No. 12 Men's Lax Clinches No. 1 Seed in Patriot League Tournament, Beats Loyola 13-11

Friday, April 26

Baltimore, MD

7:00 PM

Army West Point

11-2, 6-2PL

#20 Loyola

7-7, 5-3PL

Army West Point

Loyola Maryland

Photo by: Mark Wellman

No. 12 Men's Lax Clinches No. 1 Seed in Patriot League Tournament, Beats Loyola 13-11

April 26, 2024 | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score

BALTIMORE, Md. – For the first time since 2010, the Army West Point men's lacrosse team is the regular season Patriot League champion and will host the Patriot League semifinals and championship game after a thrilling 13-11 win over no. 20 Loyola.

The first half was a back and forth shootout. Evan Plunkett got the scoring started, but was immediately followed by two Greyhound goals to take the lead back. Reese Burek got going next, scoring the next two goals in the span of 35 seconds to take a 3-2 lead. The Greyhounds responded with two goals in a row to retake the lead. Continuing the stretch of 2-0 runs, it was Army's turn again. This time it was Plunkett and Jackson Eicher. Loyola got one back to end the first quarter tied 5-5.

After two Loyola goals to open the second, Army rattled off four goals in a 1:43. Burek and Plunkett each scored their third of the night, then Will Coletti won a faceoff and scored all by himself after a nice fake to Burek. Morin capped the run with his first of the night to make it 9-7. Loyola would respond with a goal right before half to cut the Black Knight lead to 9-8 going into the break.

The second half is when things slowed down and the defenses and goalies stepped up. Morin scored his second goal 49 seconds into the third to go up 10-8. Loyola scored the next two goals to tie things up and that was the only scoring in the third quarter.

The first five minutes of the fourth quarter were much of the same, good goalie play mixed with strong defense forcing turnovers. Then Gunnar Fellows struck. To put Army up 11-10 with 10:29 to play. Two minutes later Reese Burek scored his fourth goal of the night to make it 12-10. Loyola got one back on the man up with 4:43 left, then Jackson Eicher put the exclamation point on it with a goal to make it 13-11. Loyola would get a man up opportunity with under a minute left but Sean Byrne slammed the door shut to clinch the win and the regular season title.

Byrne was fantastic, making 14 saves on the day to go with four ground balls and one caused turnover. Despite playing on one leg for the second half, Will Coletti managed to go 18-28 on faceoffs and scoop seven ground balls to go with his career-high tying seventh goal of the season.

The Reese Burek show continued, he finished with five points to bring his season total to 50 with 15 of those coming in the last three games.

As the one seed, Army awaits the lowest seed remaining from Tuesday's quarterfinal matchups of no. 6 Loyola at no. 3 Navy and no. 5 Colgate at no. 4 Boston U. The semifinals will be at Michie Stadium on Friday, May 3 at 4pm and 7pm, both games will be on CBS Sports Network. The championship game will be Sunday, May 5 at noon also one CBS Sports Network.

Due to ongoing Michie Stadium Preservation Project construction, entry into the stadium has been modified from previous games this season. Fans attending should enter through gates noted on the map by clicking here. Additionally, the ticket office on gameday will be open in the Holleder Center (location of Army Basketball and Hockey). Fans are encouraged to purchase tickets online in advance using the links below to expedite entry on gameday. One tickets gets you entry to both semifinal games.

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE PATRIOT LEAGUE SEMIFINAL TICKETS

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE PATRIOT LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP TICKETS