An Army team that is just four goals away from a perfect season downed Loyola 10-8 to win the Patriot League championship and advance to the NCAA tournament.
Army faceoff specialist Will Coletti was dominant, winning 18 of 22 draws, allowing the Black Knights to control possession, dictate tempo and set the tone for a typical sterling effort from the Army defense. Army came into the game ranked second in the country in scoring defense at 8.71 goals allowed per game and lived up to the billing.
Army strung together three goals in a span of just 1:14 midway through the first quarter to take the early lead, but Loyola – which owns wins over Maryland and Johns Hopkins and beat Patriot League regular season champion Boston University in the semifinals – battled back. James Evans' goal for the Greyhounds with 9:36 to play in the second quarter tied the game 3-3.
Loyola would not score again until midway through the third quarter and by that time Army had built up a 9-3 lead.
Loyola scored three straight to cut the lead to 9-6 entering the final quarter, but Army’s Ryan Sposito opening the scoring in the final frame and the Army defense kept Loyola scoreless through the first 12 minutes of the quarter.
Knox Dent made 14 saves for Army and Reese Burek, Paul Johnson and Sposito all scored twice. Sposito had a goal and two assists during Army’s six-goal run that bridged the second and third quarters.
Loyola (9-8) was led by Adam Poitras with three goals and an assist and Luke Staudt made 11 saves.
Army now becomes a team no one will want to match up against in the NCAA tournament. The Black Knights dropped their season opener to UMass 10-8 before reeling off nine straight wins.
One-goal losses to Cornell and Boston University in the second half of April had the Black Knights off kilter heading into the Patriot League tourney, but they regrouped with a semifinal win over Lehigh and today’s championship game win over Loyola to advance to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2019.
