The men’s lacrosse team suffered a harsh 14-3 loss on March 26 against Patriot League competitor Loyola  (No. 15/17). Loyola came out strong and made a statement to the Bison, who won in overtime against the Greyhounds last season. Loyola played beyond their home field advantage, paralyzing the Bison with their seven goals in the second quarter.

The stat sheet was fairly even, with Loyola only out-shooting the Orange and Blue 48-43 and winning 13 of the 21 face-offs. Even with a 15-14 shot advantage, the Bison trailed 2-0 in the first quarter. Goalie Christian Klipstein ’19 had five saves in the quarter, keeping the Bison in the game, but the Greyhounds came out swinging in the second quarter with seven goals. With just under nine minutes left in the second quarter, Tommy O’Connor ’17 connected with Sean O’Brien ’18 to give the Bison their first and only goal of the half. O’Brien stepped up for the Orange and Blue, adding a total of two goals and an assist to the stat sheet.

The Bison entered the third quarter with an eight-goal deficit (9-1) that they wouldn’t recover from. The Bison offense wasn’t able to create any results until late in the fourth quarter when O’Brien hit Quinn Collison ’17 with a feed. O’Brien made a final scoring play for the Orange and Blue, scoring off of a pass from John Reed ’18.

“Unfortunately, it didn’t go our way on Saturday, but all we can do moving forward is prepare and get ready for a very talented Army team,” O’Brien said.

Despite trailing the entire game to Loyola, Jarett Witzal ’19 came out victorious in five of his 10 face-offs. Alex Spring ’16 guided the team with four ground balls, followed closely by Matt Gilray ’18 and Brad Dotson ’17, who each tallied three.

The Bison dropped to a 5-4 record on the season, with a 2-3 record in the Patriot League. The Bison will face off against their next Patriot League competitor, Army West Point, on April 2.