BALTIMORE, Md.—The 11th-ranked Loyola women's lacrosse team (9-3, 5-0 in the Patriot League) scored the first three goals of the game and never looked back in winning their 48th consecutive Patriot League regular season contest with a 16-6 victory over No. 12 Navy (9-3, 4-1) in front of 2,107 fans at the Ridley Athletic Complex.
"Loyola has a really tough offense and our defense just didn't match-up well against them today," said Navy head coach Cindy Timchal. "They scored early and often against us.
"We uncharacteristically did not play Navy lacrosse today," continued Timchal. "We've been pretty consistent this year, but today was a tough one for us. This loss doesn't define who we are and one game doesn't define a season. It was disappointing for everybody today, but we will get back up and get ready for our next game. "
Loyola, who had lost to Navy twice at the end of the 2018 season (17-10 in the Patriot League Championship game and 19-15 in the NCAA second round), came out firing on all cylinders getting unassisted goals from Elli Kluegel and Hannah Powers and an Emily Beier goal off an assist from Sam Fiedler in the first 4:14 of the contest.
After Navy's Natalie Irwin got Navy on the board with an unassisted goal, Powers and Jillian Wilson quickly made it 5-1 on back-to-back goals in a span of 1:28.
Navy would cut the lead to three on two different occasions in the first half. Kelly Larkin scored an unassisted goal with 15:43 left in the first half to make the score 5-2 and then Larkin scored again off an assist from Marina Lazarides with 11:45 left to cut the Loyola lead to 6-3.
Loyola, however, would dash Navy's comeback hopes with four-consecutive goals to make the score 10-3 with 5:07 remaining and the Hounds took an 11-4 lead into the halftime locker room.
Loyola would extend their run to 8-1 with the first three goals of the second half, which put the game at 14-4 with 23:19 left, and most of the second half was played with a running clock.
Powers was dominant for Loyola, scoring five goals and handing out two assists. Livy Rosenzweig scored one goal and had five assists. Sam Fiedler was also very effective for Loyola with three goals and two assists, while Wilson had three goals.
Larkin led the Mids with two goals and one assist, but also had an uncharacteristic four of Navy's 16 turnovers.
"Kelly had a tough match-up today," said Timchal. "We just never got into a flow. I thought we played scared. I credit Loyola for coming out and playing tough defense."
"Loyola is a great team and our main rival in the Patriot League," said Larkin. "We came up short today, but hopefully when the game means a little more in the postseason we will be more prepared. We can learn from this game."
Kayla Harris and Reagan Roelofs both won seven draw controls for the Mids as Navy won 16 of the 24 draws in the game.
Loyola goalie Kady Glynn was solid in goal with seven saves, while Navy's Gab Harchelroad made two saves in 51:15 and Abbi Young did not make a save in 8:45 of playing time.
"Hopefully this loss will galvanize our team," said Timchal. "Loyola got the best of us today."
Navy will face another tough game on Wednesday night as the Mids travel to Washington, D.C. to take on Georgetown in a 7:00 PM tilt.
