A dominant second quarter led No. 6 Loyola to a 12-8 victory over Army West Point, clinching the No. 1 seed and the right to host the Patriot League tournament.
Bucknell, which beat Lehigh 14-7 on Friday night, Loyola and Navy all finished with identical 7-1 records in the league, but the Greyhounds earned the No. 1 seed and the right to host the conference tournament based on goal differential among the three teams. Navy will be the No. 2 seed, earning a first-round bye in the six-team tournament, and Bucknell will be the No. 3 seed.
Lehigh finished the season 5-3 in the league to earn the No. 4 seed while Colgate and Boston University wrapped up the final two spots in the conference tournament with wins on Friday night. Colgate beat beat Lafayette 17-9 and Boston University beat Holy Cross 9-4. BU and Colgate each went 3-5, but Colgate will be the No. 5 seed due to a 16-9 win over the Terriers on March 10.
Loyola led Army just 2-1 after the first quarter, but the Greyhounds quickly seized momentum with two goals in the opening 13 seconds of the second quarter. Loyola's No. 2 faceoff man Mike Orefice scored seven seconds into the quarter and then assisted on Aidan Olmstead's goal just six seconds later. Loyola stretched its lead to as much as 7-1 before Army's Nate Jones scored late in the half.
Two goals in six seconds? That's what @LoyolaHounds did to start the second quarter tonight. Mike Orefice won a pair of faceoffs, scored once and then assisted on an Aidan Olmstead goal to start a 6-0 run in a 12-8 win over Army West Point! @PL_MLAX @NCAALAX @CBSSportsNet pic.twitter.com/NY2xTN5mkY
— Loyola Men's Lax (@LoyolaMLAX) April 21, 2018
Loyola star Pat Spencer was held to a pair of assists, but the Greyhounds had plenty of other options with P.J. Brown leading the way with a hat trick. Kevin Lindley, Jay Drapeau and John Duffy each scored twice and Jacob Stover made 12 saves.
Bucknell earned a share of the league regular season title by overcoming a slow start in a 14-7 win over Lehigh.
Lehigh led 5-3 early before Bucknell scored five straight goals, but the Mountain Hawks could have regained momentum on Ian Strain's goal with just one second left in the half to trim the Bison lead to 8-6. But Bucknell limited Lehigh to just one second half goal as it cruised to the victory.
Sean O'Brien scored five times for Bucknell and Will Sands dished out seven assists, becoming the school's all-time leader with 139. His 53 assists this year are also a school record.
WILL SANDS MAKES MORE HISTORY TONIGHT! That assist on Will Yorke's tally was the 139th of his career, a new Bucknell standard! #rayBucknell #EnterSandsman pic.twitter.com/JviVmsPX9e
— Bucknell Men's Lax (@Bucknell_MLAX) April 21, 2018
"We had it tight there for a good portion of the game and I thought the third quarter was really the difference," said Lehigh head coach Kevin Cassese. "I thought their seniors played really well. Will Sands, Sean O’Brien, (Connor) O’Hara, (Matt) Gilray and guys like that, they came to play today and they were the difference in the game."
Colgate trailed Lafayette 3-1 after the first quarter, but then outscored the Leopards 6-0 in the second quarter and took control of a game it won 17-9.
Chase Wittich, Griffin Brown and Duncan Hoskinson each scored three times for the Red Raiders and Sam Cleveland had two goals and three assists. Will McCarthy scored four times for Lafayette.
Freshman Chris Gray had three goals and two assists to lead Boston University past Holy Cross 9-4. Gray now has 59 points for the season, breaking the school mark of 57 set last year by Cal Dearth. Joe McSorley made 10 saves for the Terriers.
Army, which began the season 3-0 with a win over Rutgers, will miss the Patriot League tournament for the first time in 14 years. Army suffered five losses by two goals or less, including one-goal losses to Syracuse, Navy and Boston University. The Black Knights close their season with a May 5 game at Notre Dame. Holy Cross (2-6) and Lafayette (0-8) both missed the conference tourney as well.
Patriot League Quarterfinals - Tuesday, April 24
No. 5 Colgate at No. 4 Lehigh, 7 p.m.
No. 6 Boston University at No. 3 Bucknell, 7:30 p.m.
Semifinals will be held Friday, April 27 at Loyola and will be broadcast nationally on CBS Sports Network.
Fields Returns to Lead Albany Past Binghamton
Playing its first game since its stunning loss to UMBC two weeks ago, No. 1 Albany routed Binghamton 18-7 in the return of Connor Fields.
Fields, the nation's No. 2 scorer entering the week, was injured in Albany's win over UMass-Lowell on March 24 and then played a limited role in a win over Harvard on March 28. He then missed two games, including the loss to UMBC, but came back strong against Binghamton. Fields finished with two goals and five assists.
Tehoka Nanticoke added three goals and two assists for Albany and TD Ierlan won 20-of-22 faceoffs.
Duke Routs Marquette 17-5
Duke scored 12 second half goals and held Marquette to just one goal in the final 26 minutes of the game, handling the Golden Eagles 17-5 on Friday night. The 17 goals was the most Marquette has allowed in a game this season.
Justin Guterding had six goals and two assists to pace the Blue Devils and now has 85 points for the season. Joe Robertson added four goals and an assist and Brad Smith had two goals and three assists.
Danny Fowler made 10 saves while allowing just four goals in 52 minutes of action to earn the victory.
Nike/US Lacrosse Division I Top 20 Scoreboard
No. 1 Albany 18, Binghamton 7
No. 3 Duke 17, Marquette 5
No. 6 Loyola 12, Army West Point 8
No. 11 Bucknell 14, No. 19 Lehigh 7