Loyola

The Loyola men's basketball team made history this past winter when it qualified for the NCAA tournament for the first time in 18 years. With its 10-9 decision over Denver Saturday, the men's lacrosse team advanced to its first Final Four since 1998. But junior long-stick midfielder Scott Ratliff said the players and coaches aren't content now. “We have a little higher expectation than just making the tournament,” he said. “I think we knew from the very beginning this fall how much we had in this locker room and that we had a good shot to get this program back to the Final Four.” The top-seeded Greyhounds (16-1)

Loyola attackmen Eric Lusby and Mike Sawyer have seen a lot of different zones and man-to-man defensive combinations this season. Fairfield tried to match up with them by using two short-stick midfielders. And last Saturday, Denver played a zone that shut off Sawyer, but Lubsy blew up the Pioneers for five goals in Loyola's 10-9 NCAA quarterfinal win at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. Next up for the No. 1-seeded Greyhounds is No. 4 seed Notre Dame on Saturday in the semi-finals at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.

Top-seeded Loyola is the most balanced team, but unseeded Maryland will be the toughest to push out of the Division I men's lacrosse final four. The four remaining teams were determined Sunday after No. 4 Notre Dame beat No 5. Virginia, 12-10, in one quarterfinal, and No. 3 Duke routed unseeded Colgate, 17-6, in the other. Loyola (16-1) will meet Notre Dame (13-2) in one semifinal Saturday in Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., and the Terps (11-5) will play Atlantic Coast Conference-rival Duke (15-4)

Loyola sophomore goalie Jack Runkel has been a pleasant surprise this season, starting 14 of 16 games. He is 14-1 and has a goals-against average of 7.75 and a .536 save percentage. But on a team which has the best starting talent of the four semifinalists, how Runkel will hold up this weekend is the major question for the No. 1 seed Greyhounds, who will play No. 4 seed Notre Dame in a semifinal game on Saturday. Fortunately, Runkel has Charley Toomey as a head coach, a former All-American goalie at Loyola.

Being in Baltimore apparently has its privileges for Loyola. Not only did the Greyhounds have to make just a 34-mile trip from their campus to Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis for Saturday's NCAA tournament quarterfinal against Denver, but they also got a visit from Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis. In a video posted by the school, the 13-time Pro Bowler and two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year spoke to the players before Wednesday's practice and encouraged them to play with passion and cooperation.

Loyola attackman Eric Lusby played like he felt right at home Saturday. The Severna Park native, who is a graduate student, tied career highs with five goals and six points to lead the Greyhounds to a 10-9 win over Denver in an NCAA men's lacrosse tournament quarterfinal at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium before an announced 13,390, the fourth-largest crowd ever for this round. Loyola, the top seed in the tournament, advances to the semifinals for the first time since 1998.

Loyola long-stick midfielder Scott Ratliff scored right off the faceoff to open overtime, erasing a nightmarish fourth-quarter collapse by the Greyhounds and lifting them to a 14-13 win over host Denver in an Eastern College Athletic Conference men's lacrosse semifinal Wednesday night. The top-seeded Greyhounds, who defeated No. 4 seed Denver on its home field for the second time in 2 ½ weeks, advance to Friday afternoon's ECAC championship, where they will face No. 3 seed Fairfield, which defeated No. 2 seed Ohio State, 8-7, in Wednesday's other semifinal.

After parting ways with Maryland last month, Mychal Parker decided he wanted to finish his college career closer to home. East Carolina, located just 30 minutes from Parker's hometown of Washington, N.C., offered the 6-foot-5, 195-pound wing that opportunity. But late last week, the former Terp decided against a potential homecoming in favor of staying in Maryland and committing to Loyola. “It was a really tough decision,” Parker said Monday night. “I really wanted to go back home, but I really had to think about my future.

Last weekend, Loyola's women's lacrosse team had the satisfaction of winning the Big East tournament by soundly beating then-No. 2 Syracuse in the final. The Greyhounds also had the satisfaction of knowing they exceeded the expectations of just about everyone except themselves. The heart of a stingy defense returned from last year's NCAA quarterfinal team, but the Greyhounds graduated 10 seniors and 221 of 276 goals. They were picked to finish third in the Big East, largely because the offense would have to rely heavily on some of their 11 freshmen.

