Charley Toomey

A 10-3 thrashing of Michigan on Saturday helped Loyola improve to 7-2 overall and 3-0 in the Eastern College Athletic Conference this season. But the No. 15 Greyhounds are in this position despite not having played with a full deck of cards. The reigning national champion played the first seven games of the season without senior short-stick defensive midfielder Josh Hawkins, who served a suspension for violating an unspecified team rule. Undisclosed injuries forced Loyola to play without senior attackman and 2012 Tewaaraton Award finalist Mike Sawyer for two contests, senior midfielder Davis Butts in Wednesday's 13-8 victory over Georgetown, and senior midfielder Chris Layne and senior defenseman Reid Acton on Saturday.

For at least one half, Loyola men's lacrosse coach Charley Toomey got a good, long look at what his team's defense could be, and he liked what he saw. Buoyed by the return of senior short-stick defensive midfielder Josh Hawkins, the No. 15 Greyhounds locked down host Georgetown in a 13-8 win before an announced 808 at Multi-Sport Field on Wednesday night. The Hoyas (3-4) had scored 16 times in an eight-goal thumping of Providence on Saturday, but they got just one goal in the first half as Loyola (6-2)

Tewaaraton Award finalist Mike Sawyer will be a game-time decision for No. 15 Loyola's road game at Georgetown Wednesday night, coach Charley Toomey confirmed Tuesday morning. The senior attackman did not play in the team's 13-7 victory over Air Force last Saturday and attempted just three shots (scoring once) in a 9-8 loss to then-unranked Duke on March 8 after suffering an unspecified injury in an 8-6 win against Bellarmine on March 2. Toomey described Sawyer, who has registered 13 goals and two assists in six games, as “day-to-day.” “Because he had an injury and was unable to play, we just felt like staying in class and staying back here was probably the right thing to do rather than take him out of class just to travel,” Toomey said of the decision of traveling to Denver without Sawyer last weekend.

Reigning national champion Loyola has split its last two games, but there is one noticeable issue: a sudden lack of punch on offense. The Greyhounds (4-2) have scored eight goals in each of the games. That was enough for a two-goal victory over Bellarmine on March 2, but it was problematic in a one-goal loss to Duke on Friday night that dropped Loyola from No. 4 to No. 14 in The Sun's weekly rankings. The offense is shooting just 21.9 percent over those two contests and has misfired on 5-of-6 extra-man opportunities.

In the aftermath of last Friday night's 9-8 loss to a then-unranked Duke team, Loyola invited scrutiny about whether it had the talent and will to match last year's squad that captured the university's first Division I national title. The constant comparisons to last season, however, are not welcomed by coach Charley Toomey. “I'm only going to talk about this team. We've got to stop comparing this team to last year,” Toomey said Tuesday morning. “… Right now, I really believe there's enough talent and enough leadership in our locker room that we just need to take baby steps every day and continue to gel and get ready for a March-April-May run. It starts this weekend with Air Force, which is a very talented team.

When Loyola and Duke met last year, the Blue Devils were the top 10 visitor paying a visit to the top 20 Greyhounds. Times have changed as No. 4 Loyola will meet an unranked Duke squad Friday night in Durham, N.C. The Blue Devils have limped their way to a 2-4 record, dropping their last two contests to No. 14 Penn on Feb. 22 and No. 1 Maryland last Saturday. Still, Greyhounds coach Charley Toomey has no intentions of overlooking a Duke program that has been to the last six Final Fours.

Every year in college lacrosse there seems to be a Delaware, Lehigh or Loyola, a team no one figured to be one of the nation's top contenders. Could Penn State be that team in 2013? There wasn't anything unusual about the Nittany Lions' 11-6 season-opening win against Michigan, but Penn State drew some attention with a 15-12 upset of No. 10 Denver on Feb.17. Then when Penn State took No. 3 Notre Dame to overtime in a 10-9 loss Sunday - a game that featured four lead changes and seven ties - the lacrosse world took notice.

UMBC (1-1) rebounded from a season-opening loss to Robert Morris by beating Rutgers, 11-7, last Saturday. The Retrievers rode the hot hand of senior goalkeeper Adam Cohen, who made 12 of his game-high 13 saves in the game's final three quarters. No. 4 Loyola (2-1) suffered its first loss of the season last Saturday when then-No. 3 Maryland scored a 12-10 decision. The Greyhounds have dropped 16 of the 30 meetings in their series with UMBC, but they did win last year's contest, 13-5. Here are a few factors that could influence the outcome at Ridley Athletic Complex in Baltimore on Tuesday night.

En route to the school's first Division I national championship last year, Loyola tied its best start to a season by winning its first 12 contests before falling, 10-9, in overtime to Johns Hopkins. Of course, the team won the next six to take home the title. The top-ranked Greyhounds won't get a chance to match or break that record after losing in their third game of the season Saturday, absorbing a 12-10 setback to No. 3 Maryland. But senior long-stick midfielder Scott Ratliff said the players aren't panicking over their 2-1 record.