Patriot League MLAX Championship: Loyola’s Winning Season
Sunday April 29, the two best teams of Patriot League met at noon in Baltimore for the championship title.
In the books, Lehigh Mountain Hawks and Loyola Greyhounds played an equal game. The amount of saves by each goalie, the groundballs, face-off wins, and clears. The tables were turned when shots came about (Lehigh 27, Loyola 37), turnovers (Lehigh had 16, Loyola was more controlled with 9), and extra-man opportunities (Lehigh 1, Loyola 4). Loyola is your Patriot League Men’s Lacrosse Champion, beating Lehigh 15-8.
The story behind the championship, comes from Loyola’s season-long success. In the preseason polls, they were picked as coming out on top, and they certainly did not disappoint. Within the league, Loyola’s only loss came while hosting Bucknell on March 24th. Out of the overall 15 games on the season, Loyola lost two other games, coming from the at Virginia 2OT game on Feb 10, and hosting Duke on March 10.
When thinking of Most Valuable Players for Loyola, three names come to mind; senior Jay Drapeau, junior Pat Spence, and freshman Kevin Lindley. All season, these three have been consistent whether it was with scoring, or assisting. The most teamwork-worthy note was during the Patriot League Semifinal post-game interview with Lindley.
Lindley credited Spence for making the plays possible. Having an upperclassman be the role model, and have such success is vital. The Greyhounds have won the PL Championship now four times in the past five years; Drapeau and Spence are certainly experienced veterans.
The Greyhounds are losing 10 seniors, but at least have the strong underclassmen to step up.
Congratulations, team and Coach Charley Toomey. We look forward to seeing you in NCAA Playoffs.
