Both goalies from Saturday's overtime thriller between No. 10 Loyola and No. 11 Navy earned weekly honors from their respective conferences, but the Greyhounds' Jake Hagelin's award was somewhat noteworthy.
Hagelin, a Havre de Grace native and Boys' Latin graduate, made just three saves in Loyola's 8-7 victory. Although those stops occurred in the waning minutes of regulation and overtime, Hagelin was overshadowed by Midshipmen sophomore R.J. Wickham, who registered 19 saves.
Nonetheless, at a media event in which four Baltimore-area Division I coaches previewed their teams and answered fans' queries during a question-and-answer session at the ESPNZone in the Inner Harbor, Greyhounds coach Charley Toomey reiterated his previous stance that Hagelin is the undisputed starter.
"The one thing I would point to is he's the co-Defensive Player of the Week in the [Eastern College Athletic Conference], and it wasn't because he registered 18, 19 saves, which he's done before for us," Toomey said. "He directed a defense that allowed another team to put just 10 shots on the cage. What Jake does is, he's a terrific leader, he's very poised. So anytime we're clearing the ball, he's making the right decisions, and he's getting the guys to their spots. So we really relied on his leadership and not so much his saving ability. The one thing that I gave our defense a hard time about is, we've got to give him a chance to make saves. The first couple saves a goalie needs to make shouldn't be five yards and in. When we had a breakdown, Navy capitalized, and that's going to be our challenge this week, to let our goalie get going and allow him to be the stopper that we know he is."
If the need arises, Toomey has the luxury of inserting senior Alex Peaty, who started as a freshman. But Toomey said that option was not considered.
"I know the way our team responds to him. I'm looking at him when he's at the top of the crease and he's biting a middie's head off to get down the backside. He's a leader, and the guys respond to him and they want to play awful hard for him. When the ball's in his stick, I feel pretty confident that we're going to clear the ball. Those are the little intangibles that you've got to be looking at. When he starts dipping his head and begins thinking about the last shot and not the next shot, then maybe you're looking at him and wondering, 'Is it time?' But in no way, shape or form did I see that glazed look in the young man's eyes. He wanted the next one."
Other Loyola notes:
*Saturday's road game at ECAC rival Quinnipiac is the first of three contests in eight days for the Greyhounds. After returning from Connecticut on Sunday, the team is scheduled to fly to Louisville, Kentucky for a Wednesday tilt against another league opponent in Bellarmine before returning home for a Saturday game against a No. 4 Notre Dam squad that just knocked Duke from the No. 1 ranking. "I've told them that it's going to be the most challenging week of our season, and not just because of who we're playing, but because of the two league games and the travel," Toomey said. "You just saw it with Denver going from Syracuse down to Jacksonville [and losing both games], and we're going to have to respond. … We're going to ask our guys to prepare for an opponent on a short week. You can't mess around with your league games. You've got to take care of your league games, and you've got to make hay into gray outside of your league. Certainly, next weekend is an opportunity, but for us, it's the next game up and right now, it's Quinnipiac."
*Junior midfielder Chris Basler, who sat out Saturday's season opener, is still dealing with a nagging separated shoulder. Toomey equated Basler's status to that of junior attackman Matt Langan, who separated his shoulder prior to the game against Navy, but Langan recovered enough to play against the Midshipmen. "It's one of those things where it kind of went out and came back in, and it's a day-to-day situation. Chris is sort of in the same situation," Toomey said. "So as soon as he's ready to go, we're going to certainly re-insert him into the top six. I think we'll see him back by Bellarmine, if not Quinnipiac."
*Senior John Schiavone finished last season ranked fourth in Division I with a .589 face-off percentage, but he went just 7-of-19 (.368) against Navy. While crediting senior Robby Battle (9-of-15) with tying up Schiavone and getting the ball to his teammates on the wings, Toomey said Loyola needs to do the same for Schiavone. "We need to protect John on the wings," Toomey said. "Last year, we had P.T. Ricci, who led our team with 91 groundballs. A lot of those were at the face-off X, and so that's a challenge that we've presented to our team. We're looking for a few good men coming off of those wings who are going to help us in that area."