in the USILA Coaches rankings.

Denver enters Saturday’s game third in the media version, fourth in the coaches’.

Last Time Out

Loyola’s defensive midfield combined for six goals and an assist, as the Greyhounds raced out to a 6-2 first-quarter lead and finished with a 13-7 victory on Saturday over Fairfield University.

The Stags scored the game’s first goal 4:28 in, but Kevin Ryan scored on an extra-man possession at 8:44, and nine seconds later, Scott Ratliff ripped a 12-yard shot after a face-off win, and Loyola was in front for good.

Ratliff finished with four goals, and Josh Hawkins added two from the defensive midfield, while their running mate Pat Laconi assisted on a Ratliff goal. Justin Ward added two goals and two assists, and Mike Sawyer scored twice.

Ryan and Ratliff’s goals were the first two of a 5-0 run that the Greyhounds extended to 7-1 in the second quarter.

Ratliff Sets Record

Scott Ratliff did something believed to be a first in the modern era of college lacrosse  (circa 1971) on Saturday in the Greyhounds’ win over visiting Fairfield. The senior long-stick midfielder scored four goals, becoming the first player with a pole to do so.

Ratliff scored once off a Loyola faceoff win, a second time on a give-and-go in transition with Pat Laconi and twice more off set plays in settled offense with feeds from Justin Ward and Nikko Pontrello.

In recent years, at least two long-sticks, Duke’s C.J. Costabile and Bryant’s Mason Poli, have recorded hat tricks.

Hawkins, Ratliff Earn ECAC Honors

After the standout performance by the Loyola defensive midfield, short-stick Josh Hawkins and long-stick midfielder Scott Ratliff were named the ECAC Specialist and Co-Defensvie Players of the Week, respectively on Monday.

Ratliff scored four goals, had four caused turnovers and three ground balls, while Hawkins posted two goals, two ground balls and a caused turnover.

The award is the first of Hawkins’ career, while Ratliff earned his sixth (four defensive, two specialist).

During the last six weeks, Jack Runkel, Scott Ratliff (twice), Joe Fletcher (twice) and Reid Acton have been named the week’s top defender. Also, during that stretch, Justin Ward and Zach Herreweyers were named Offensive Players of the Week.

Defensively Speaking

Loyola has allowed just 22 goals over its last four games, an average of 5.5. In the first two games, at Georgetown and Michigan, the Greyhounds gave up just one goal before halftime, and they then allowed only one after the break at Ohio State.

In the four games, Loyola’s opponents have made just 19.8-percent of their shots, converting on 22-of-111 attempts.

The Greyhounds have forced 67 turnovers in the games, as Georgetown committed 20, Michigan had 18, Ohio State, 16 and Fairfield, 13. Of those 67 turnovers, Loyola was credited with 44 caused turnovers.

The 17 caused at Georgetown were the most this season by Loyola and the most by a Greyhounds’ team since they posted 19 in back-to-back games against St. John’s and Massachusetts in March 2009.

Entering the game against Fairfield, Loyola is fifth in Division I with 10.0 caused turnovers per game. Four players – Scott Ratliff (14th, 2.09), Pat Laconi (36th, 1.55), Joe Fletcher (65th, 1.27) and Reid Acton (70th, 1.2) – are ranked among the nation’s top 70 in caused turnovers per game.

CLASSy Senior Candidate

Earlier this week, Scott Ratliff was named one of 10 finalists for the prestigious Senior CLASS Award, an honor given yearly to a NCAA Division I senior who has notable achievements in four areas of excellence – community, classroom, character and competition

Ratliff has continued his high production on defense, transition and offense that helped him earn USILA All-America Third Team and ECAC Defensive Player of the Year honors a year ago when he led the team last year in ground balls (88) and caused turnovers (37), was fifth in goals (12) and seventh in assists (7).

