Bauers scores six goals, Hounds weather Red Storm

Sure, the No. 12 Loyola men's lacrosse team was red-hot after sweeping Penn State and top-ranked Duke over Spring Break. Sure, they were playing with the home crowd behind them. And yes, their opponent on Saturday - unranked St. John's - had stumbled to 2-4 record.

But don't think for a second that head coach Charley Toomey wasn't worried. Flash back to the last two seasons and you'll find more than one reason to be skeptical about Loyola's chances against the Red Storm.

On April 22, 2006 the Hounds followed up a season-changing victory over No. 2 Georgetown with a devastating loss to Fairfield. Earlier in the year, the Hounds scored just six goals against St. John's and barely escaped with a 6-5 victory. And in 2005, they looked just as sluggish against the Storm, but still managed to hang on for a 6-3 win.

Could the third time be the charm for Saint John's? No.

Senior Dan Bauers scored two early goals and the Hounds never looked back on their way to a 12-6 victory.

It wasn't always pretty as the Greyhounds (4-2, 2-0 ECAC) had their share of lapses, but theveteran Hounds refused to let a gritty St. John's squad hang around.

"After a big win like we had against Duke last week, it's easy to let down," Toomey said. "We had a hard time sustaining energy, but overall I think we played pretty good."

It took seven minutes into the second half, but the Greyhounds' offense finally delivered when senior Andy Spack ignited a four-goal spurt that all but doomed the Red Storm. If you blinked, you might have missed it.

Beating his man off the ball, Spack faced a one-on-one with the goalie and fired a shot above his right shoulder for a 6-3 lead. On the ensuing face-off, Bauers raced down the field and scored his fifth goal of the day.

Less than a minute later, junior Shane Koppens took a pass from senior Greg Leonard and gave the Hounds their third goal in a one-minute span. Senior Cory Coffman capped off the 4-0 run with a goal at the 4:39 mark after taking a feed from Bauers.

Bauers found open lanes all game and feasted on a St. John's defense that couldn't match Loyola's size and quickness. After giving the Hounds an early 2-0 lead, The 5-foot-11, 204-pound attackman tacked on two more goals to put Loyola up 4-1 and finished with a career-high six on the day.

Koppens, the ECAC Offensive Player of the Week for March 7, continued his offensive dominance with three goals and a pair of assists, and Spack added two goals, including his second-half game changer.

Trailing 2-1 after one quarter, the Johnnies kept it close as they trimmed the Hounds' 4-1 lead to 4-2 halfway through the second period.

Spack answered a minute later to put Loyola back up by three, but the Red Storm defense buckled down, holding Loyola scoreless for the rest of the quarter.

"When we pushed out, we didn't always make the connections [on offense]," Koppens said. "We had some mental mistakes… and we can't be passing it around for two minutes on offense."

Eventually the Red Storm's seemingly non-existent offense broke through for a goal right before the half, cutting the deficit to 5-3 and leaving Toomey and the Hounds slightly perplexed with their offensive output.

"They [St. John's] are a physical lacrosse team and they'll run through you if you're not ready," Toomey said. "We played well in stretches, but in the ECAC you have to play a full 60 minutes."

Leading 9-3 in the third period, the Greyhounds' defense lapsed and the pesky Red Storm attackmen responded with three quick goals to put the Hounds back on edge. But Loyola took control in the fourth quarter and the Red Storm never put together another solid possession.

Koppens opened the fourth quarter with a goal to put the lead back to four, and two minutes later he hit Bauers with a pass, who scored his sixth and final goal on a man-up opportunity. It was the most goals scored by a Loyola player since 2002 when Stephen Brundage scored six goals against Villanova.

"It's not often that you have one of those days where everything is going in," Bauers said. "It was as much my teammates putting me in position to score as it was me. I didn't do anything special; I just happened to score."

Sophomore goalie Alex Peaty, last week's conference Defensive Player of the Week, matched his 12 save effort over Duke with another dozen against Saint John's.

Loyola held a 38-23 advantage in groundballs thanks to senior Dan Kallaugher who dominated the faceoffs, winning 14-20.