Jordan Germershausen scored four goals, tripling his previous career total, on Wednesday, and Loyola defeated host Georgetown University, 10-7, at Cooper Field.
Germershausen made his first start since February 2015 and scored two goals in each of the first two quarters to help the Greyhounds take a 7-3 halftime lead.
Pat Spencer added two goals and two assists, and Brian Sherlock had a goal and two assists for the Greyhounds. Romar Dennis scored twice, as well.
Jacob Stover made his first career start in goal for Loyola and finished with nine saves, six coming in the second half.
Germershausen gave Loyola a lead it would not relinquish at 8:55, one-timing a Pat Spencer feed for a goal. Dennis made it 3-1 Greyhounds with 85 seconds left in the first quarter, using a big split-dodge to get away from a short-stick defender and shoot into the upper right corner.
Graham Savio went 14-of-20 on faceoffs for Loyola and had five ground balls to help the Greyhounds to a 32-20 advantage off the ground. Brian Begley and Spencer each had four.
In The Polls
Loyola checks in at No. 15 in the USILA coaches poll and 13th in the Inside Lacrosse media version.
Bucknell enters the game receiving votes in both polls.
Series History
Loyola will play Bucknell for the sixth time in series history and the third as Patriot League opponents when the teams hit the field Saturday afternoon.
Loyola leads the all-time series, 4-0, but Bucknell won the 2015 meeting, 10-9, in an overtime contest in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.
Bucknell scored the final three goals of that April 17, 2015, game, and Sean Doyle’s goal 45 seconds into overtime gave the Bison the victory.
Loyola led 9-7 when Zach Herreweyers scored his fifth goal of the night on Brian Sherlock’s fifth assist with 6:03 remaining in regulation, and the Greyhounds led into the game’s final minute.
After Kyle Shanahan got free in the right alley to score for the Bison (8-5, 5-3) with 90 ticks on the clock, Bucknell drew even at 9-9 as Will Sands scored with 24 seconds remaining in regulation. The Bison won the ensuing faceoff and called a timeout with nine seconds remaining. Doyle then had a six-yard shot from inside with less than five seconds left, but Loyola’ Grant Limone saved the ball cleanly to send the game to overtime.
Loyola came away with the ground ball on the overtime faceoff and ran into its box with the Bucknell defense unsettled, but a Ben Kellar trailcheck dislodged the ball, and Bucknell cleared it to its offensive end before calling a timeout.
David Dickson, who had four assists in the game, dodged on the right side and set a pass to Doyle on the left where he scored from within five yards to give the Bison their only lead of the game and send Bucknell to victory.
Herreweyers scored five goals in the game for Loyola, and Sherlock set a career-high with five assists.
The first meeting between the schools as Patriot League foes, a 13-5 Loyola win on April 17, 2014, was the first contest between the teams since April 2, 1983 when the Greyhounds defeated the Bison, 15-8.
In 2014, Brian Schultz scored three of his career-high six goals against the Bison in the first half to help Loyola take a 5-1 halftime lead. Nikko Pontrello added three goals and an assist, as well, in the game.
Stepping Up
Jordan Germershausen made his first start on attack since the second game of the 2015 season Wednesday at Georgetown, and the junior made the most of his opportunity. He scored twice in both the first and second quarters to help Loyola built a 7-3 halftime lead.
Germershausen scored on the first four shots he took against the Hoyas, scoring Loyola’s opening two goals of the game, and he later put the Greyhounds in front, 7-3, late in the second quarter.
The four goals tripled his career total to six. Germershausen entered the game having scored twice with both goals coming on March 2, 2016, against Towson University.
Stover’s First Start
Jacob Stover made his collegiate debut to start the second quarter Saturday, March 19, when the Greyhounds played at the U.S. Naval Academy. He finished with four goals, four ground balls and five goals allowed in 45 minutes of action against the Midshipmen.
Stover then made his first start on Wednesday against Georgetown, and the freshman finished with nine saves while allowing just seven goals.
Taking Care Of The Ball
Through eight games this season, and national games as of Wednesday, March 23, the Greyhounds are third in NCAA Division I in fewest turnovers per game. Loyola has averaged just 10.75 miscues in its eight outings.
Loyola was charged with 15 turnovers in a season-opening win at Virginia, but since then, they have averaged just 10.1 per game. The Greyhounds had eight turnovers against both Johns Hopkins and Towson and a season-low seven versus Duke.
Finding The Extra Man
Loyola’s extra-man offense has scored on seven of its last 10 possessions after starting the season by going 0-of-4 in the first two games. The Greyhounds have raised their season average to 7-of-14, good for 50 percent and eighth-best in the nation this year.
Five different players have scored on extra-man, led by Romar Dennis and Jordan Germershausen’s two goals each. Pat Spencer, Zack Sirico and Zack Herreweyers have also scored on man-up for the Greyhounds.
Fitting Right In
Pat Spencer was in the starting lineup on attack for his first collegiate game at Virginia, and he made an immediate difference on the Greyhounds’ offensive side of the ball. The freshman from Davidsonville, Maryland, scored two goals and assisted on a pair, earning Corvias Patriot League Rookie of the Week honors after the fact.
He had a second-consecutive four-point game, scoring once and assisting on a game-high three versus Johns Hopkins. Following that outing, Spencer put up six points against Lafayette with the Greyhounds’ first two goals before dishing out four assists. He earned his second Patriot League Rookie of the Week award after scoring twice against Towson before posting a goal and season-high tying four assists at Holy Cross.