He had one of his stat-sheet filling games against Air Force, scoring a goal and assisting on another while picking up five ground balls and causing three turnovers, and he turned in another with a goal, four ground balls and two caused turnovers while going 4-of-4 on faceoffs against Georgetown. Ratliff came one shy of his career-high with eight ground balls at Michigan.

His career totals now stand at 27 goals and 13 assists, and his 40 career points are second-most among active long-poles to Bryant’s Mason Poli. Last year, he set the school’s single-season long-pole scoring record with 12 goals and seven assists, eclipsing the previous high of 16 points on 11 goals and five assists set in 1995 by current Loyola assistant coach Matt Dwan.

Additionally, Ratliff now stands 10th in school Division I history in career ground balls (193) and second in caused turnovers (82). His caused turnovers are eight shy of tying the school record set in 2008 by P.T. Ricci.

Defensive Midfield Production

Loyola’s defensive midfield had a productive game against Fairfield, finishing the outing with six goals, an assists, six caused turnovers and six ground balls.

This season, long-stick midfielder Scott Ratliff has posted 11 goals and three assists, good for fifth on the team with 14 points, while short-stick Pat Laconi has four goals and five points, and fellow short-stick Josh Hawkins has five goals and an assist.

Another Multi-Point Venture For Ward

With two goals and two assists against Fairfield, Justin Ward had his 11th multi-point effort in as many games this season. He has now tallied at least two points in all 11 games this season, and he has three or more in eight of those outings..

In the Georgetown game, he became the 10th player in the program’s Division I history (since 1982) to log 50 or more assists in his career. With 56 career assists, Ward now stands ninth in school Division I history, three shy of Pat Lamon’s 59 in eighth place.

Ward put up his second game with seven or more points on March 16 against Air Force, logging seven with two goals and five assists in the win over the Falcons. His five assists tied his career-high, set twice in 2012 against Towson and Fairfield.

On February 26, against UMBC, as the junior finished with seven goals and three assists for 10 points. His goal and point outputs were career-highs. He became the first player to score at least seven goals in a game since Gavin Prout tallied eight in a 19-11 win at Hobart on April 28, 2001.

Ward’s 10-point effort was the first 10-point game for a Greyhound since Tim Goettelmann tallied the same amount in a 19-9 win on March 25, 2000, against Fairfield. In that game, Goettelmann scored four goals and had six assists. Later that season, he would score seven goals on May 16 in the NCAA First Round against Notre Dame.

Through 10 games this year, Ward leads the team with 21 goals and 22 assists for 43 points.

Pontrello Keeps Tallying Points

Nikko Pontrello notched his third hat trick of the season on March 30 at Ohio State, scoring a game-high three against the Buckeyes. He also had three-goal outings against UMBC and Air Force earlier this year.

In his first season as a starter, Pontrello has scored 13 goals while assisting on 14 for 27 points, second most on the team. As a freshman in 2012, he scored four goals and assisted on six.

He posted his second six-point game this season March 16 against Air Force, scoring a career-high four goals to go with two assists. He scored in the first quarter, tallied a pair during Loyola’s 4-0 third-quarter run and added his fourth in the final frame. Earlier this year against UMBC, Pontrello posted three goals and three assists for six points against the Retrievers.

Fletcher Turns Up ‘D’

Joe Fletcher earned ECAC Defensive Player of the Week honors on March 18 after picking up three ground balls and causing a turnover against Air Force. More impressive was the defense Fletcher played on Air Force’s offensive quarterback, preseason All-American Keith Dryer.

Dryer entered the game with four goals and a team-leading 10 assists, but Fletcher held him without a point.

This season, Fletcher, who was a Preseason All-America First Team honoree, has 37 ground balls and 13 caused turnovers.

Offensive Addition

Freshman Zach Herreweyers made his first career start on March 16 against Air Force on attack for the Greyhounds, and he made his debut to the opening 10 an impressive one.

