Charley Toomey

No. 7 Loyola took great joy in snapping a 13-game losing skid to No. 13 Johns Hopkins with Saturday's 8-4 victory. But even happier times could just be down the road. Saturday's win may have further strengthened the reigning national champion's pursuit of an at-large berth to the NCAA tournament regardless of what occurs in the Eastern College Athletic Conference tournament being held at Hobart in Geneva, N.Y. later this week. According to Laxpower.com which compiles its own Rating Percentage Index (RPI)

Mike Sawyer never went anywhere. The Loyola senior attackman may have blended into the background because of the development of junior attackman Justin Ward (team-leading 28 assists and 54 points) and the play of the team's defense, but aside from sitting out two games due to an undisclosed injury, he toiled away. But Sawyer, a 2012 Tewaaraton Award finalist and a nominee again this year, picked an opportune to re-establish himself on the national scene. His three goals powered the No. 7 Greyhounds to an 8-4 victory over No. 13 Johns Hopkins at Homewood Field in Baltimore Saturday.

Johns Hopkins has dominated its Charles Street rival, winning 47 of the 50 games and the last 13 meetings. Loyola's last victory in this series was 1999, and the Greyhounds haven't won at Homewood Field since 1998. No. 7 Loyola (10-3) emphatically rebounded from a 13-12 overtime loss to then-No. 1 Denver on April 13 with a 19-11 shellacking of Hobart a week ago. Senior attackman and 2012 Tewaaraton Award finalist Mike Sawyer may be getting hot at the right time, recording four goals and two assists in each of his last two games.

The Loyola men's lacrosse team made sure overtime was not even a possibility Saturday. No. 7 Loyola took a lead with 1:29 left in the first quarter and never relinquished it en route to an 8-4 win over No. 13 Johns Hopkins before an announced 7,905 at Homewood Field in Baltimore. It was in stark contrast to last year, when the Greyhounds opened with a nearly 19-minute scoreless stretch and surrendered five goals in a 10-9 overtime setback to the Blue Jays. The victory helped the reigning national champions snap a 13-game losing streak to Johns Hopkins, capturing their first win in the series since 1999 and their first triumph at Homewood Field since 1998.

After going with a senior-laden first midfield of Davis Butts, Chris Layne and Sean O'Sullivan for a majority of this season, as well as last year, reigning national champion Loyola has retooled the line, and the results have thus far been positive for coach Charley Toomey. Butts and Sullivan are still starters, but sophomore Nikko Pontrello has made the switch to midfield in the No. 7 Greyhounds' last two games. Pontrello's move was necessitated by the development of freshman Zach Herreweyers, who has joined senior Mike Sawyer and junior Justin Ward on attack.

Loyola's long line of strong faceoff specialists - from Dan Kallaugher to Tim McDermott to John Schiavone to J.P. Dalton - has not continued this season. Sophomore Blake Burkhart has won 50 percent (80-of-160) of the draws he has taken, and junior Brendan Donovan has won 47.1 percent (49-of-104). The No. 8 Greyhounds (9-3 overall and 5-1 in the Eastern College Athletic Conference) are winning 49.5 percent (137-of-277), and the team's uneven results showed up in last Saturday's 13-12 overtime loss to top-ranked Denver.

Speculation persists that in order for Loyola to repeat as national champion, the team must defeat No. 13 Johns Hopkins on April 27 or win the Eastern College Athletic Conference tournament (May 3-5) to qualify for the NCAA tournament. Charley Toomey is refreshingly candid in admitting that he has begun thinking about the No. 8 Greyhounds' tournament profile. “I try not to, but it's kind of hard not to look at your own resume and look at resumes that are out there,” he said Wednesday morning.

Loyola is 3-2 against Denver, and the Greyhounds won all three meetings last year en route to the university's first Division I national championship, but the combined margin of victory was five goals. And in the Pioneers' only visit to Baltimore, they scored a 12-8 victory over Loyola on March 16, 2011. Top-ranked Denver (9-2 overall and 4-0 in the league) has won four consecutive games, and both losses have been by a combined four goals. Senior attackman Eric Law, a former Salisbury transfer, entered the week ranked seventh in Division I in points per game (4.4)

Despite being the defending national champion and winning nine of 11 games this season, Loyola needs to make a statement in 2013. The Greyhounds have had other opportunities to do that this season, but they lost by two goals to No. 4 Maryland and one to No. 2 Duke. No. 8 Loyola gets another chance when No. 1 Denver (9-2) comes to the Ridley Athletic Complex on Saturday afternon, and this outcome will be heard around the college lacrosse world. "We don't have a win against a Top 5 ranked team on our resume.

Reigning national champion Loyola boasts the 14th-most prolific offense in Division I despite not getting much production from its first midfield. Senior Chris Layne ranks fourth on the team in goals (12) and points (20), but senior Davis Butts is tied for sixth in points (12) and senior Sean O'Sullivan is eighth in points (11). Butts is on pace for just five goals, which would be the fewest of his career since his freshman year in 2010. Sullivan is on pace to finish the season with 14 points, which would his lowest since transferring from Army.