BALTIMORE — For 30 minutes Sunday at Ridley Athletic Complex, Lehigh did so much right as it played Loyola evenly in the Patriot League men’s lacrosse tournament championship game.

The fourth-seeded Mountain Hawks used their blend of man-to-man and zone defenses and freshman goalie James Spence to silence Loyola’s potent attack. Lehigh frustrated the Greyhounds by controlling faceoffs to limit Loyola’s possession time. The Mountain Hawks used transition and their picking game to help their attack to generate four of their five first-half scores.

In hindsight, it was only a matter of time before the top-seeded Greyhounds asserted themselves, and Loyola wasted little time doing it during an explosive third quarter that left the Mountain Hawks and a 5-5 halftime tie in the dust.

With attackmen Pat Spencer and Kevin Lindley, faceoff man Mike Orefice and goalie Jacob Stover playing key roles, the Greyhounds stunned Lehigh by scoring the first six goals of the second half — on a pair of three-goal runs that each required just 85 seconds — as Loyola routed the Mountain Hawks 15-8 before 1,331 spectators.

The victory sends the Greyhounds to their 23rd NCAA Division I tournament. Loyola earned the automatic qualifier and its fourth Patriot League title in its fifth year in the conference, and did it by extending its all-time record against Lehigh to a perfect 14-0.

The first AQ is in! @LoyolaMLAX punches its ticket to the @NCAALAX tournament with a 15-8 win over Lehigh in the @PL_MLAX championship game. pic.twitter.com/4ZRkUvYPOz

— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) April 29, 2018

The Greyhounds closed out sixth-seeded Boston University in the semifinals on Friday night 13-8, erasing a 7-6 halftime deficit by scoring six unanswered goals to start the second half. Loyola turned it on after the break once again against the Mountain Hawks, who were playing their third league tournament game in five days. Lehigh never recovered after absorbing Loyola’s third-quarter haymaker.

“I wish it was the halftime speeches. I don’t say much,” said Loyola head coach Charley Toomey, who is taking the Greyhounds to the NCAA tournament for the ninth time in his 13th season.

“We just talk about staying the course and how we’ve been there before, and the guys go out and make plays,” he added. “The thing I’ve been most impressed with this weekend is hearing our leadership speak up in the locker room, and it’s different voices. It’s a belief in each other.”

The Greyhounds (12-3), who have won seven consecutive games by an average of six goals — all against the Patriot League — simply had too much weaponry for Lehigh to counter over a 60-minute match.

There was senior midfielder Jay Drapeau, who led Loyola with four goals and kept the Greyhounds’ offense going in the first half with a hat trick. There was junior midfielder John Duffy, whose hat trick helped Loyola’s first midfield register eight goals.

Freshman attackman Kevin Lindley scored three times on four shots to wrap up an 8-for-9 weekend. Senior faceoff man Mike Orefice, who has battled freshman Bailey Savio for time at the X all year, gave Loyola a goal and an assist and much-needed juice in that pivotal third quarter.

Stover, the Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Year, followed his nine-save effort Friday night with 12 stops Sunday, including four saves to help Loyola outscore Lehigh 7-1 in the third quarter. The defensive midfield, led by long-stick midfielder Zach Davliakos and short sticks Brian Begley and Jared Mintzlaff, held Lehigh’s midfielders to two points.

Spencer, the three-time Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year and already its all-time leader in points (162) and assists (258), set another record by become the all-time assist leader in Loyola history.

The Mountain Hawks shut off Spencer early. Loyola countered by shifting Spencer from behind the goal to the wing. Wherever he was stationed, Spencer forced nothing and never stopped calculating calmly.

Spencer finished with a goal and four assists and was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.

“I respect Pat as a player. He’s a great guy, and his game is phenomenal,” said Lehigh defenseman Eddie Bouhall, who covered Spencer. “Trying to match up against him is hard. The way he plays is different than any other attackman. He keeps his eyes up. We tried to lock him off.”

“When you’re getting shut off, it’s tough getting into the flow of the game,” Spencer said. “Some games, you come into halftime and realize you don’t have the energy it takes to win. With offense, it’s not as much about heart as it is about X’s and O’s.”

On many days, Spencer and the Loyola offense, with a push from offensive coordinator Marc Van Arsdale, just figure it out.

PHOTO BY JOHN STROHSACKER

Lehigh, which won four of the game’s first five faceoffs and was led by attackman Andrew Pettit (four goals, one assist) and midfielder Andrew Eichelberger (two goals), hung around gamely for a while.

Despite surrendering the first two goals and trailing Loyola 4-2 in the first half, the Mountain Hawks counterpunched. They went on a 3-1 run — Pettit scored two goals and assisted on the other — to forge a 5-5 tie at intermission.

Loyola responded by opening the floodgates. Spencer, operating at X against the Lehigh zone, fed Lindley perfectly on the crease for a catch-and-shoot goal with 12:52 left in the third quarter. It was the day’s first goal by the Loyola attack.

Orefice won the next faceoff, charged down field and found Lindley for another score 10 seconds later. Orefice won another draw. That possession resulted in Spencer’s lone goal, a 12-yard rocket from the left wing, with 11:27 left. The Greyhounds led 8-5.

Pat Spencer also became @LoyolaMLAX’s all-time assists leader (161) in this game, but in case anyone has forgotten, the @Tewaaraton candidate can bring the as well. Hounds up 13-6 with 13:15 left in 4Q on @CBSSportsNet pic.twitter.com/bV2ojCapXe

— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) April 29, 2018

It marked the first three-goal lead of the day. Lehigh coach Kevin Cassese called timeout to slow the Greyhounds’ momentum. But Loyola was rolling, and the Mountain Hawks were fading.

Following a save by Stover, Duffy drilled his second goal with 9:46 left in the quarter. With 8:38 to go, Spencer fed second-line midfielder Riley Cox for a score. Eighteen seconds later, Orefice scored to make it 11-5. Ballgame.

“[The Greyhounds] are a really good team, that’s the number one thing you have to say about this one. We took the hard road to get here [by winning two games in three nights to reach the final],” Cassese said. “We didn’t talk about it at halftime, but it was pretty clear that we were running on fumes.”

In the second half, Loyola outscored Lehigh 10-3 and outshot the Mountain Hawks 23-11. Lehigh committed 16 turnovers, eight in each half. The Greyhounds had only nine miscues.

The Greyhounds will not play for two weeks, as they await the unveiling of the NCAA tournament bracket on Selection Sunday. Loyola is in good position to host a first-round game.

“It’s a fun team to coach and a fun team to hang out with,” Toomey said of the Greyhounds. “We’re playing some pretty good lacrosse right now.”