Herreweyers scored his first collegiate goal with 12.3 seconds left in the first quarter, and he finished with a hat trick, tallying goals for Loyola in the third and fourth quarters, as well. He also picked up three ground balls.

He followed that game with a four-goal outing Wednesday at Georgetown, a hat trick at Michigan and a goal and an assist at Ohio State.

The freshman from London, Ontario, made his collegiate debut against Duke on March 8. In five games played, he is tied for fourth on the team with 11 goals.

Herreweyers became the first Loyola freshman to score three times in a game since current senior Patrick Fanshaw scored five goals and assisted on another on March 20, 2010, also against Air Force.

Eighth To 100

With his goal at 9:25 in the third quarter against UMBC, Mike Sawyer became the eighth player in Loyola men’s lacrosse history to score 100 in his career, the seventh in the program’s Division I history.

Sawyer joined a list that includes Gary Hanley (151), Pat Lamon (133), Gewas Schindler (120), Tim O’Shea (115), Kevin Beach (114), John Carroll (112) and Chris Colbeck (108).

Layne Keeps Tallying Points

Chris Layne had his fifth multi-point game of the season against Ohio State, recorda goal and two assists. He has scored at least one point in all 10 of the Greyhounds’ games this year.

Through 10 games this season, Layne has scored 12 goals and has eight assists.

Last season, he had a total of five multi-point games while finishing with 11 goals and 14 assists. With his two goals against Delaware, Maryland and UMBC, Layne has more than doubled his multi-goal games during his time at Loyola to five. He also had one as a sophomore in 2010 for North Carolina.

Helmet Stickers

Loyola players are wearing three stickers on their helmets this season to remember those who have passed away. The stickers are in memory of Adam Pomper, a member of the 2012 team who passed away on June 12, 2012, Mandy O’Sullivan, mother of current players Sean and Ryan O’Sullivan who died in March 2012 from pancreatic cancer, and the 26 victims of the Newtown, Conn., shooting in December 2012 where Loyola put on a youth lacrosse clinic in January.

Well-Represented In MLL Draft

Five members of the Loyola men’s lacrosse team were selected in the top 26 of the January 11 Major League Lacrosse draft. The Greyhounds tied Virginia for the most draft picks in the selection process.

Josh Hawkins and Mike Sawyer were both taken in the first round, going fifth and eighth overall to the Hamilton Nationals and Charlotte Hounds, respectively.

Scott Ratliff was the first pick of the second round, going ninth to the Boston Cannons, and Davis Butts was taken early in the third round, 19th overall to the Denver Outlaws. Joining Hawkins in Hamilton will be Reid Acton, the team’s fourth round pick, 26th overall.

Sawyer will be joined in Charlotte by former teammate Eric Lusby who was the top waiver pick after the NCAA season ended in early June. After missing the majority of the MLL season with an injury, the NCAA Championships Most Outstanding Player made his MLL debut on July 28 at Long Island and scored a goal. He then tallied three goals  in an August 11 win over Rochester.

Preseason Accolades

Six Loyola players were named to the Inside Lacrosse Face-Off Yearbook Preseason All-America teams: defender Joe Fletcher and short-stick midfielder Josh Hawkins (first team); attackman Mike Sawyer and long-stick midfielder Scott Ratliff (second); midfielder Davis Butts (third); and, defender Reid Acton (honorable mention).

All six earned All-America honors last season with Sawyer earned Second Team honors and Ratliff was named to the Third Team. Acton, Butts, Fletcher and Acton earned Honorable Mention along with graduate student Eric Lusby.

In his first year as a starter, Fletcher was named to the NCAA and ECAC Championships All-Tournament Teams and earned a reputation as one of the top defenders in the nation. In 19 games as a sophomore, Fletcher caused 26 turnovers, second most on the team, and had 41 ground balls.

