The Loyola Maryland men's lacrosse team spotted an opening — two, actually — and pounced.
The No. 8 Greyhounds scored the first four goals and then went on a 3-0 run to begin the third quarter to defeat No. 16 Towson, 15-11, before an announced 529 at Johnny Unitas Stadium on Wednesday afternoon.
Junior attackman Zach Herreweyers scored a game-high five goals, including four in the first half. Senior attackman Nikko Pontrello chipped in three goals and two assists, and sophomore midfielder Brian Sherlock scored thee times.
With the victory, Loyola improved to 2-1 and needs just one more win to knot the series record at 29-29. The Greyhounds have won eight consecutive meetings.
Loyola had scored just eight times in a two-goal victory over then-No. 17 Penn State on Saturday. On Wednesday, the offense had eight goals with 7:16 left in the second quarter.
"I thought our guys were really sharing the ball, and quite honestly, goals were going in," Greyhounds coach Charley Toomey said. "We were getting good looks at the goal. We were getting shots on the goal and putting pressure on their goalie, probably a little more so than we did against Penn State.
"I liked the pace of play, but today, credit [offensive coordinator Ryan] Moran about really over-emphasizing shooting good shots to smart spots, and I thought that's what our guys did today. They really put a lot of pressure on the Towson goalies, and we needed every one of those goals because every time we made a run, they'd battle back. It was good to see some balls dropping for us today."
Loyola, which started sophomore attackman Zach Sirico for the first time this season, appeared to be in full control from the opening faceoff. Herreweyers sandwiched a pair of goals around two tallies from Sherlock as the Greyhounds took a 4-0 lead just 5:31 into the game.
The Tigers (1-1) didn't help themselves, as they committed five turnovers during that 4-0 run.
The teams traded goals twice before the end of the first quarter before back-to-back goals from junior attackman Spencer Parks and redshirt senior midfielder Andrew Hodgson pulled Towson to within two with 10:48 left in the second period.
Loyola scored three of the last five goals of the first half to take a 9-6 lead into halftime and then began the third quarter with three straight goals — the last of which compelled Tigers coach Shawn Nadelen to replace senior goalkeeper Tyler White (12 goals allowed, three saves) with Matt Hoy. The sophomore gave up three goals and made three stops.
The Greyhounds enjoyed their largest lead at 15-8 with 7:48 left in regulation before Towson scored the last three.
Herreweyers, who leads the team with 11 goals, said the offense used crisp ball movement to pull the Tigers out of their defensive comfort zone.
"I thought our offense did a good job of spreading them out a little bit," he said. "Watching film on them, they really pack it in. Like Coach said, we tried to get the ball around and share it and get it on the other side quick. So it opened up a lot of looks on the left side."
Loyola also made a change in net. Senior Pat McEnerney made his third consecutive start, allowing six goals and registering two saves. Freshman Grant Limone played the final two quarters and surrendered five goals with six stops.
"I just felt like this was an opportunity to get Grant into the game and not let it be the last five minutes of a game," Toomey said. "Let's put him in there and get him some battle-tested experience. I'm very proud of him in his first game as a Greyhound. He stood in there and made a couple saves."
Junior attackman Spencer Parks, a North Carolina transfer who played at St. Paul's, paced Towson with three goals and four assists. Sophomore attackman Joe Seider (Hereford) added four goals and one assist.
But coach Shawn Nadelen said the Tigers' slow start caught up to them.
"Spotting a strong team like Loyola four goals off the bat is tough for any team," he said. "We weren't ready from the opening whistle, and Loyola took advantage of that. We definitely created a lot of our own issues and created opportunities for Loyola today. We had some good, and we had quite a bit of bad."