Loyola Maryland men's lacrosse holds off Towson, 10-8, to advance to Final Four

COLUMBUS, Ohio — After a rougher-than-expected opening, the Loyola Maryland men's lacrosse team is going to championship weekend.

Before an announced 5,144, Loyola (14-3) extended its winning streak to 10, and advanced to the program's fourth national semifinal and second since 2012, when that squad captured the national championship.

The team will meet North Carolina (10-6) at noon Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. The unseeded Tar Heels knocked off No. 3 seed Notre Dame, 13-9, to earn their first semifinal berth since 1993.

Before an announced 5,144, Loyola (14-3) extended its winning streak to 10, and advanced to the program's third national semifinal. The team will meet North Carolina (10-6) at noon Saturday at at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. The unseeded Tar Heels knocked off No. 3 Notre Dame, 13-9, to earn their first semifinal berth since 1993.

Top-seeded Maryland (16-2) and No. 5 Brown (16-2) will tangle in the second semifinal at 2:30 p.m.

Getting to this stage seemed like a fantasy back in March. After winning their first three contests, the Greyhounds lost three of their next four, including back-to-back setbacks to Duke and Patriot League rival Navy that saddled the team with a 4-3 record and a need for introspection.

"After losing two games in a row, the last one to Navy, we just huddled up in the locker room and kind of just talked as a team that night," redshirt senior defenseman David Manning said. "I told the team about my 2012 experience throughout that year and making the national championship and winning the national championship and how that journey was and how it still means a lot to me today. That's one of my best memories. … We just got better each week. Now it's another road in our journey. We've made it, and hopefully, it can end with the same result."

Loyola got three goals and one assist each from freshman attackman Pat Spencer and junior attackman Zack Sirico. Spencer's goal just 1 minute, 39 seconds into the first quarter helped him join Gary Hanley as the only players in program history to reach 80 points.

Spencer, a Davidsonville resident and Boys' Latin graduate who has 83 points on 36 goals and 47 assists, credited offensive coordinator Ryan Moran with adjusting the game plan to work the ball through X behind the Tigers cage.

"They would double-team sometimes coming from X," Spencer said. "So we dodged upfield and decided to roll back and get the ball through X and try to attack backside, and we got a couple looks out of that. We were just keeping the ball moving. … Once we got rolling, I thought the ball started moving, and we started finding some open spots in the zone."

After redshirt senior midfielder Ben McCarty (South Carroll) opened the third quarter with a bounce-shot goal just 52 seconds in to draw Towson within one at 6-5, the Greyhounds got goals from Sirico, sophomore midfielder Jay Drapeau and Spencer (off a pass from Sirico) to enjoy their largest advantage at 9-5 with 8:33 left in the period.

But Tigers junior attackman Ryan Drenner (Westminster) scored with 5:28 remaining and then fed senior attackman Spencer Parks (St. Paul's) with 1:24 left to cut the deficit in half.

Parks followed a Sirico goal with 10:17 left in the fourth quarter by converting a feed from junior midfielder Tyler Young (Arundel) with 7:04 remaining, but Loyola shut the door on Towson. Freshman goalkeeper Jacob Stover (McDonogh) made two of his five saves in the final two minutes, including a sparkling leg save on redshirt freshman attackman Ian Kirby during a Tigers extra-man opportunity.

Towson never led, and tied the score just once. Several times, the team trimmed the deficit to a manageable margin, but the Greyhounds responded with timely goals.

"When they scored, we bulled our necks and we fought for the next ground ball," Toomey said. "When the ball is on our end and it goes through Spencer's stick and Sirico's stick and [senior attackman Zach] Herreweyers', good things can happen."

Drenner led the Tigers (16-3) with two goals and two assists. But junior attackman Joe Seider was shut out and allowed to take just two shots against Manning. The program missed advancing to its first semifinal since 2001.

"Unfortunately, we know we didn't play our best game," Towson coach Shawn Nadelen said. "We were uncharacteristic at times, allowed Loyola to have too many possessions. With their good offense, that hurt us today. Give credit to Loyola for capitalizing."

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