A day after Loyola's bid to secure a berth in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference championship was interrupted by lightning Tuesday night at Johnny Unitas Stadium, the No. 2 Dons finished the job with a 13-7 victory over No. 3 Gilman on Wednesday afternoon at the same site. Leading, 13-5, with 6:57 left in the fourth quarter when play was stopped on Tuesday, all Loyola (15-3) had to do was play keep-away against the inspired Greyhounds (12-4) to advance to the conference final against archrival No. 1 Calvert Hall (15-2)

A man was fatally shot a few blocks from the campus of Loyola University Maryland in Northern Baltimore on Thursday evening, police said. Police responded to the 4600 block of York Road, in the Guilford neighborhood, shortly after 6:30 p.m. The location is also close to the Guilford Elementary/Middle School. Homicide detectives were investigating. No other details were immediately available. krector@baltsun.com twitter.com/rectorsun

Mike Sawyer would take the high road and never lower himself to criticize an individual achievement, but I think the Loyola junior attackman was snubbed in the voting for the Division I All-American first team. Colgate junior Peter Baum and Virginia senior Steele Stanwick were locks for the first team. It's the third spot occupied by Massachusetts junior Will Manny that is disputable. Statistically, Manny is the better all-around player, ranking third in the nation in points per game (4.8)

ESPN analyst Paul Carcaterra was the sideline reporter for No. 1 seed Loyola's 10-9 win against unseeded Denver on Saturday. On Monday, he offered what he liked and what he didn't like in the Greyhounds' victory in the NCAA tournament's quarterfinal round. Thursday will feature Carcaterra's assessment of Maryland's 11-5 upset of No. 2 seed Johns Hopkins, but here is what he thought of Loyola's win. What Carcaterra liked: “I loved Loyola's pace. I think they've changed their approach and the way they attack in one year more than any other team I can remember in recent time, and I respect that so much.

Loyola will enjoy its first berth in the Final Four since 1998, but an unenviable task awaits the top-seeded Greyhounds (16-1) when they meet No. 4 seed Notre Dame in an NCAA tournament semifinal on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. The offense will try to become only the third opponent this season to decipher the Fighting Irish's bewildering defense, a unit so fundamentally sound that it has allowed only one team to reach double digits in goals this spring.

With about six minutes left in the fourth quarter of Saturday's NCAA tournament quarterfinal in Annapolis and Loyola nursing a 10-8 lead, coach Charley Toomey did what many others would have - and have - done in his position. He took the air out of the ball, played keep-away, and forced Denver to double-team, thereby leaving the net open for an easy goal. That strategy, however, almost backfired on the top-seeded Greyhounds. Denver forced a turnover and turned that miscue into a goal by freshman midfielder Wes Berg with 2:43 remaining.

Here are a few notes that didn't make Sunday's article on No. 1 seed Loyola's 10-9 decision against Denver in Saturday's NCAA tournament quarterfinal due to space constraints. *After getting their first 11 goals from 11 different players in a 14-13 overtime win against the Pioneers in an Eastern College Athletic Conference tournament semifinal May 2, the Greyhounds got six different scorers on Saturday. *Fifth-year senior attackman Eric Lusby set a career high with seven points, eclipsing his previous best of six points against Bellarmine on March 3. His five goals tied a career high.

Scott Ratliff, Loyola Junior, Marietta, Ga., long-stick midfielder In a span of four seconds, Ratliff kept the No. 3 Greyhounds in the conversation for the top seed in the upcoming NCAA tournament. That's how long it took the 6-foot, 185-pound long-stick midfielder to collect a loose ball off the opening faceoff of overtime and score, propelling Loyola to a 14-13 decision against No. 9 Denver in Wednesday night's semifinal of the Eastern College Athletic Conference tournament.

Towson is clinging to a 27-26 lead in this cross-town rivalry, but Loyola has won the last four meetings. The No. 17 Greyhounds are flying high after bouncing then-No. 16 Delaware, 13-8, in their season opener a week ago. The Tigers (1-1) are trying to rebound from a 12-6 loss to then-No. 4 Johns Hopkins eight days ago. Here are a few factors that could play a role in the outcome at Ridley Athletic Complex in Baltimore on Saturday. 1) Getting more production from Loyola's midfield.

The quarterfinal round of the Division I men's lacrosse NCAA tournament is over, and the semifinals for Saturday are set. Here is the schedule: Saturday, May 26 (at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.) No. 4 seed Notre Dame (13-2) vs. No. 1 seed Loyola (16-1), 2:30 p.m. Maryland (11-5) vs. No. 3 seed Duke (15-4), 5 p.m. Monday, May 28 (at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.) Maryland or No. 3 seed Duke vs. No. 4 seed Notre Dame or No. 1 seed Loyola, 1 p.m. A little history: Loyola is 12-5 all-time against Notre Dame, but the Fighting Irish have won the past four meetings.

The Loyola men's basketball team made history this past winter when it qualified for the NCAA tournament for the first time in 18 years. With its 10-9 decision over Denver Saturday, the men's lacrosse team advanced to its first Final Four since 1998. But junior long-stick midfielder Scott Ratliff said the players and coaches aren't content now. “We have a little higher expectation than just making the tournament,” he said. “I think we knew from the very beginning this fall how much we had in this locker room and that we had a good shot to get this program back to the Final Four.” The top-seeded Greyhounds (16-1)