Gorski, Patton Join Men’s Basketball Program

BALTIMORE – Nick Gorski (Richmond, Va./Benedictine College Prep) and Jevon Patton (Charlotte, N.C./Olympic High School) have signed National Letters of Intent and will join the Loyola University Maryland men’s basketball program in the fall, Head Coach G.G. Smith announced.

“We are excited to have Nick and Jevon join our team this year,” said Smith. Nick is an inside-out threat who will be a great addition for us in the Patriot League, and Jevon gives us more depth in the backcourt where he will help with his ball-handling ability and toughness.”

Gorski helped Benedictine College Prep win the Virginia Independent School Athletic Association Division I state title as a senior when he averaged 6.7 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.1 blocked shots per game for the Cadets who went 32-5 in 2012-2013.

The 6-foot-8 forward played his final two years at Benedictine after spending his freshman and sophomore seasons, 2009-2011, at Cosby High School.

As a senior, Gorski posted season-highs of 21 points and 14 rebounds in a December game against Middleburg Academy, and he blocked a high of five shots in February versus Pope John Paul The Great.

Patton spent his senior year at Olympic High School where he led the Trojans to a 30-0 and the school’s first-ever North Carolina High School Athletic Association Class 4A title. The 5-foot-10 point guard averaged 10.5 points, 8.3 assists and 3.0 steals per game in his senior campaign while earning all-conference, all-district and all-state tournament honors.

Patton played as a sophomore and junior at Highland Tech High School in Gastonia, N.C., where he led his team to a 21-7 record and the semifinals of the state playoffs in 2011-2012. That season, he helped the Rams win their first regular-season conference title and make the deepest playoff runi n school history, averaging 22.0 points, 8.1 assists and 6.0 steals per game, earning Gaston County and Conference player of the Year honors in addition to all-state, all-district and other recognition.

As a sophomore, Patton scored 17.6 points and averaged 6.0 assists for the 17-9 Rams. He was a member of the National Honor Society and Beta Club in high school, and he earned the Marine Corps Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award and Male Athlete of the Year honor at Olympic as a senior.

Seven Greyhound Teams Recognized By NCAA For Academic Success

INDIANAPOLIS – Seven Loyola University Maryland athletic teams were recognized Wednesday by the NCAA for being in the top-10 percent of their respective sports in the most recent multi-year tracking of the Academic Progress Rate (APR).

The Loyola men’s basketball, women’s cross country, women’s rowing, men’s and women’s tennis, women’s indoor track and field and women’s outdoor track and field were among those NCAA Division I programs honored.

“It is always special when our student-athletes and teams are recognized for their achievements in the classroom,” said Jim Paquette, Loyola’s Assistant Vice President and Director of Athletics. “Throughout the academic year, they do tremendous jobs balancing the rigors of athletics, academics and other responsibilities with being a college student, and I am so proud of them for their efforts.

“I would also like to thank our academic affairs staff — Colleen Campbell, Adriana Mason and Abbie Day — as well as our coaches and other members of the University community for their support and work with our student-athletes.”

Loyola had the most teams honored, for their fourth year in a row, of any of the schools the Greyhounds competed against this year in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. Additionally, Loyola’s men’s basketball team was the only one from that sports in the conference so recognized.

Each year the NCAA honors selected Division I sports teams by publicly recognizing their latest multi-year NCAA Division I APR. This announcement is part of the overall Division I academic reform effort and is intended to highlight teams that demonstrate a commitment to academic progress and retention of student-athletes by achieving the top APRs within their respective sports. Specifically, these teams posted multi-year APRs in the top-10 percent of all squads in each sport. The most recent APRs are multi-year rates based on scores from the 2008-2009, 2009-2010, 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 academic years.

The APR provides a real-time look at a team’s academic success each semester by tracking the academic progress of each student-athlete on scholarship. The APR accounts for eligibility, retention and graduation and provides a measure of each team’s academic performance.

Loyola Alum Mike Malone Named Sacramento Kings’ Head Coach

SACRAMENTO – Loyola University Maryland men’s basketball alumnus Mike Malone ’92 has been named head coach of the Sacramento Kings, the NBA Pacific Division team confirmed on Sunday and will announce Monday at a press conference.

Malone was a four-year letterwinner at point guard for the Greyhounds from 1989-1993 when he played in 107 games and started 39.

