Loyola goalkeeper Jim Brown and the plan dealt a new twist to the "Charles Street Massacre".
In a neighborhood rivalry historically dominated by Johns Hopkins, the No. 4 Greyhounds stymied the nation's top scoring attack with a new-look defense and received a career-best 25 saves from Brown to handle the No. 3 Blue Jays, 10-7, yesterday before a sellout crowd of 4,517 at Curley Field. Loyola (12-1) set a school record with its 11th straight win.
It was only the second win for Loyola over Hopkins in their 36 meetings. Hopkins (10-3), which was held to half of its season average of 15.7 goals, also tied its lowest scoring output in the 59-year-old series.
"If you can't get up for Hopkins, you got to get your pulse checked," Brown said. "I don't think we've ever been that prepared for a game. We knew what we had planned for them to do and that's what they did."
Loyola broke open a tie game at 3 by going on a 6-1 run midway through the contest. But the Greyhounds won because of defense. Loyola caught the Blue Jays off guard with a wrinkle in its defensive scheme that shut out Hopkins for 24 minutes.
Instead of playing all of its long-pole defensemen around the crease, Loyola assigned short-stick midfielder Kevin Quinn to Hopkins' crease attackman Dylan Schlott, the top scorer in Division I, who was limited to two goals.
That allowed the Greyhounds to apply extra pressure on the perimeter, moving long-stick defenseman Mike Day out front against midfielder Andrew Godfrey.
Since the Blue Jays couldn't dodge past the Greyhounds, they couldn't force any slides. By not having Loyola scrambling defensively, Hopkins couldn't feed the ball inside and had to shoot primarily from 12 to 15 yards.
"Each game we play defense a little differently," Loyola coach Dave Cottle said. "What we have here is a senior-oriented defense that allows us to make adjustments. When you have Kevin Quinn as one of your short sticks and one of the smartest players we've ever coached, we're allowed to do different things."
The defense also helped the Greyhounds take control of the game in the middle of the second quarter with the game tied at 3.
Loyola defenseman Tim O'Hara leveled Kevin Kaiser at midfield, forcing a loose ball and a transition opportunity for the Greyhounds. Two passes later, Gewas Schindler found Chris Georgalas on the left wing for a 5-yard shot that put Loyola ahead 4-3 just 5: 45 into the second.
