BALTIMORE, Md. ? Making just the second start of his college career, junior goalkeeper Rob Wheeler made a career-high 14 saves, but a slow start by the Tigers (0-1) enabled 16th-ranked Loyola College (1-1) to win its first game of the year, an 11-8 non-conference victory over Towson at Diane Geppi-Aikens Field on Saturday afternoon.
Junior attackman Collin Finnerty scored a career-high four goals and added an assist for the second straight week as the Greyhounds jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead en route to their second straight win over the Tigers.
“It was good to get the first game under our belts,” Towson Coach Tony Seaman said. “We have a bunch of young kids and everything that could go wrong in the first quarter went wrong.”
Led by two goals and an assist from Finnerty, the Greyhounds jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first quarter. The Tigers were held scoreless for the first 19:07 until sophomore attackman Tim Stratton took a pass from senior Bill McCutcheon and scored to narrow the deficit to 4-1. Just over three minutes later, McCutcheon scored off a Stratton feed to close within 4-2 with 7:30 left.
However, the Greyhounds used a pair of goals, including an own goal by the Tigers, to extend their advantage to 6-2 at the intermission.
After the teams traded goals to open the third quarter, sophomore attackman Matt Langan scored back-to-back goals, upping the Loyola advantage to 9-3.
The Tigers battled back early in the fourth quarter when freshman attackman Matt Lamon tallied the first two goals of his college career in a 26-second span. However, Finnerty and freshman Mike Sawyer scored a pair of consecutive goals less than a minute apart, extending the Loyola lead to 11-5.
With 8:27 left, junior midfielder Brock Armour ignited a three-goal spurt by the Tigers with his first goal of the season, an unassisted marker past sophomore Jake Hagelin. Freshman attackman Sean Maguire and senior midfielder Mitchell Rosensweig followed with goals just 37 seconds apart, but the Tigers were unable to get any closer.
While Finnerty led the Greyhounds with a five-point effort, Langan added two goals and an assist. Hagelin made 13 saves for Loyola, which was outshot by a 37-35 margin.
Stratton and McCutcheon each scored a goal with two assists for the Tigers while Maguire scored twice in the first start of his college career.
The Tigers will continue their season-opening three-game road trip next weekend with a pair of games against Air Force and Denver.
Towson (0-1) 0-2-1-5 / 8
#16 Loyola (1-1) 4-2-3-2 / 11
Goals: TOW ? Matt Lamon 2, Sean Maguire 2, Tim Stratton 1, Bill McCutcheon 1, Mitchell Rosensweig 1, Brock Armour 1; LOY ? Collin Finnerty 4, Matt Langan 2, Cooper MacDonnell 1, Mike Sawyer 1, Eric Lusby 1, Jimmy Daly 1, TEAM 1. Assists: TOW ? Bill McCutcheon 2, Tim Stratton 1, Randall Cooper 1; LOY ? Collin Finnerty 1, Matt Langan 1, Cooper MacDonnell 1, Mike Sawyer 1, John Schiavone 1. Saves: TOW ? Rob Wheeler 14 (50:47, 11 goals allowed), Andrew Wascavage 0 (9:13, 0 goals allowed); LOY ? Jake Hagelin 13 (60:00, 8 goals allowed). Shots: TOW ? 37; LOY ? 35. Extra-Man Opportunities: TOW ? 0 for 0; LOY ? 0 for 0. Attendance: 2,436.
- www.towsontigers.com -