Over the course of his four years, which coincided with Loyola’s first four in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, Malone twice led the Greyhounds in assists, tallying 100 as a senior in 1992-1993 and 94 in 1989-1990.

He finished his career with 279 assists, a total that ranks 11^th in school history. Malone scored 370 points, posted 79 steals and averaged 18.5 minutes per game.

After graduating from Loyola in 1994, Malone began his collegiate coaching career at Oakland (Mich.) University where he served for a year before joining Pete Gillen’s staffs at Providence College (1995-1998) and the University of Virginia (1998-1999). He was on the bench in 1997 when the Friars advanced to the NCAA Regional Final before falling to eventual NCAA Champion Arizona.

Malone then returned to the MAAC where he was an assistant at Manhattan College from 1999-2001 before making the leap to the NBA as a New York Knicks’ assistant from 2003-2005.

He then spent five seasons (2005-2010) as an assistant coach on the Lebron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers. Malone then spent the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 seasons with the New Orleans Hornets and Golden State Warriors, respectively.

Malone brings strong bloodlines to his first head-coaching job. His father, Brendan, was the head coach at the University of Rhode Island from 1984-1986, spent several seasons as an NBA assistant and head coach.

Malone is the first Loyola alumnus to become a head coach in any of the “Big 4” (NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB) sports.

Loyola’s Crane Named Yeardley Love Unsung Hero Award Winner

BALTIMORE – Loyola University Maryland men’s lacrosse player Jason Crane (Pasadena, Md./Chesapeake High School) has been named the 2013 male recipient of the Yeardley Reynolds Love Unsung Hero Award, the One Love Foundation announced today.

Crane joins the University of North Carolina’s Zoe Skinner, the female award winner, as this year’s honorees. Now in its third year, the award celebrates selfless acts of initiative and commitment performed by Division I lacrosse players.  The duo are being awarded based on their exceptional dedication, integrity, humility, hard work, community service, leadership, kindness and sportsmanship, traits Love exemplified on-and-off the field.

In January, Crane organized a trip to Newtown, Conn., with teammates to put on a lacrosse clinic for youth players in the town affected by the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Crane gathered many of his teammates, and they departed Maryland, or their homes as it was during Christmas break. A total of 14 Greyhounds gathered in Newtown to lead a clinic in the town where 26 adults and children were killed just weeks before.

Crane reached out to Jim Wallace, the Coach Training Coordinator for the Newtown Lacrosse Association, and Wallace invited the Greyhounds to lead the clinic. The clinic drew more than 100 Newtown youth players, ranging from third through eighth grades, despite the fact that Crane and the Greyhounds put their plans together in less than a week prior to coming. At the clinic, the Greyhounds taught lacrosse skills and team play, as well as interacted with the kids on the field.

“In recruiting, it is hard to measure the intangibles of a player, but we recognize that we hit a home run athletically and intangibly,” Loyola Head Coach Charley Toomey said. “The initiative and leadership skills that Jason showed in organizing this were incredible, especially considering he was only a freshman at the time. The relationships we have developed with the families from Newtown are ones that we will continue to hold close for years to come.”

Wallace added, “Jason knew that words were not enough, and he took action. His action brought smiles and laughter to our community; I can’t begin to tell you the importance of that. Jason and his teammates didn’t just run a lacrosse clinic, they brought hope to our community. He is the kind of student-athlete that you want your child to look up to and to emulate. We will always be thankful to Jason for what he did for our community during our darkest hour. Jason has shown us that good can come out of tragedy, and what great people do without being called upon to help: to take matters into their own hands to provide comfort. He has inspired us to find the good, to remember that people care and that there is good in this world.”

Since then, Crane and many of the players kept in regular correspondence with the Newtown youth, and more than 100 residents of the town attended Loyola’s April 13 game against the University of Denver at Ridley Athletic Complex where they took in a tour of the facility, watched the game and then played on the field with the team after the game.

“Jason’s compassion and enthusiasm to help those around him truly embodies the shared memories of Yeardley and she how gave herself to others without asking for anything in return,” said Jeff Tousignant, Newtown Youth Lacrosse’s president. “His offer to help our community and rally the support of his fellow teammates to visit our children in their darkest moment brought smiles to their faces and those of their families; it helped put laughter back in their voices.  It is something our children and parents will never forget.  I could think of no finer person to receive this wonderful award.”