Hawkins has continued to be one of the top defensive midfielders in the nation and garnered considerable respect nationally for his play during the NCAA Championships. He earned NCAA All-Tournament honors and helped the Greyhounds limit Notre Dame and Maryland to a combined eight goals on Championships weekend. In addition to his six goals and two assists in 15 games last year, Hawkins was second on the team with 63 ground balls.

Sawyer was a finalist for the Tewaaraton Award as the nation’s top player last season when he scored 52 goals and assisted on 10 more and was named the team’s Offensive Most Valuable Player. During the regular-season, he led the ECAC in goals and goals per game while earning All-ECAC First Team honors. He became the second player to score 50 or more goals in a season and was joined by a third on last year’s team.

Ratliff continued to be one of the top long-stick midfielders in the nation and set a Loyola scoring record for the position last year. He finished with 12 goals and seven assists, exceeding current Loyola Assistant Coach Matt Dwan’s previous record for a long-stick midfielder set in 1995. In addition to his scoring, he tallied 88 ground balls and 37 caused turnovers while earning ECAC Defensive Player of the Year, ECAC Championships Most Valuable Player, NCAA All-Tournament Team and team co-defenisve player of the year honors.

Butts was a first-line midfielder for the Greyhounds for the second year in a row. He excelled as a dodger and finisher and ranked fourth on the team in points (35) and third in goals scored (21). A versatile player, Butts also saw plenty of action on the wings of faceoffs and in the defensive midfield where he picked up 40 ground balls.

Acton will enter 2013 having started on the Greyhounds’ defense each of the last three years. He finished the 2012 season with 44 ground balls and 20 caused turnovers, while helping Loyola record a 7.21 goals allowed per game average, the fifth-best mark in Division I. The Greyhounds set a pair of defensive records during Championship Weekend, holding Notre Dame and Maryland to a combined eight goals in the two games and allowing the Terrapins just three in the title match.

Toomey Receives Morris Touchstone Award

Loyola Head Coach Charley Toomey was named the ECAC Coach of the Year for the third time in his seven-year career, and in December, he received the coaches association’s Morris Touchstone Award as the national coach of the year.

The Greyhounds became the second team in USILA Coaches Poll history to start a season unranked and ascend to the No. 1 spot in the rankings. The only other team was Duke in 2007 – a year after the Blue Devils had their season suspended in March – which accomplished the feat after being unranked in the first poll, moving to second in the next version and first in the third. Duke was knocked from its perch as No. 1 that season when it lost to the Greyhounds at the First Four in San Diego.

The win over Georgetown this was the 70th victory of his coaching career, becoming the second coach in Loyola history to win 70 or more, joining – Dave Cottle (181-70, 1983-2001).

Big Runs

Last season, runs of three-plus goals were critical in the Greyhounds success, as they had runs of 3-0 or better in all 19 games. In all, Loyola scored three or more in a row on 37 occasions last year.

The Greyhounds have opened the 2013 season in similar fashion as they scored three-straight in the second quarter to take a 4-2 lead against Delaware after trailing, 2-1. They then had two runs of 3-0 or better at Towson.

Against UMBC, Loyola had a 3-0 first-half run before putting together a 10-0 stretch in the third and fourth quarters. The Greyhounds then had a 4-0 run that spanned both halves to help beat Bellarmine, and they runs of 3-0 and 4-0 to beat Air Force.

In the Georgetown game, Loyola had its longest run of the year, scoring eight straight.

At Ohio State, the Greyhounds went on a 6-0 run that spanned the final three quarters to take control of the game. A 5-0 first-quarter run spurred the win over Fairfield.

Second-Half Success

Last season, the Greyhounds outscored opponents 66-22 in the third quarters of games, and 123-63 overall in the second half (including overtime). The second-half scoring continued a trend from 2011 when Loyola outscored opponents, 69-52, after halftime (including two overtime goals), and 77-56.

This year, Loyola is outscoring opponents 43-20 in the third quarter and 64-45 overall after halftime.