Maryland Lacrosse Roundup of the Week

Our first interstate matchup ends in a close one as Towson heads to Loyola, the highest ranked team loses to its cross-town rival, and Johns Hopkins begins their season.

Loyola Takes Down Towson
Thanks to a very strong first three quarters, #16 Loyola earned their first win of the season, taking down Towson 11-8 in Baltimore. Loyola improves to 1-1, and Towson loses their first game of the season.

Loyola started strong, shutting out Towson 4-0 in the first quarter. Towson responded with two goals to start the second, but a 5-1 run into the third by the Greyhounds would be enough to win it in the end. Towson scored five of their goals in the final quarter, including the final three goals scored in the game.

Collin Finnerty once again led the way for the Greyhounds, scoring four goals mainly on hard shots, equal what he did last week against Notre Dame. Jimmy Daly's goal through a double team was the fourth goal in the first quarter. Freshmen Matt Lamon and Sean Maguire both scored two goals for the Tigers. Bob Wheeler did all right against the Loyola offense, but an own goal and constant shots were too much for him.

Loyola begins ECAC play next Saturday as they head up to Penn State. Towson will head to Denver for the Pioneer Face-Off Classic and will take on Denver and Air Force.

Maryland Upset by Georgetown
#3 Maryland got beaten in their home opener against rival #8 Georgetown, losing 13-10 after a devastating second half. Maryland falls to 2-1.

Maryland went into the locker room up 6-5 after fighting back from an early 2-0 deficit, highlighted by Jeremy Sieverts hat trick, but things went downhill for the Terps after that. Maryland switched to Brian Phipps in goal for Jason Carter. After an exchange of goals, the Hoyas went on a 6-0 run going into the fourth quarter over a span of 16 minutes to make the score 12-7 in favor of Georgetown. Maryland tried to fight back, but could not get back within reach.

After getting 10 points last week, Will Yeatman was nowhere to be found, handled well by the Georgetown defense. The offense was all done by the midfield, with Dan Groot and Jeff Reynolds adding two goals each to Sieverts's three. Grant Catalino also added two.

Maryland will now get ready for Inside Lacrosse's Konica Minolta Face-Off Classic as they take on ACC rival Duke on Saturday.

Johns Hopkins Defense Smashes Siena
Despite a slow first half, the #4 Blue Jays opened their season strong with an 11-3 win over Siena thanks to a shutout defense in the final three quarters.

For 15 minutes, it seemed as if the Saints would be a problem for the Baltimore squad. Siena was up 3-2 at the end of the first quarter, but Hopkins took the lead into the locker room 4-3. Steven Boyle then went off, scoring three of his four second half goals in the third quarter to add to his two assists from earlier. The third quarter was all Hopkins, holding Siena shotless 13-0.

Kyle Wharton scored a hat trick to add to Boyle's six points. Mike Gvozden didn't have much to do after the first quarter, but got eight saves while only allowing three goals.

Johns Hopkins will play in the first game of the Konica Minolta Face-Off Classic on Saturday as they take on Princeton.

Navy Can't Hold Off UNC's Late Surge
A dogfight between two ranked teams ended in #6 North Carolina victory over #9 Navy 9-8 in Chapel Hill. The Mids get handed their first loss of the season, falling to 2-1.

It was a game of runs, starting with a 3-0 run in the first six minutes by the Tar Heels. The Mids countered with a 5-1 run from the middle of the first quarter to the beginning of the third, with Tim Paul scoring the first and last goal of the run, putting the Mids up 5-4. UNC responded with another 3-0 run in just three minutes. Navy got back a one-goal lead with a 3-0 run, taking the lead in the fourth quarter 8-7. The lead would only last a few minutes, as UNC got two goals from Sean Delaney and held on to win 9-8.

Brendan Connors added two goals to Paul's three. Matt Coughlin was great defensively, with six saves, but in the end the UNC offense was too much. One of the big problems was faceoffs; Navy only won four of the 21.

Navy will head north to take on Bucknell next Saturday.

UMBC Runs Down Rutgers
#11 UMBC scored at least five goals in the final three quarters to take down Rutgers 17-10 in their home opener. The Retrievers are on a good start, improving to 2-0.

The Scarlet Knights shot very accurately in the beginning, taking an early 5-3 lead in the middle of the second quarter. Then the UMBC shots hit their marks, going on a 6-0 run then later a seperate 7-1 run after a Rutgers goal. Rutgers was only 14-23 on clears, helping UMBC got some valuable time on offense.

Peet Pollion led the way with seven points off four goals and three assists. Kyle Wimer got three goals plus an assist. Jeremy Blevins played well, sacing 11 shots in his play, which was just under 55 minutes.

UMBC will stay home this week and prepare for Colgate on Saturday.

As the games continue, we will keep track of how Maryland teams do against each other. Our rankings will be based on play in the state.
(overall record, in-state record), current rankings by Inside Lacrosse
The Around the Harbor Lacrosse Standings:
--Loyola (1-1 overall, 1-0 in-state), ranked #18
--UMBC (2-0), ranked #9
--Johns Hopkins (1-0), ranked #3
--Maryland (2-1), ranked #7
--Navy (2-1), ranked #10
--Mt. St. Mary's (0-0)
--Towson (0-1, 0-1), received votes