Sharon Robinson, Love’s cousin and a member of the award’s selection committee added, “We are so impressed with both Zoe and Jason and are proud to celebrate the positive influences that each of them had on their teams and on the community at large. Like Yeardley, they both epitomize the goodness in collegiate athletics which is sometimes overlooked in our society.  They are amazing student-athletes and we salute them for their humble leadership.”

As a freshman long-stick midfielder, Crane played in 12 games this season, picking up five ground balls and causing a turnover.

The winners were chosen from a pool of applicants nominated by either a coach or person associated with Division I lacrosse programs throughout the United States.  The award’s selection committee highlighted 10 finalists (five women, five men) earlier this month and then chose the winners to announce leading up to the culmination of the NCAA lacrosse season.

Each winner will receive a silver bowl recognizing their accomplishment, and a $250 donation will be made in their name to a charity of their choice.

Fletcher, Ratliff Lead Seven Greyhounds With All-America Honors

BALTIMORE – Loyola University Maryland men’s lacrosse defender Joe Fletcher became the first Greyhounds player to earn United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association All-America First Team honors since 2001 on Thursday morning when he was one of seven Loyola players named to the various All-America teams.

Long-stick midfielder Scott Ratliff earned Second Team recognition, while attackers Mike Sawyer and Justin Ward, midfielders Davis Butts and Josh Hawkins and defender Reid Acton earned honorable mention.

Loyola’s seven honorees match Duke University and the University of Maryland for the most from any NCAA Division I school this year. It also matches the program high that was set in 1998 and matched in 1999 and 2012.

All but Ward are repeat All-Americans after earning the honors last year, and Sawyer is the school’s first three-time All-American since David Metz received honors from 1999-2001.

Fletcher cemented his status as one of the top defenders in the nation this year by continuing to be among the best one-on-one defenders in the game. He led all ECAC Lacrosse League close defenders in ground balls with 64, and he was also credited with 17 caused turnovers.

An honorable mention All-American and member of the NCAA All-Tournament team last year, Fletcher continued his momentum this year by picking up at least two ground balls in all 16 of the Greyhounds contests. Fletcher is also recognized as a leader on the Loyola campus outside of lacrosse; he was recently named one of 14 members of the 2013-2014 Green and Grey Society, a group of student leaders that excel inside and out of the classroom who are student liaisons to the Loyola administration.

Ratliff garnered Second Team recognition this year after earning Third Team honors last season. A USILA Scholar All-American this year, Ratliff led Loyola in two defensive and possession categories, picking up 77 ground balls while causing 29 turnovers.

He continued to make his mark on the offensive end, as well, as he broke his own school record for goals in a season by a long-pole player, scoring 14 this year after tallying 12 in 2012. Ratliff set the modern-day collegiate record for goals in a game by a long-pole with four against Fairfield. He wrapped up his career with 30 goals and 14 assists, and he is second all-time at Loyola with 88 career caused turnovers and seventh with 217 ground balls.

Sawyer earned All-America honors for the third-straight year after leading the Greyhounds with 36 goals this year; he added seven assists for 43 points. Sawyer concluded his Loyola career with 128 goals, the second-most in school Division I history, and his 154 points are eighth in that category.

Ward had a breakout season on attack for the Greyhounds and was the team’s leading point-scorer with 62. He led the team in assists with 35 while also scoring 27 goals. In a late February game against UMBC, Ward became the first Loyola player since Tim Goettelmann in 2000 to score 10 points in a game, and he also had seven goals in the contest, the most by a Greyhound since Gavin Prout had that many in a 2001 outing.

Butts was the primary focus of opponent defensive midfields during the season, routinely drawing the long-pole assignment while leading the Greyhounds’ first midfield. He finished the year with eight goals and 11 assists, and he finished with 43 career goals and 30 assists.

Hawkins continued to be one of the best short-stick defensive midfielders in the game, recording 25 ground balls and 13 caused turnovers in just nine games this season. He also had a career-best season in transition scoring, posting 11 goals and two assists in those nine contests. During his four years at Loyola, Hawkins posted 26 goals and nine assists for 35 points; his 172 ground balls are 14^th in school Division I history, and his 34 caused turnovers are tied for fifth.

