Loyola Blakefield may have lacked sufficient intensity when it was shutout by John Carroll, 2-0, on Sept. 16 — two days after the Dons upset the No. 1 team in the area, Calvert Hall.
Intensity was no problem for Loyola Wednesday against visiting St. Paul's.
The Dons (3-3) defeated the Crusaders, 2-0, in a Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference game in Towson behind first-half goals from seniors Marcei Desormeaux and Jack Blum.
"We finished some opportunities in the first half," said Loyola coach Lee Tschantret, whose team held a 14-7 advantage in shots. "I think St. Paul's worked hard on closing some passing lanes down. We had good combinations in and around the box. We played the ball out wide and whipped the ball in. I thought we did well there."
Loyola scored its first goal in the 11th minute.
Desormeaux beat a defender and drilled a right-footed shot in the left corner from 10 yards out.
About 10 minutes later, Desormeaux assisted on the Dons' second goal. He kicked a long cross that Blum knocked off the post and past senior goalie Colin Doeller (9 saves) for his first goal of the season.
"They controlled the first half," St. Paul's coach Majid Mirza said of Loyola. "I just told my boys, 'We really made two mistakes in the first half.' We made a mistake defensively (on the first goal). They stole the ball, went in and scored.
"When they an indirect shot, we made a mistake again," he added. "Nobody found the player and he tapped it in."
St. Paul's best scoring chance in the first half came in the middle of the period when Spencer Hall's header went off the crossbar and was saved by goalie Chris Karpovich.
The Crusaders generated a couple of scoring opportunities early in the second half, but two of their shots went wide of the goal and Karpovich saved another shot.
"They were down so they really threw a lot of numbers upfront," Tschantret said. "They did what they had to do. But after the first five minutes, we settled down."