Loyola men take on Maryland in NCAA College Cup 1st round on Thursday

NCAA College Cup First Round
Loyola Greyhounds (11-7-3) at #5 Maryland Terrapins (12-5-2)
Thursday, November 19, 2009  •  7 p.m.
College Park, Maryland  •  Ludwig Field

Game Data
Loyola will make the 36-mile trek south to College Park, Md., to face the University of Maryland in the first round of the 2009 NCAA College Cup. The Greyhounds and Terrapins will play at 7 p.m. on Thursday, November 19, at Ludwig Field.

The Loyola-Maryland winner will play Penn State in the second round on Sunday, November 22, in State College, Pa. The match-up is one of seven (out of 16) in the first round between teams from the same state.

Three In A Row
The Greyhounds are making their third consecutive appearance in the NCAA College Cup, a school Division I record.

Loyola reached the NCAA Division II playoffs eight years in a row from 1971-1978.

Series History
Loyola and the Terrapins are familiar intrastate foes, as Thursday’s match will be the 40th all-time between the sides. Maryland holds an 8-25-6 lead in the series.

The game will move Maryland into a tie for the third most-played opponent in Loyola’s history. The Greyhounds have played Towson 59 times, former Division II power University of Baltimore on 47 occasions and Johns Hopkins 40 times.

Loyola and Maryland have met twice before the NCAA Tournament with the Greyhounds winning, 1-0, in the 2001 Second Round. The teams played to a 0-0 draw in 2007. (see below)

The Last Time
Loyola and Maryland last faced each other on November 28, 2007, at Ludwig Field in the NCAA College Cup Second Round. The sides played to a 0-0 draw after regulation and overtime, but the Terrapins advanced with a 4-2 advantage in the shootout.

Seven Loyola players – Danny Ankrah, Phil Bannister, Jamie Darvill, Mike Deasel, Eddie Dines, Glenn Leitch and Tennant McVea – who played in that game will be on the field for Loyola this Thursday.

NCAA History
Loyola is making its eighth NCAA College Cup appearance at the Division I level and third in as many seasons. The Greyhounds also advanced to eight NCAA Division II National Tournaments, winning the D-II title in 1976.

The Greyhounds are 7-6-1 all-time in the Division I Cup.

Loyola is 1-1-1 in its last two trips to the College Cup. The Greyhounds hosted, and defeated, Liberty in the 2007 First Round before tying Maryland in the second (the Terrapins advanced on PKs). Last year, Loyola had a first-round bye, but lost, 2-1, in OT to UNC Greensboro in the second.

Getting Here
Loyola earned the automatic bid from the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference with a 1-0 overtime win against Niagara in the MAAC Championship Game. The Greyhounds finished second during the MAAC regular-season and then beat Fairfield, 3-0, in the MAAC Semifinals.

Fantastic Finish
Freshman Matt Tyrie scored the game-winner with just 23.8 seconds remaining in the second overtime, sending Loyola to a 1-0 victory over Niagara in the MAAC Championship Game.

Tyrie’s goal, off a Phil Bannister assist, was the first of his collegiate career. The play started with about 35 seconds left when Kevin Curran headed a ball forward to Danny Ankrah along the left sideline at midfield. Ankrah carried the ball and slipped a pass through the Purple Eagles’ defense to Bannister. Bannister laid the ball to the top of the 18 where a slashing Tyrie one-touched it past a defender and took a hard shot that went into the upper right corner of the net.

Cleaning The Sheets
Junior goalkeeper Kyle Wittman put together a pair of clean sheets in his last regular-season action, recording 200 minutes of scoreless soccer for the Greyhounds against Iona and Fairfield.

He did not play during the final weekend of the regular-season, but Wittman recorded a pair of shutouts in the MAAC Championships

This season, Wittman, a first-year starter has a 0.71 goals against average. His 0.54 GAA in MAAC regular-season action was best in the league.

After making four saves on Sunday against Niagara for his ninth shutout of the year, Wittman has played 509:28 of scoreless soccer.

Creating Chances
Phil Bannister scored 13 goals in each of his first two seasons at Loyola, 2007-2008. Due to injury early in the season, Bannister’s 2009 goal total is just three, but that has not diminished his importance to the team’s attack.

With two assists in the MAAC Semifinal and one in the Championship Game, Bannister increased his MAAC-leading total to 13. Bannister’s 13 assists are tied for fourth all-time on the MAAC single-season charts. He set a Loyola Division I record and is one short of tying Ian Reid for the school record of 14, set in 1976.

Bannister is now tied for third, with teammate Reid and Rob Elliott, on the career assists chart at Loyola with 28. Marc Harrison and Stan Koziol are tied for the school record with 29.

Harrison’s 29 assists are also the MAAC career record.

