A disastrous first quarter doomed the Loyola Maryland men's lacrosse team.
Colgate scored the first four goals of the period and never was seriously threatened afterward in an 11-4 upset of the No. 16 Greyhounds before an announced 1,276 at Ridley Athletic Complex on Saturday.
The loss was Loyola's worst of the season and worst to a Patriot League opponent since the program joined the conference last season. The scoring output was also its lowest since a 12-4 loss to Denver on May 2, 2010.
The setback was especially damaging for the Greyhounds (5-5, 3-2), who had hoped to challenge Navy for the inside track to the top seed in the Patriot League tournament. The Midshipmen will visit Loyola at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.
Saturday's loss, coupled with Navy's 14-6 victory over Boston University, gives the Midshipmen (7-3, 5-1) a two-game cushion over a four-team scrum for second place: No. 17 Army (7-3, 3-2), Boston University (6-3, 3-2), the Raiders (5-4, 3-2) and the Greyhounds.
Most important for Loyola, however, is its deficiencies on defense and inconsistencies on offense.
On Colgate's first four goals, the Greyhounds defense rotated too slowly and left a shooter open. All four goals were assisted.
"We had talked about the slips and picks that they were going to set up top," Loyola coach Charley Toomey said. "We wanted to not switch so early so that we could kind of keep hands in gloves. We went to the picker or to the ball, and they threw back, and they had some step-down shots with no pressure on our goalie."
Offensively, Loyola committed five turnovers in the first quarter, including two that ended extra-man opportunities, and misfired on one clear that contributed to a Raiders goal. Junior attackman Zach Herreweyers converted a pass from senior attackman Nikko Pontrello with 31.6 seconds left in the period, but Colgate went on a 7-1 run spanning the second and third quarters.
Loyola had the edge in shots (40 to 33), ground balls (31 to 28) and faceoffs (13 to six), but the offense got just 40 percent of its shot attempts (16 of 40) on net.
"It just seemed like it was harder for us to get across the shots that we really wanted to get," said senior attackman Nikko Pontrello, who had an assist. "If you look at 40 shots, you'd think we could have 10 goals. The way we shot today was poorly executed, and that goes for transition and six-on-six."
Toomey said the team was frustrated in the locker room afterward because of how it had prepared for what the Raiders were going to do on both ends of the field.
"That's the most difficult thing to swallow for us," Toomey said. "Our team came in here feeling like we were really prepared for what they were going to do, and they were able to execute against us. The four-goal run early and the five-goal run in the third quarter, we just weren't able to respond to, and they just made everything really hard today."
After Colgate scored the first two goals of the third quarter to gain an 8-2 advantage, Greyhounds freshman goalkeeper Grant Limone was pulled for senior Pat McEnerney with 9:07 remaining. McEnerney, who started the team's first four games, made one save before Limone returned at the start of the fourth quarter and finished with seven stops overall.
Colgate junior midfielder Cameron Williams recorded game highs in goals (four) and points (five), and senior attackman Ryan Walsh, senior midfielder Matt Clarkson and sophomore midfielder Peter Donato each had a goal and two assists.
Sophomore goalkeeper Brandon Burke made a game-best 12 saves as the Raiders ended a four-game losing streak, winning for the first time since Feb. 28.
"I've been a part of some teams as a player that had some serious losing streaks, and it just seemed to snowball," coach Mike Murphy said. "The mental toughness of our team to come to work every single day, I couldn't be prouder of these guys. The way that we scrapped and clawed for four quarters, pride is the biggest thing I can say for this group."