BALTIMORE – Junior Ryan Ness of the Lafayette men's lacrosse team did all he could between the pipes on Saturday afternoon in Baltimore, making 19 saves on 57 shots faced as the Leopards fell to No. 13 Loyola in the Patriot League opener, 16-6.
 
Ness faced 57 shots on the day and tallied five or more saves in each of the final three quarters. In front of him, Tommy McGee led the squad defensively with a pair of caused turnovers and three ground balls, while John Mathes was the lone multi-goal scorer for the Maroon and White on the offensive side with a pair of markers.
 
The scoring came early and often for both sides as Lafayette opened the game with three straight and four of the first six to lead 4-2 after five-plus minutes. Loyola closed the opening quarter with five straight, though, and added three more at the start of the second to open up a 10-4 advantage.
 
Peter Lehman's score with 8:37 left in the second stopped the run and moved the game to the half at 10-5. Unfortunately, Lafayette would find the back of the net just once in the second half as Loyola added six more in a 16-6 final.
 
Loyola finished on top in shots (57-23), ground balls (39-28) and won 15-of-25 faceoffs. The Leopards cleared well, converting 17-of-22 on the day, but couldn't convert on any of five extra-man opportunities and committed 23 turnovers, while forcing just 11.
 
The loss drops the Maroon and White to 0-3 on the season and 0-1 in conference action, and Loyola improves to 3-2 overall, 1-1 in Patriot League play. Next up for the Leopards is a return home on Saturday to host No. 16/17 Navy at 2 p.m.