Acton was a three-year starter on defense and two-time All-American for Loyola as a premier inside defender for the Greyhounds. He totaled 22 ground balls and 18 caused turnovers this season. In his career, he finished with 85 ground balls and 53 caused turnovers, the third-most in school history.

Ratliff Named USILA Scholar All-American

BALTIMORE – Recent Loyola University Maryland graduate Scott Ratliff has been named Scholar All-American by the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association.

The 2013 ECAC Specialist of the Year and 2012 USILA Third Team All-American was the team leader in ground balls (77) and caused turnovers (29) in 2013 while also producing some of the best numbers on the offensive end by any long-stick midfielder in the nation.

He finished the year with 14 goals and four assists, breaking his own Loyola record for goals by a long-stick player. During the season, Ratliff became the first player in the modern era of collegiate lacrosse to score four or more goals in a game with a long-stick. He accomplished the feat in an April 6 win over Fairfield University.

Ratliff, who was a two-time First Team All-ECAC honoree while at Loyola, finished his Greyhounds’ career with 30 goals and 14 assists in 58 games.

He also concluded his time at Loyola second in school history with 88 caused turnovers and seventh in ground balls with 217. Ratliff will soon begin his professional lacrosse career; he was the ninth overall pick in the 2013 Major League Lacrosse Collegiate Draft by the Boston Cannons.

Ratliff graduated on Saturday from Loyola with a bachelor of arts in communications with a concentration in public relations and advertising.

“How long must we sing this song?”

It was a “Bloody Sunday” indeed for the three Maryland teams in the NCAA Lacrosse Tournament. Sixth seeded Maryland was blown out by Cornell, upstart Towson was rocked at Ohio State and defending national champion Loyola fell to Duke in double overtime after coughing up a four goal second half advantage.

The rest of the NCAA Tournament isn’t going to be cancelled, it will just seem irrelevant to those of us in this area. (Other than the handful that will still wander to Byrd Stadium next Saturday to see Ohio State, Cornell, Syracuse and Yale, that is. I imagine the crowd size will make a Maryland/James Madison football game look like a packed house.) It is particularly disappointing considering the 2012 NCAA Championship Game was an all-Old Line State affair between the Greyhounds and Terrapins.

For the Tigers, the loss marked the end of a season that lasted two or three games longer than anyone could have expected after a 3-5 start. (Worse, a 3-5 start that included a loss to High Point-playing only their second game ever in program history and the first of only three wins all season for the Panthers.) Shawn Nadelen’s team made great strides in the CAA his second season as head coach and the blowout loss to the Buckeyes was to be expected by most. It would be hard for Towson fans to get away with labeling themselves as particularly disappointed with the result.

For the Hounds, the nature of their season-ending setback at the hands of the Blue Devils had to be considered particularly disappointing. Loyola had an 8-4 lead in the second half and appeared to have essentially clinched victory before Face-Off Specialist Blake Burkhart’s final minute goal was waived off because head coach Charley Toomey had called timeout just a split second earlier. Loyola was a legitimate contender to return to the Final Four, but the heartbreak shouldn’t be misconstrued as disappointment. What Loyola accomplished a season ago in Foxborough should have never been viewed as a measuring stick for the program’s success. It was a remarkable run unlikely to be accomplished with any sort of regularity. The Greyhounds had a very successful season (including their first win over Johns Hopkins since 1999) with a very tough end.

And then there’s the Terps. The same team that coming off two consecutive trips to the NCAA Championship Game was believed to be a legitimate national championship contender. After winning their rematch with the Greyhounds in Baltimore in February, the Terps took over the #1 ranking in both polls and held it almost exclusively until mid-April. Conversation within crowds of Maryland alums was set around the idea that this group was finally primed to claim the school’s first national championship since 1975.

1975…it seems more and more impossible every time I think about it. For what it’s worth, only eight schools have combined to win the 37 championships since Maryland last claimed lacrosse glory. Still, the drought remains staggering for the flagship university in the state most closely associated with the sport.

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Duke Slips Past Men’s Lacrosse In Double Overtime Thriller

DURHAM, N.C. – Duke University’s Case Mathias scored the game-tying goal with 55 seconds left in regulation, and he tallied the game-winner two minutes, 20 seconds into the second overtime period, and the seventh-seeded Blue Devils defeated visiting Loyola University Maryland, 12-11, on Sunday in NCAA Championships First Round action at Koskinen Stadium.

