It was Taylor Swift Eras Tour Night at Ridley Athletic Complex — a not-so-subtle nod to Loyola’s era of dominance in the Patriot League.
Make it 78 straight regular season Patriot League wins for the Greyhounds after a 17-12 victory over visiting Navy.
Loyola’s lost three games to Patriot League teams since 2017 in the NCAA tournament — all to Navy. But the Mids couldn’t knock off the Greyhounds on Wednesday night, as Sydni Black went for five goals and three assists to lead the Loyola offense.
She wasn’t alone in picking apart the Navy defense. Georgia Latch had three goals and four assists, and Chase Boyle had four goals to go with a game-high 12 draw controls.
No. 8 Loyola, one of the nation’s last remaining undefeated teams at 8-0, went into the locker room at halftime ahead 13-5. Navy’s fortunes began to shift just before the break, though, as head coach Cindy Timchal made a goalie change to Emma Richardell. She made nine saves in relief of Felicia Giglio and allowed just four goals in 33-plus minutes.
While Richardell did her part in slowing the Greyhounds, the Navy offense picked up.
Emily Messinese opened the second half with two goals, then Anna Gottterup finished an Emma Kennedy feed to cut Loyola’s lead to 13-8. Gotterup would again cut the deficit to five goals at 14-9 with 1:29 left in the third quarter, as did Tori DiCarlo at 15-10 early in the fourth quarter.