Top Of The Nation
Bannister leads NCAA Division I with 0.76 assists per game and is tied for the national lead with 13 helpers.

Through 21 games, Bannister’s 0.76 assists per game would be a MAAC single-season record. Todd Moore of Rider set the current record in 1997 with 0.68 assists per game (22gp, 15a).

McVea, Darvill Win Top Honors
For the second consecutive year, Loyola student-athletes earned the MAAC Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year honors from the league’s coaches.

Tennant McVea became the first three-time winner of the MAAC Defensive Player of the Year award, earning the award as a sophomore, junior and senior.

Jamie Darvill was named the MAAC Offensive Player of the Year and is the first player to win the award twice after earning the honors last season, as well. Prior to 2003, the MAAC awarded Player and Goalkeeper of the Year honors before renaming the honors Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year in 2003.

McVea and Darvill, the team’s 2009 co-captains, were named the All-MAAC First Team, while Mike Deasel and Phil Bannister earned All-MAAC Second Team laurels. Gerwyn Jones was tabbed to the MAAC All-Rookie Team.

Bannister, Eddie Dines, Alex Garcev, Mark Jaskolski and Glenn Leitch earned MAAC All-Academic honors.

Tournament Honors
Tennant McVea was named the MAAC Championships MVP. He was joined on the All-Tournament Team by Phil Bannister, Mike Deasel and Wade McHugh.

Making Them Count
Danny Ankrah has scored three goals for Loyola this season, and all of them have come against MAAC opponents. Furthermore, each of his scores have been of the game-winning variety, including a tally in the 20th minute of the MAAC Semifinals against Fairfield.

Ankrah also added an assist on the Greyhounds’ second goal of the semifinals, raising his 2009 point total to eight.

Two For McHugh
Wade McHugh scored a pair of goals Friday against Fairfield, adding a cushion on the scoreboard for the Greyhounds.

The goals were McHugh’s second and third of the season. It also represented McHugh’s first collegiate multi-goal game.

On Point
Phil Bannister scored a goal and assisted on two others in the regular-season finale at Manhattan. The points were his first since October 25 when he had a goal and assist at Siena.

The Greyhounds are 3-0 this season when Bannister scores a goal, 8-1 when he has at least one point.

In Bannister’s three-year career at Loyola, the Greyhounds are 23-1 when Bannister scores at least one goal and 33-2 when he has at least one point. The two losses came when he scored a goal in last year’s NCAA College Cup Second Round (a loss to UNC Greensboro) and when Bannister assisted on a goal this season versus Navy.

Academic Honors
Junior forward Phil Bannister earned Academic All-District II honors for the second year in a row from ESPN The Magazine and CoSIDA. Bannister carries a 3.44 grade point average in marketing, and he leads the MAAC with an 0.62 assists per game average.
Bannister is eligible for Academic All-America honors.

In The Pros
Former Loyola All-American Goalkeeper Zach Thornton ’94 was named the Major League Soccer Goalkeeper of the Year for the second time in his professional career. Thornton helped Chivas USA reach the MLS Conference Semifinals, posting a 0.87 goals against average, the second lowest in league history.

Thornton, who earned his sixth MLS All-Star Game appearance this year, was also named the MLS Goalkeeper of the Year in 1998.

Thornton was one of two former Loyola players to start in goal this season in the MLS. Last year’s All-MAAC First Team goalkeeper, Milos Kocic ’09, started several U.S. Open Cup matches and late-season MLS games for D.C. United. He was a second-round draft pick of United.

Nearing the Top
Jamie Darvill’s four-assist weekend in late October – one versus Marist and three against Siena – lifted him to fifth place all-time at Loyola with 27 career assists.
With his next assist, Darvill will move into a three-way tie with Ian Reid (1973-76) and Rob Elliott (1989-91) for third place with 28 assists. The senior forward is just two back of tying Marc Harrison (1992-95) and Stan Koziol (1983-87) for the school record with 29.

Sharing Strikers
Jamie Darvill assisted on Phil Bannister’s late goal at Siena, marking the 22nd time one has assisted on the other’s goal during their three years playing together.

Darvill, who is fifth all-time at Loyola with 27 assists, has recorded the helper 11 times when Bannister scores. Bannister (25 career)  has 11 on Darvill’s goals.

CLASS Final
Loyola senior back Tennant McVea was named one of 10 finalists in NCAA Division I men’s soccer for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award, presented to a student-athlete who exemplifies high standards in character, community, competition and the classroom. Before the season began, he was one of 30 candidates for the award, a list that was pared to 10.

Loyola University Maryland was the only school to have both a men’s and women’s soccer student-athlete named finalists this season. Theresa Ferraina is one of 10 finalists on the women’s side.

First Team To Score Wins
In 18 of Loyola’s games this season – not counting the Greyhounds’ three ties – the team to score first has been victorious.