With the ball and 73 seconds left against Notre Dame, the Loyola men's lacrosse team had the scenario it was looking for.
But the No. 14 Greyhounds, who trailed by as many as three goals on three occasions, could not net one more goal and dropped a 7-6 season-opening decision to the No. 8 Fighting Irish at Diane Geppi-Aikens Field yesterday.
Loyola had several good chances to tie the score. Senior midfielder Joe Landry's shot from the slot was stopped by Notre Dame senior goalie Joey Kemp, and senior midfielder Paul Richards' offering was blocked by a mass of bodies in front of the cage.
Senior attackman Shane Koppens had the final opportunity, but the ball fell out of his stick as he tried to split a pair of Fighting Irish defenders just before the buzzer sounded.
"We were just trying to get a good shot off," said Koppens, who registered a game-high four points (a goal and three assists). "That last minute, we had plenty of opportunities. We just didn't capitalize on them."
The Greyhounds (0-1) lost their fourth straight opener - the past two at the hands of Notre Dame. The setback also ended a five-game winning streak at home for Loyola.
Trailing 3-0 at the start of the second quarter and 5-2 at halftime, the Greyhounds mounted their comeback in the third quarter. Junior attackman Jake Willcox fed freshman attackman Matt Langan for the first goal with 7:56 left in the period.
Willcox slid a low shot past Kemp less than two minutes later, and Koppens sent a pass to sophomore attackman Cooper MacDonnell for a quick goal with 36.7 seconds left to tie it at 5.
The Fighting Irish (1-0) took the lead again with 8:55 left in the fourth quarter when freshman midfielder Zach Brenneman beat Loyola freshman goalie Jake Hagelin (Boys' Latin), who made 11 saves in place of junior Alex Peaty (out with a double ear infection and bronchitis).
But 2:04 later, Koppens raced from behind the net and beat Kemp up high to tie the score again.
The game-winner came from senior attackman Alex Wharton (Gilman) with 3:33 left. Notre Dame spread its offense, and junior midfielder Dan Gibson waited until Wharton lost his defender behind the net before hitting him with a pass in front of Hagelin.
"We ran that play in the third quarter, but I missed the pass from Gibson," said Wharton, who also had an assist. "We knew it was going to be there. I actually got lucky with the shot because it hit off the side of Hagelin's helmet and went in."
Then came the frenetic ending and when the buzzer sounded, several Greyhounds lay or sat on the home turf for a few seconds. Afterward, coach Charley Toomey said he hoped the players would remember the sting of the loss.
"As I just told our team, it should hurt because when you lay it on the line and you come up short, it should hurt," he said.
edward.lee@baltsun.com