BALTIMORE — Loyola was dominating possession and therefore the score early Saturday afternoon, and the Greyhounds were poised to enjoy a relatively comfortable cushion for a second consecutive weekend.

No such luck. The realities of a team still in need of maturity — and an opportunistic opponent in Rutgers — eventually surfaced. Yet what became a harrowing 11-10 victory, complete with a pair of goals in the final four minutes and a last-second stop by a backup goalie, could be the sort of experience Loyola prizes later in the season.

“These are minutes you kind of have to live through to grow up and become the program you want to be,” coach Charley Toomey said.

Aidan Olmstead had three goals and two assists and freshman Joey Kamish added a hat trick for his first career goals for the Greyhounds (2-1), who needed every bit of the help they received from faceoff ace Bailey Savio (23 of 24) to survive the Scarlet Knights’ rally.

David Sprock scored four goals for Rutgers (2-2), which played far better than it had in a 15-4 loss at Army last week.

“Coming off that loss last week and starting off slow in this game, our guys showed a lot of resilience and were able to come back,” said goalie Stephen Russo, who made 16 saves. “We all believe in each other. Some things don’t go our way, but we’re still together and we’re moving on to the next one.”

Loyola demonstrated some toughness, too, as it tries to find answers in a variety of places. The Greyhounds were adept in transition as they usually are, and consecutive pole goals from Ryan McNulty and Scott Middleton late in the first half helped build a 7-3 edge at the break.

Savio’s brilliance, coupled with his Patriot League-record 18 ground balls, left Rutgers little margin for error. But the Scarlet Knights’ defense held up quite well considering how long it was on the field, and it kept them in the game until the offense finally got going.

That happened in the third quarter and early in the fourth, when Rutgers rattled off five consecutive goals to take the lead. For the game, the Scarlet Knights shot a commendable 38.5 percent.

“Defensively, I thought we were very good today,” Rutgers coach Brian Brecht said. “In the goal, we were excellent. We made the most of our offensive possessions.”

Loyola, and Olmstead especially, was sharp when it had to be. The junior, now Loyola’s primary table-setter with the graduation of 2019 Tewaaraton winner Pat Spencer, scored to tie it at 8-8 and assisted Peter Swindell to make it 9-9.

“We had good spacing, so that when I was able to create separation, we were able to get good looks,” Olmstead said. “We can finish better, but all around I felt comfortable carrying the ball against this defender, and have been getting more comfortable with the volume of dodges and being able to create space for myself and the rest of the team.”

Rutgers reclaimed the lead on Brennan Kamish’s goal with 5:27 remaining, and it produced another bit of drama. Toomey pulled junior Sam Shafer, who made six of his nine saves in the first half, and inserted Colton Teitelbaum for the first meaningful action of his career.

“Sam Shafer is absolutely our starter on Wednesday night [against Towson],” Toomey said. “I had to make a decision in the game, and sometimes you do things to bring energy to the program. That was a decision I made, but I know Sam will respond to this and I know he already has two good games under his belt that he can kind of rest on.”

Teitelbaum wasn’t seriously tested until the final seconds, in part because Loyola largely monopolized possession in the final five minutes.

Olmstead knotted it at 10 when he ran off a perfect McNulty screen with 3:28 to play, and Savio won the ensuing faceoff. Loyola fired off four shots, the last an Adam Poitras attempt gobbled up Russo. But Rutgers was whistled for a questionable offsides call, and defenseman Cam Wyers fed Joey Kamish --- Brennan’s younger brother --- off the restart for a transition goal with 1:53 remaining.

After another Savio faceoff win, Loyola was content to take a shot clock violation. Rutgers cleared but stepped in and out of the box and couldn’t get a timeout before re-entering with 4.9 seconds left. The Scarlet Knights gave it to freshman Ross Scott, who was slowed trying to get past McNulty and ultimately took a shot Teitelbaum collected.

“Kudos to Ryan McNulty; at the end of the game, we were going to force that guy to beat us, and quite honestly he almost did. …,” Toomey said. “When you have your best player out there, you hope he’s going to do his job, and he did.”

Ultimately, the same could be said for the rest of the Greyhounds, who collected a lesson on a February afternoon with the potential to resonate well into May.