Loyola Maryland, the No. 4 seed in the Patriot League tournament, is 2-1 against conference rival Army, the No. 5 seed, and has won the past two meetings, including a 12-10 victory on March 14.
The Black Knights are just 4-9 in the league tournament and have not won since 2010. The Greyhounds are 2-0 in the conference postseason. Army (8-5 overall, 4-4 league) has dropped its past two games, including an 8-5 loss against Colgate on Friday night.
While senior attackman John Glesener gets a ton of attention, the starting attack also includes sophomore Cole Johnson and junior Connor Cook. Johnson leads the offense in goals with 32, and Cook ranks second in that department with 30.
Loyola (7-7, 5-3) has alternated wins and losses since the third game of the season, including Friday night's 10-9 overtime loss at Bucknell.
Sophomore midfielder Brian Sherlock is enjoying a breakout campaign. Not only has he set career highs in goals (28) and assists (19), but his 47 points are the most by a midfielder in the program since Del Halladay posted 49 in 1995.
Here are a few factors that could play a role in the outcome at Ridley Athletic Complex Tuesday at 4 p.m.
1) Offensive diversity. As mentioned above, the Greyhounds won the previous meeting courtesy of a career-best six goals from junior attackman Zach Herreweyers, who has registered 45 goals thus far. Only Stony Brook junior attackman Mike Rooney (58 goals) and Brown sophomore attackman Dylan Molloy (52) have scored more often in Division I than Herreweyers, who has recorded three goals or more in nine games.
Loyola coach Charley Toomey knows that the offense needs other sources to produce against a Black Knights defense that ranks second in the country after allowing an average of 6.9 goals per game.
"Certainly the last time we played Army, it was not hard to recognize Zach Herreweyers on the field and the way he shot the lights out," Toomey said. "I don't know that we can go into any one game saying, 'OK, Zach is good for five.' That was a pretty Herculean effort that he gave us out there. So we're going to spread it around and continue to develop. Maybe some other guys step up and take a little pressure off of Zach tomorrow. That's the goal."
2) John Glesener. While Johnson and Cook torch the nets for Army, the undisputed quarterback is Glesener, the senior attackman who leads the offense in assists (20) and points (45).
In that meeting last month, Glesener did not score a goal on six shots, had one assist and committed two turnovers thanks to an impressive effort by Greyhounds senior defenseman Pat Frazier.
In the Black Knights' past two games, losses to No. 15 Navy and No. 18 Colgate, Glesener has scored one goal on 13 shots, assisted on two others, and turned the ball over five times. After watching the film, Toomey said Navy and Colgate outlined a defensive blueprint for containing Glesener.
"I think it's being willing to switch on picks and maybe coming out a little bit, making him catch a little bit further from the goal, having an awareness when he has the ball, being prepared to slide a little more quickly, and not letting one guy beat you," Toomey said. "So there's a lot of multiple ways to kind of go about it. But at this point of the year, too, he's seen it all, and Army recognizes what's going to happen, too. So they've got adjustments, and that's what tomorrow is about, making in-game adjustments as the game proceeds."
3) Openings. Loyola has outscored opponents, 44-37, in the first quarter, but been outscored, 38-34, in the third quarter.
That might not bode well against Army, which has overwhelmed opponents, 49-18, in the opening period and, 45-17, in the third. But the Greyhounds matched the Black Knights, 4-4, in the first quarter last month and outscored them, 4-2, in the third.
Toomey said Loyola has to sprint from the opening whistle.
"I think we play pretty well in the first stanza, too," he said. "So we need to come out and play with our energy. We really haven't talked a lot about the energy that Army is going to play with because I think the energy they play with is just natural as a service academy.
"We've played against Navy and we've played against Army, and we know that the guys are going to hear it from the coaches that it's a 60-minute game, and if you think you can play 48 against those guys, you can't.
"That's something that regardless of where they're scoring their goals, we better be prepared to play 60 minutes against these guys because they're just going to keep coming at you."