Through eight games, Spencer leads Loyola in both points (30) and assists (17), and he is tied for the team-lead in goals (13). He has scored two or more points in all eight of the Greyhounds’ games. He has five multi-goal, and six multi-assist, games.
Spencer is tied for 14th nationally with 2.13 assists per game, a total that is second among freshmen, and his 3.75 points per game tied for third among freshmen and tied for 28th overall.
Spreading The Wealth
Nine players scored Loyola’s 10 goals in the Greyhounds March 5 outing at Holy Cross, the most that have scored for the team in a game this year. Tyler Albrecht was the only player to tally more than one goal.
All but one player from Loyola’s starting attack and first and second midfield units scored at least one goal, and long-stick midfielder Ryan Fournier added another.
The Greyhounds also had a season-high eight assists, and the 80 percent of assisted goals were their most since posting 88.9 percent (8-of-9) last season at Bucknell.
Hat Tricks For Herreweyers
Zach Herreweyers, the 2016 Patriot League Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, had nine hat tricks in 15 games a year ago and tallied two or more in 13.
With 11 goals so far this year, Herreweyers has scored 58 over the last two years, after topping the Patriot League in 2015 when he finished seventh in NCAA Division I with 3.13 goals per game.
His hat trick against Lafayette raised his career total to 16. Herreweyers has scored three or more goals in nearly half of his collegiate games (33). With 77 goals and 89 points, he is averaging 2.33 goals per game and 2.70 points in his career.
Herreweyers was named the Corvias Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week on Feb. 22 after his three-goal, one-assist outing against Johns Hopkins.
Century Mark
Charley Toomey won the 100th game of his head coaching career Feb. 27 against Lafayette, becoming just the second coach in Loyola men’s lacrosse history to do so. Toomey is in his 11th year at Loyola and is 102-52 since 2006 at the helm of the Greyhounds program.
Toomey is ninth among active Division I coaches in winning percentage (.662).
His collegiate coach, and current Loyola and Patriot League Network color commentator Dave Cottle, is the only other coach to win 100 or more at Loyola. Cottle was 181-70 from 1983-2001.
Little Of This, Little Of That
Brian Sherlock was second on the Greyhounds in both goals (29) and assists (19) last year, and he showed in the 2016 season opener that he is on track to put up numbers again in both categories. The junior midfielder tallied two goals and had a pair of assists for the Greyhounds.
His second goal of the season was the 50th of his career. With nine goals and eight assists through eight games this year, Sherlock has 57 and 75 for 94 points in 40 career games.
Preseason Patriot League Prognostications
Loyola was picked as the Patriot League Preseason favorites for the third time in as many seasons since the school joined the conference prior to the 2013-2014 academic year. The Greyhounds garnered 12 of a possible 18 first-place votes in the preseason poll to tally 122 points. The U.S. Naval Academy was second with 108 points and five first-place nods, and Colgate University was right behind with 105 and one.
The U.S. Military Academy and Bucknell University were fourth and fifth, while Boston University, Lehigh University, College of the Holy Cross and Lafayette College rounded out the nine-team poll.
Zach Herreweyers was selected as the Preseason Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year. He was joined on the Preseason All-Patriot League team by Brian Sherlock.
Tewaaraton Twosome
Zach Herreweyers and Brian Sherlock were named to the Tewaaraton Award Watch List as early-season contenders for the honor that is presented by Under Armour.
The duo were two of 50 named to the watch list, and Loyola is one of 11 schools to have two or more players on the docket. Herreweyers was a mid-season addition to the watch list last season.
Quartet Of Captains
Seniors Tyler Albrecht and David Manning and juniors Jack Carrigan and Brian Sherlock were named captains by Head Coach Charley Toomey at the end of fall practice.
Last season, Sherlock was the first sophomore to be named a captain during Toomey’s head coaching tenure at Loyola, and this year, he and Carrigan are the second and third juniors to draw the nod (also Scott Ratliff in 2012).
More To The MLL
Three Loyola seniors were selected in January’s Major League Lacrosse Collegiate Entry Draft, bringing the number of Greyhounds selected over the last four seasons to 13. With an even 20, Loyola is one of 12 schools to have 20 or more MLL Draft picks in the League’s history.
Tyler Albrecht was the first Loyola player selected, going 15th overall to the expansion Atlanta Blaze in the second round. David Manning was tabbed 43rd overall by the New York Lizards in the fifth round, and Zach Herreweyers went 47th to the Chesapeake Bayhawks in the sixth.
Leading Transition Scoring
A large part of Loyola’s success over the past several years has been its ability to score in transition, and last year long-stick midfielder Ryan Fournier again led in that capacity. Fournier scored four goals and assisted on five last season, while picking up 58 ground balls, second on the team.
This season, he has scored against Virginia, Lafayette and Holy Cross to bring his career total to 11 goals and seven assists.
Get To Ten
Since Charley Toomey became head coach at Loyola in 2006, the Greyhounds have scored 10 or more goals on 82 occasions. With the win over Georgetown Loyola has won 79.3 percent of those games (65-17).
Since 2012
Loyola has the second-best winning percentage in NCAA Division I men’s lacrosse since the start of the 2012 season. The Greyhounds are 56-18 during that stretch (18-1 in 2012, 11-5 in 2013, 15-2 in 2014, 7-8 in 2015 and 5-3 this season) for a .757 mark.
Denver has won 63 games during that time and has a .788 winning percentage.
Up Next
Loyola heads to Hamilton, New York, to face Colgate University at 12 noon on Sunday, April 2, in a CBS Sports Network national telecast.
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