BALTIMORE — Army was coming off its shakiest defensive performance since its season opener. It wasn’t about to have the same problems Saturday.

Wyatt Schupler made 16 saves and Marcus Hudgins and the Black Knights’ close defense smothered Loyola in a 12-7 victory at the Ridley Athletic Complex.

Aidan Byrnes scored four goals and Nickolas Edinger added three goals and an assist for Army (5-2, 3-1 Patriot League), which also got five goals from its midfield as it rebounded from a 13-12 loss at Lehigh.

“I thought it was one of our most complete wins of the season,” coach Joe Alberici said.

It was the third time this season — and second time in three games — the Greyhounds (5-4, 3-2) were held to seven goals or fewer. Loyola also lost two starters to injury in the first half and pulled starting goalie Sam Shafer less than 10 minutes into a largely frustrating day.

“We know we have a lot to work on, but I’ve got great guys in the locker room and I know they’re going to keep their head down and just keep working,” coach Charley Toomey said. “Whatever that makes us look like at the end of the year, we’ll be better than what we saw today.”

In fairness, the physical Black Knights defense played a large role in Loyola’s forgettable afternoon. Hudgins largely stymied Aidan Olmstead, the Greyhounds’ points leader whose goal and assist both came in the fourth quarter. Kevin Lindley, Loyola’s leading scorer, managed one goal.

Lindley and Olmstead combined to shoot 2-for-16 on the day, and Loyola had a scoring drought of 24:07 that spanned halftime and the entire third quarter.

“Last week, we felt like we didn’t play our best, so this week in practice we focused on the fundamentals — just communicating and just supporting the guy behind you,” Hudgins said. “That was a real focus, and I think it showed through in the game.”

Army’s offense did its part, too, and it got three early goals while its second midfield was on the field. Two came from Danny Kielbasa, whom Alberici views as a fourth starting midfielder, but the Black Knights’ effectiveness regardless of personnel was a welcome sign with less than a month left in the season.

More tellingly, junior attackman Brendan Nichtern took only two shots while being defended by Loyola’s Cam Wyers, and it did little to slow Army. Nichtern entered the day with 19 goals and 19 assists and entered with at least five points in every game this season. It was the second time in 32 career games he didn’t record a point, and the first since a 2019 NCAA tournament loss to Penn.

“I’m not sure another team has relied on one player as we have on Brendan Nichtern,” Alberici said. “He’s been phenomenal. It became apparent early that we were winning a lot of other matchups, and Brendan just played his role. I think that was a big step for our team.”

It’s hard to see many steps Loyola took in what looked like the most enticing remaining Patriot League regular-season game. Instead, Army seized an early 5-1 lead and never let the Greyhounds get closer than two goals.

Losing attackman Joey Kamish and defenseman Kyle LeBlanc to injury in the first half didn’t help. Kamish’s absence forced Loyola to move Evan James from midfield to attack, costing the Greyhounds a burst from up top.

Loyola was also without injured reserve goalies Colton Teitelbaum (who had appeared in three games) and freshman Luke Staudt coming in. So when Toomey pulled Shafer after Army’s third goal, it was junior Freeman Whitaker who entered for the first extensive playing time of his career. Whitaker made six saves.

“I think that’s been a battle for us the last couple weeks, and if I’m going to talk about it being a battle, I have to show the courage to make the change if I see something that I don’t like,” Toomey said. “So I did. It’s no fault of Shafe’s. I’m going to ask those guys to compete against each other all week, and we’ll make the best decision for Loyola that we can going forward.”

Goalie play wasn’t the biggest problem for Loyola. Rather, it simply couldn’t find any vulnerabilities in Army’s imposing defense, even as it looked more at secondary and tertiary options after the first quarter.

The decision to do so was no surprise to Hudgins.

“After we kind of stifled them in the first quarter, we knew they would go to their other options and try to attack our short sticks or invert, just like all the other teams have been doing,” Hudgins said. “Just knowing that and communicating with the defense about where we need to go really helped out.”

In many ways, Saturday’s biggest takeaway was the nationally televised display of Hudgins’ exceptional defensive work.

The latest in a line of capable Army defensemen — remember, former Black Knights star Johnny Surdick won the Schmeisser Award in 2019 — the 6-1, 205-pound Hudgins played a large role in shutting down Olmstead. And, by extension, the Greyhounds.

“We really rely on Marcus to win his matchup in every game,” Alberici said. “I think he’s the best on-ball defender I’ve ever coached. We have a lot of confidence in him, and he caused a couple turnovers, had six ground balls. Just a workmanlike day for him. He’s been doing that for us all year.”