The Loyola Greyhounds can complain all they want about not making the 16-team NCAA Division I lacrosse tournament, but they shouldn't. They don't have anyone to blame but themselves.
The 2009 season was one of near misses for Loyola (9-5), a team that couldn't get over the proverbial hump. Entering the selection committee meeting Sunday night, Loyola and Brown were fighting for the final playoff berth, and it basically came down to which team had the most wins against teams in the field.
Brown (12-3) had beaten Cornell and Massachusetts, two teams already in the field. And Loyola had beaten, um, um, um - nobody in the field. In fact, the Greyhounds lost to Massachusetts at home, 8-6, in a game that proved to be significant because Brown beat the Minutemen, 9-8.
"There are a couple of things that disappoint me," Loyola coach Charley Toomey said.
"When you play the strength of schedule that we do, you're going to have some losses on your resume. I think when you play 14 games, you have to look at the entire body of work, including who you play. We had our opportunities during the season, and I'm not going to be the guy on the outside crying because I didn't get in.
"But I do think, just like basketball, there should be administrators who are involved in the decision-making process because it seems to change from year to year. One year it's based on strength of schedule and RPI rankings, and the next year it's based on big wins."
Toomey is right. The criteria do seem to change from year to year. According to the NCAA's 2009 Rating Percentage Index rankings, Loyola is No. 9 and Brown No. 12. According to LaxPower.com, Loyola played the third-toughest schedule in the country behind Johns Hopkins and Duke, while Brown was at No. 32.
In Brown's defense, the Bears did play in the Ivy League, which was extremely tough with teams such as Princeton, Cornell and Harvard. But despite the strength of schedule and RPI rankings, the Greyhounds would have gotten into the tournament if they had taken care of their business and not left it in the hands of the selection committee.
In a 14-13 loss to Syracuse at home, Loyola was ahead by several goals late in the game but blew it. The Greyhounds lost, 10-9, to Notre Dame and 11-9 to Duke. Loyola went down to the wire Saturday against Hopkins, losing, 11-10, in double overtime.
If the Greyhounds had made one more save or scored one more goal, they might be in the playoffs. If they had hustled down a few more ground balls or won a few more faceoffs, maybe they would have gotten over the hump. It's a tough lesson to learn, but a good one for Toomey to build on going into next season.
"I'm proud of our guys and where we're at in our program," Toomey said.
"This outcome is indicative of our Hopkins game in the last four minutes, and our season, where we fought until the very end."
