The NCAA Tournament is here, and the un-seeded Syracuse Orange have hit the road to Annapolis for the opening weekend of games.
‘Cuse has drawn a rematch with the Loyola Greyhounds as their first round matchup. The Orange defeated the Hounds in the first meeting at the Dome in late February.
Opening draw from Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium is set for 7 PM on ESPN+.
Loyola this season
The Greyhounds went 12-7 this year with a record
of 7-2 in the Patriot League.
In the early season non-conference, they lost games to Johns Hopkins, Florida and ‘Cuse while picking up wins over Ivy opponents Princeton and Penn. In early April, they also dropped a game when Boston College came to town.
In conference, the only other Patriot League teams really worth discussing are the military academies. Loyola lost by eight to Army in mid-March before picking up possibly their best win of the season over Navy late in March by five goals. That is Navy’s only loss to this point.
They then lost to Army for the second time, 13-11, in the Patriot tournament semifinals on April 30. That game was also played in Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, so Loyola has the familiarity advantage having recently played a game in this venue.
Scouting Loyola
First and foremost, Loyola is the No. 1 draw control team in the country, ranking top with a .667 draw control win percentage. This will be their biggest advantage against a ‘Cuse team that is one of the worst in the country at the draw, ranking 111th at a .399 win percentage.
The Greyhounds have a solid offense that ranks 29th in scoring (12.89 goals per game), 21st in shot percentage (.455), 41st in free-position percentage (.479), 2nd in free-position shots (119) and 23rd in assists per game (7.26). ’Cuse’s defense will need to be careful when it comes to shooting space and three-second calls so as to not give up too many FP opportunities. Overall, they were fantastic in the first game, holding Loyola to their season-low seven goals and only giving up one free-position chance.
The other end of the field has been more of a struggle for the Hounds, who rank 60th in scoring defense (10.89 goals-against per game). Even worse for them has been their goalie play, which ranks one of the worst in the country at 118th in team save percentage (.369). In the regular season, the Orange turned in one of their best efforts of the season with their second-highest goal total (15) and third-highest shooting percentage (.536) of any single game.
Loyola is also one of the worst ground ball teams in the country, ranking 118th in GBs at 12.95 per game.
Names to Know
The Loyola offense is a deep one that has eight different players who’ve scored 20 or more goals this season.
Sophomore attacker Morgan Quade is the main facilitator who leads the team with 68 points and 40 assists. She’s also an excellent finisher with a .560 shooting percentage and is 11-of-16 on free-positions. Sophomore midfielder Mim Suares-Jury is the team’s all-around star. She’s second on the team with 34 goals, 55 points and 52 draw controls. She’s also third on the team with 21 assists and 23 ground balls.
Another sophomore, attacker Lauren Perfetto, is second on the team with 29 assists and third with 52 points. She had three assists during the regular season meeting. Senior midfielder Elisa Faklaris is the team’s leading goal scorer with 43 tallies. She’s got 49 points and is a sniper with a .566 shooting percentage. In the regular season, she had a big game with four goals against the Orange.
Senior Emma Talago (29G, 15A), freshman Morgan Ruhnke (27G, 4A), senior Ava Kane (24G, 5A) and junior Delaney Jackson (20G, 3A) round out the top scorers on offense.
Something to keep in mind is that Ava Kane was ejected from the regular season game in the first minute of the second quarter when she picked up her second yellow card. She had a first-quarter goal taken away on a dangerous follow-through call and the Greyhounds had to play most of the game without her, which was definitely an important factor in the first meeting.
One of the most important names to remember is Mae Murphy, the freshman who takes their draw controls and has won a whopping 230 of them. In her spectacular debut season, Murphy has already broken the Division I record for draw controls by a freshman, as well as breaking the Loyola single-season record.
Loyola’s goalie situation has been all over the place this year. They’ve gone back and forth all season with their two net-minders, trying different approaches and swapping roles to see if they can make something work.
Senior Makenzie Butler has gotten the starting nod in recent weeks, but junior Kennedy Buntrock has been right there with her. In their 19 games on the season, Butler has appeared in 15 and started 10, while Buntrock has appeared in 12 and started nine. So, it’s been a near even split as the coaching staff has gone back and forth to see if they can find the hot hand.
Butler has put up slightly better numbers with 71 saves, a 10.50 goals-against average and a .378 save percentage. Buntrock has 50 saves, an 11.72 goals-against average and a .357 save percentage.