Duke (12-5 overall) and Loyola (11-5) traded turnovers on the Blue Devils offensive end in the final scramble, as Blue Devil long-stick midfielder Luke Duprey picked up a ground ball and got the ball to Mathias.

Mathias then raced in from the right side and slid a shot inside the near post for the winning tally. His shot ended a game that featured a combined 98 shots and 35 saves by the goalkeepers.

Loyola goalkeeper Jack Runkel posted a career-high 22 saves, far outdistancing his previous best of 15 that came last year in an NCAA Semifinal win over Notre Dame. He is the first Loyola goalkeeper to post 20 or more saves since Michael Fretwell made 21 against Hobart in 2005.

Runkel made saved in the final five seconds of both the first and third quarters and one with 13 ticks left in regulation.

The Blue Devils score the game’s first goal just 53 seconds in on an unassisted Jordan Wolf tally, but the Greyhounds responded with three in a row, two coming on extra-man scored by Brian Schultz and Sean O’Sullivan. Nikko Pontrello’s goal with 3:17 in the first quarter was the Greyhounds’ first six-on-six score of the day, and it gave Loyola a 3-1 lead.

Duke’s Deemer Class scored the second quarter’s first goal, 2:19 in, but Chris Layne beat his defender down the middle and shot a pass to Zach Herreweyers, and the freshman sparked a 4-0 Loyola rally with a four-yard shot at 8:12.

O’Sullivan dodged hard to his left and then reversed a pass right to Mike Sawyer who ripped a goal at 5:31, and then Josh Hawkins executed a one-man clear and scored from inside three yards at 4:59.

Herreweyers scored his second of the quarter dodging from goal-line extended on the right side at 3:06, putting Loyola in front 7-2.

Duke got two back before the half, the first on a Josh Dionne extra-man goal, and the second when David Lawson scored with 1:07 left before halftime, pulling the Blue Devils back within three, 7-4.

Loyola got the first goal of the second half as a Runkel save keyed a Greyhounds’ transition run that Scott Ratliff capped with his 14^thgoal of the season, extending his single-season goal scoring record for a long-pole at Loyola.

Duke, however, reeled off four in a row, and Myles Jones’ post-up goal with 1:57 left in the third quarter tied the score at 8-8.

Matt Sawyer, however, put Loyola back in front with 12:41 on the fourth-quarter clock, scoring off a Justin Ward assist on an extra-man opportunity.

Wolf, however, tied it back up 25 seconds later, and Josh Offit goal at 9:20 put Duke in front for the first time since Schultz’s goal with 10:35 to play in the first quarter tied the score at 1-1.

The Greyhounds responded with two goals in a row, with several Runkel saves mixed in between Mike Sawyer took a Ward feed and scorched a 13-yard shot on a man-up at 8:39, tying the score at 10-10, and Herreweyers tallied his team-high third of the game with 3:32 left, again on a Ward assist, to give Loyola an 11-10 advantage.

Ward finished with five assists, tying his career-high.

Mathias’ goal at 1:05 came from in front of the goal after Lawson hit the post. Mathias scooped the rebound into the net, tying the game at 11-11.

Loyola won the ensuing faceoff, but the Greyhounds turned it over, and Duke has possession with less than 30 seconds on the clock.

Greg DeLuca ran the clear, but Runkel saved his shot with fewer than 15 seconds remaining in regulation.

In the first overtime, Runkel made saves on shots by Wolf and Matheis, and the Greyhounds killed a 30-second penalty in the process.

Loyola had a man-advantage in the final 30 seconds, but the Greyhounds’ first shot was wide, and the second was saved by Kyle Turri as one of his 13 in the game with just over 10 seconds left.

Runkel made a save on an Offit shot 48 seconds into the second overtime, but Loyola turned it over after clearing it to its offensive end. Duke cleared the ball, setting up the final flurry where the teams traded turnovers and Matheis scored the winner.

Hererweyers and Matheis tied for game-high honors with three goals each, while Mike Sawyer scored twice and assisted on another for Loyola. O’Sullivan, Ratliff, Hawkins, Pontrello, Schutz and Matt Sawyer each had single goals for the Greyhounds.