Charley Toomey

Towson and Loyola will meet for the 54th time on Saturday, and Towson holds a one-game lead in the series. But for Loyola coach Charley Toomey, the Towson game might be the biggest game on the schedule.   "It's big, really big," said Toomey, a Loyola goalie from 1987 to 1990. "Whenever we play Towson, I get a lot of phone calls from guys in my era. We play a lot of big games now like Notre Dame or Michigan, but back in my day, Towson was the biggest game on the schedule.

While junior Joe Fletcher has emerged as Loyola's shutdown defenseman and seniors Scott Ratliff and Josh Hawkins have headlined one of the more prolific Rope units in Division I, Reid Acton has stood in the background. But that's not how coach Charley Toomey feels about the senior defenseman. Acton, a three-year starter, is a security blanket for the No. 5 Greyhounds (11-3), who will meet No. 8 Ohio State (10-3) in a semifinal of the Eastern College Athletic Conference tournament at Hobart on Thursday night.

A Friday night celebration had a nice ring to it for the Loyola men's lacrosse team. One with 34 jewels, in fact. The Greyhounds received their NCAA championship rings Friday for beating Maryland, 9-3, on May 28 in Foxborough, Mass. In addition to the jewels, the bands feature a large Loyola "L" in the middle. "This is an opportunity tonight to remember the journey this team went on," coach Charley Toomey said before presenting the rings. "This is a time to remember the successful team this was. " The Greyhounds handed out team awards before the ring ceremony.

The national lacrosse championship title returned to the state Monday, but it wasn't powerhouse Johns Hopkins or the much larger University of Maryland that took top honors. Baltimore's relatively small Loyola University Maryland won its first national Division I title ever, crushing the Terps , 9-3, in an all-Maryland final played before 30,816 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. "Loyola is less than 4,000 undergraduate students. To beat the biggest of programs is just a pretty amazing time for the school," said Brian Kroneberger, a financial adviser and radio personality.

Loyola has two-thirds of its attack settled with junior Mike Sawyer (31 goals and five assists) and senior Eric Lusby (20, 5 in 2010). But the third starting position has come down to either sophomore Justin Ward or freshman Nikko Pontrello, according to coach Charley Toomey. “We've got a little bit of a race there,” Toomey said. “I would say right now that Justin Ward, a sophomore from Old Mill High School, is settling into that spot. But we also have a freshman by the name of Nikko Pontrello who's really been pushing and battling.

Despite facing a short week and having to travel Tuesday to Denver for Wednesday night's start of the Eastern College Athletic Conference tournament, top-seeded Loyola is eager to put the memory of its first loss of the season behind it. Junior long-stick midfielder Scott Ratliff, the league's Defensive Player of the Year, acknowledged Monday that Saturday's 10-9 overtime loss to No. 8 Johns Hopkins is still a little raw. “I think it's...

By virtue of defeating Maryland, 9-3, in the NCAA tournament final on Memorial Day and capturing the national championship, Loyola has gone from unknown and overlooked to recognized and celebrated. And as the reigning national titlist in 2013, the Greyhounds will no longer be the hunters, but the hunted. And if that's supposed to worry coach Charley Toomey, he didn't verbalize those concerns. “That's really what made this team so unique. It didn't matter what the label was because they didn't care,” he said.

In his first career start, Michael Bonitatibus made seven saves, collected five groundballs, and caused two turnovers in Loyola's 13-8 season-opening victory over then-No. 16 Delaware. Despite the junior's debut, the No. 17 Greyhounds have yet to name a starter between Bonitatibus and sophomore Jack Runkel for Saturday's home game against Towson. “We haven't made a decision yet, and I told those guys that on Monday,” coach Charley Toomey said Thursday morning. “I told them that this is a week-to-week decision that our staff needs to make.

NCAA men's Division I final (at Gillette Stadium) Maryland vs. No. 1 seed Loyola Time: 1 p.m. Maryland Terrapins Record: 12-5 Coach: John Tillman Coach's record: 45-29 Leading scorer: Senior attackman Joe Cummings (31 goals, 18 assists) Goalie: Sophomore Niko Amato (7.41 goals-against average, .544 save percentage) Loyola Greyhounds Record: 17-1 Coach: Charley Toomey Coach's record: 62-37 Leading scorer: Senior attackman Eric Lusby (50 goals, 17 assists)

Top-ranked Loyola plans to open the season on Saturday against Delaware with a defenseman making his first career start. Senior T.J. Harris has played in seven contests in his first three years, but he will join junior Joe Fletcher and senior Reid Acton on close defense. “He's looked good in the scrimmages,” coach Charley Toomey said of Harris. “We'll see if he's prepared to be a 60-minute defenseman or if we have to use [sophomore] Pat Frazier off the bench. T.J.'s a senior, and he certainly looked good through the fall and through the scrimmages.