Baltimore, Md. - Senior Shane Koppens had a career day with five goals and two assist as Loyola defeated No. 4 Georgetown at Diane Geppi-Aikens Field on Saturday afternoon. The Greyhounds never trailed en route to an 11-9 win, and in the process take control of the ECAC with a 5-0 conference record this season.

"This team did what I expected them to do today," said Head Coach Charley Toomey. "Georgetown is a great team, but I expected to win."

Loyola played like a confident team from the outset, taking a two-goal lead in the first quarter. Senior Joe Landry scored first, and at the end of a penalty-riddled quarter, junior Jake Willcox added a man-up tally to double the advantage.

The Greyhounds increased the margin to three goals with a man-up score from Eric Lusby at the 13:20 mark of the second quarter. The Hoyas, however, did not go away, and scored three of the next five to trim Loyola's halftime lead to 5-3.

The Hoyas cut their deficit to 5-4, but Koppens answered with a goal only 13 seconds later, pushing the margin to 6-4. Georgetown came right back and evened the game at 6-6, but the 'Hounds responded with Willcox's second goal of the day.

The back-and-forth third quarter scoring continued with a Georgetown score at 1:24, and senior Paul Richards answering to give Loyola an 8-7 lead with only five ticks on the clock.

Georgetown tied the game for a third time in the fourth quarter, but it was Koppens who took over, scoring three of the game's final four goals to keep Loyola on top for good.

"In those situations, I definitely want the ball in my hands," said Koppens. "I know my teammates will set picks and get me good looks."

Koppens, who entered the day with 10 goals, scored one-third of his season total in the game. His 35 points leads the Greyhounds this season. Freshman goalie Jake Hagelin made 11 saves in the win, while junior P.T. Ricci picked up a game-high nine groundballs.

The win improves Loyola's season record to 6-4, but more importantly, improves their league record to 5-0 for the first time since joining the league in 2005. The Greyhounds are alone in first place with the head-to-head tiebreaker against both second-place squads - Georgetown and UMass.

The Greyhounds have two more ECAC games left on the schedule. They travel to Fairfield next Saturday and close out league play at Hobart on April 26.

* * * *

Washington, D.C. -- Georgetown University Head Men's Lacrosse Coach Dave Urick said Saturday's ECAC matchup with league rival Loyola (Md.) was everything he expected. There was a crowd of 3,440 in attendance and it was a hard-fought battle between two teams fighting for what could ultimately be the league championship. The Greyhounds jumped on top early in the game and the Hoyas fought back to tie the game three times, but Loyola's Shane Koppens scored three times in the fourth quarter and lifted the Greyhounds to an 11-9 win over Georgetown at Diane Geppi-Aikens Field Saturday afternoon.

The loss ends a six-game win streak for Georgetown as the Hoyas fall to 7-3 overall and 3-1 in the ECAC, while Loyola improves to 6-4 overall and 5-0 in the ECAC.

Georgetown trailed by one after three quarters, but scored early in the fourth quarter when junior Todd Cochran (Wayne, Pa./Conestoga) used a spin move from about 10 yards out and fired a low shot that beat Loyola goalie Jake Hagelin, tying the game at 8-all. Koppens, who scored five goals in the game, scored with 9:01 to break the tie and after the teams battled back and forth for six minutes, gave the Greyhounds a 10-8 lead with 3:38 to play.

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2008-04-12