Loyola Maryland swept Colgate last spring, winning 10-8 in the regular season and 12-6 in the semifinals of the Patriot League tournament. But the Raiders are 3-2 on the road this year, while the Greyhounds are just 2-3 at home.
Colgate (4-4 overall and 2-2 conference) has dropped four consecutive games since opening the season with four straight victories. A defense that has surrendered 9.9 goals per game thus far has been anchored by sophomore goalkeeper Brandon Burke. He ranks 21st in Division I in goals-against average (8.89) and 34th in save percentage (.513), posting 10-plus stops in four of seven starts.
No. 16 Loyola (5-4, 3-1) has alternated wins and losses in its last seven contests, extending the trend with Saturday's 19-10 rout at league rival Lafayette. The starting midfield of sophomores Brian Sherlock and Romar Dennis and junior Tyler Albrecht has combined to record 49 goals and 22 assists. Those numbers account for 44.9 percent of the offense's goals and 32.3 percent of its assists.
Here are a few factors that could play a role in the outcome at Ridley Athletic Complex on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
1) Watch Ryan Walsh. The Raiders offense has been led by senior attackman Ryan Walsh, the 11th overall pick in the Major League Lacrosse draft who ranks fifth in program history in goals (118) and sixth in points (173). Walsh, who has posted 12 goals and eight assists thus far, was shut out in the first meeting with the Greyhounds before scoring three goals on 12 shots in the conference tournament. On both occasions, Walsh was marked by Tewaaraton Award finalist Joe Fletcher. Walsh will likely see a lot of senior defenseman Pat Frazier, who snapped Army senior attackman John Glesener's streak of 21 games with a goal.
"You can look back at games past and say that Loyola is typically going to put Frazier on their No. 1," Greyhounds coach Charley Toomey said. "Ryan's got terrific skills. He's a left-hander, but Colgate allows him to play the point and he has very good right-handed skills. He's strong, and he's thick, and if you don't bring your lunch pail, he's going to run through the head of your stick and get top-side. So that's the challenge for Frazier, to understand where and when and how to guard Ryan Walsh. You have to keep him uncomfortable, and I thought Fletch did a really good job of that last year."
2) Watch the rest of the Colgate offense. Surprisingly, Walsh is not the team leader in goals, assists or points. Freshman attackman Anthony Abbadessa leads the Raiders in goals (13), while senior midfielder Matt Clarkson has registered team highs in assists (17) and points (25). Junior midfielder Cameron Williams has scored 11 goals, and freshman attackman Chase Wittich (Gilman) has compiled seven goals and five assists. That's why Toomey stressed that the defense can't focus all of its energy solely on Walsh.
"The thing that makes them a challenge is if you keep a big eye on Ryan, you've got to keep a small eye on Clarkson, their middie," Toomey said. "He's very dangerous as well. He's got 25 points. So they're very similar in that sense and are playing with great confidence. They seem to have a pretty good supporting cast around them with Abbadessa and whether or not it's [junior attackman Kevin] Adams or Wittich. They're all putting up good points. So I think when you start to focus too much on one guy, other guys can hurt you."
3) Watch Graham Savio. With senior faceoff specialist Alex Kinnealey (60.7 percent on 184-of-303 and 109 ground balls) sidelined by an unspecified season-ending injury, Colgate has struggled on draws, ranking 57th in the nation at 41.3 percent (76-of-184). The team has employed four players, but sophomore Peter Marchetto (41.5 percent on 59-of-142) and freshman Collin Orr (37.9 percent on 11-of-29) have taken the majority of the faceoffs. That would seem to be an advantage for Loyola sophomore Graham Savio, who ranks 16th in the country with a 59.8 percentage (113-of-189) and 15th in ground balls per game (6.3). But Toomey knows all about the fickle nature of draws.
"The one thing I've learned in my 10 years here is you go in thinking that it's an advantage and it's so matchup-driven," he said. "If you think you can win them, sometimes the opponent does one little thing differently that you're not prepared for and all of a sudden it becomes a battle that tilts in their direction. I know Coach [Steve] Vaikness [who is in charge of faceoffs] has watched a lot of film, and Graham is obviously our guy. He's going to go out there, but we're going to be prepared behind Graham – whether that's our second faceoff guy or our third faceoff guy."