2008 Woodie Awards
Greyhound lax wins thriller at Towson
Kat Kienle
Issue date: 2/26/08 Section: Sports
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Assistant Sports Editor
Practice might not necessarily make perfect, but a great week of it for the Loyola men's lacrosse team certainly had its effects. While they had a little trouble finding the back of the net in their season opener against Notre Dame last week, the Greyhound offense was running on all cylinders in their 13-8 victory against Towson on Saturday at Johnny Unitas Stadium.
Propelled by a career-high four goal performance by sophomore Cooper MacDonnell, the Hounds clinched their first win of the year in front of the 1,650 person crowd that came out to witness the 50th match-up between the Charles Street rivals.
"I think this is certainly a week in which we got what we deserved," said coach Charley Toomey. "Our guys worked really hard and we had a great week of practice and they definitely deserve this win."
The Greyhounds were able to find their shooting lanes early, netting a trio of goals to open the first quarter and gain important momentum over the No. 13 Tigers.
After freshman goaltender Jake Hagelin recorded a pair of saves, MacDonnell began his scoring streak. His first came off a deflection which he recovered to score at the 11:19 mark, his second just minutes later with a behind-the-net move to put Loyola up by two.
"We knew a performance like this from Cooper was in him," said Toomey. "Hopefully he can just take this and run with it and I hope this is just the start of a terrific season for him."
The Hounds' advantage was then extended to three when senior Shane Koppens sent an unassisted bullet to the upper right-hand corner of the cage.
Towson was then able to get on the board with five minutes left in the first quarter when Eric Boyle netted an unassisted goal to close the margin to 3-1. Loyola however answered quickly off the stick of freshman Matt Langan.
Yet the Tigers would then hit their scoring stride, going on an unanswered 4-0 run to claim their first and only lead of the day at 5-4 with 4:30 left in the second quarter.
That however was when the Loyola offense would begin to perform at their best. The Greyhounds, catalyzed by three straight wins at the face-off X by senior Tim McDermott, netted three consecutive goals in less than 30 seconds. The run began with a goal from sophomore Collin Finnerty to tie the game at five. That score was quickly followed by a goals from seniors Paul Richards and Joe Landry respectively to give the 'Hounds a 7-5 advantage. Freshman Chris Bassler extended that lead to three on an extra-man conversion just before intermission.
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