Men's Lacrosse Heads to Baltimore for Saturday Clash with Loyola

Saturday, March 21

Baltimore, Md,

3:30 p.m.

Bucknell University

Loyola

Photo by: Steven Schoenfelder

Men's Lacrosse Heads to Baltimore for Saturday Clash with Loyola

3/18/2026 2:49:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

RV Bucknell (6-2, 2-1 PL) at Loyola (4-4, 1-1 PL)
When: Saturday, March 21, 3:30 p.m.
Where: Ridley Athletic Complex
Watch: ESPN+
Live Stats: LoyolaGreyhounds.com

Bucknell at a Glance

Bucknell is on the road for the third time in four games to start Patriot League play, this time paying a visit to Baltimore to face Loyola on Saturday afternoon. The Bison are 2-1 in the league after beating Colgate 14-12 at home last weekend, while Loyola dropped to 1-1 after falling at home to Lehigh 15-10. The Greyhounds also had a midweek game this week, a 14-7 loss to No. 13 Georgetown at Ridley on Tuesday.
Boston University is the Patriot League's lone unbeaten at 3-0, and then Bucknell and Holy Cross are just one game back at 2-1. Lafayette, Navy, and Loyola are all 1-1. There are four PL matchups slated for this weekend, starting with Navy at Lafayette on Friday night in Easton. On Saturday, Lehigh hosts Holy Cross and Colgate hosts first-place Boston University in addition to the Bucknell-Loyola tilt.
Bucknell is one of five teams receiving votes in this week's USILA Coaches' Poll. Boston University (15) and Army (19) are both ranked in the top 20, and Navy, Bucknell, and Holy Cross are also getting votes.
Bucknell's six wins are one shy of the national lead. Duke (7-0), Richmond (7-0), Sacred Heart (7-0), North Carolina (7-1), Ohio State (7-1), Syracuse (7-2), Rutgers (7-2), and Massachusetts (7-2) all have seven.
The Bison come in ranked second in the league in scoring at 12.9 goals per game and fourth in goals-against at 10.38. Loyola allows the second-most goals in the league (12.75) and is seventh in scoring (11.4).
Bucknell has done a good job staying out of the penalty box of late. The Bison were flagged only once over the last two games, and that was a coincidental penalty in the Colgate game, so the man-down unit has not seen any action since the Lehigh game on Feb. 28.
Of Bucknell's 14 goals against Colgate, 12 were assisted. The Bison now rank seventh nationally in assists per game (8.63).
Senior attackman Owen Kovacs (15-4-19) is coming off a career-best game with five goals in the win over Colgate, and he was named Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week on Monday. Kovacs scored three of the team's first six goals to help stake the Bison to an early 6-2 lead, and then after the Raiders rallied to take the lead in the second half, he netted two big fourth-quarter goals to help Bucknell regain control of the game. After missing his first two seasons due to injury, Kovacs has been a key goal-scorer for the Bison over the last two years. He tallied 19 goals in 2025 and already has 15 this year. Kovacs ranks 22nd nationally and second in the Patriot League in shooting percentage (.455).
Michael Meyer (25-12-37) saw his run of five straight game with three or more goals come to an end against Colgate, but he still had a big eight-point afternoon. In addition to his two goals, Meyer handed out a career-high six assists, which are tied for the most by any Patriot League player this season. That performance vaulted Meyer onto the Bucknell top-10 lists for career assists (9th with 67) and points (10th with 149). He needs 15 more goals to jump into the top 10 on that chart and 18 to become the eighth 100-goal scorer in team history.
At 3.13 goals per game, Meyer ranks fourth in the Patriot League and 14th nationally, and he ranks 16th nationally and third in the PL with 4.63 points per game.
Bucknell now has eight double-digit point-producers thus far. Sean Berrigan (11-10-21) started league play with a five-point (2G/3A) afternoon at Lehigh, including the assist on Will Hopkins' game-winning goal late in the fourth quarter. Berrigan has already tied his career high of 21 points, set in each of his first two seasons.
Likewise, Luke Brunner (13-5-18) already within two points of his career high of 20, set last season. Preseason All-Patriot League selection Peter Grandolfo (14-5-19), Sean Murray (9-8-17), Kovacs, Hans Huber (3-7-10), and Anthony Panetti (4-6-10) have also reached double figures.
Colin McLoy was named Patriot League Faceoff Specialist of the Week for the second time in the last three weeks on Monday. The junior went 17-for-26 (.654) against Colgate, including a couple of key second-half wins that helped the Bison regain the lead. McLoy is now converting at a 58.8% clip on the season, third-best in the Patriot League and 17th nationally.
Bucknell has used two senior goalies this season. Jaz Zanelli has made five starts and has a .426 save percentage and an 8.88 GAA. Luke Renaud has started three games and has a .427 save percentage and 12.18 GAA. Zanelli earned the win in relief last week against Colgate. He came in with the Raiders on a run and leading 9-8, and over the next 17 minutes he made six saves while allowing only one goal as the Bison regained the lead.
Zanelli also picked up an assist on Jack Tully's go-ahead goal early in the fourth quarter. Clearing against Colgate's 10-man ride, Zanelli hit Tully with an outlet pass, and the short-stick defensive midfielder fired into an empty cage from just inside midfield.
The Bison have done a solid job protecting the ball and rank 19th nationally in fewest turnovers per game at 14.8.
The Bison have five Marylanders on the roster who will be returning to their home state on Saturday, including rotation middies Will Hopkins (Severna Park/St. Mary's), Anthony Panetti (Damascus/Landon) and Sean Murray (Damascus/Landon School). Freshmen reserves Griffin Graham (Baldwin/Gilman School) and Joey Matassa (Severna Park/Archbishop Spalding) are also from Maryland.
The St. Bonaventure win on Feb. 6 was the 400th in program history. The team's inaugural season came in 1968.
Frank Fedorjaka is in his 21st season as head coach at Bucknell, and he is joined on the staff by defensive coordinator Kyle Gallagher, offensive coordinator Matt Kerwick, and new assistant coach Jackson Mumford.

Loyola at a Glance

The Greyhounds lost their first two games of the season to No. 1 Maryland and No. 15 Johns Hopkins, then they won four in a row, but now this week they dropped two to Lehigh (15-10) and No. 13 Georgetown (14-7). Loyola also has a 13-11 win over Colgate and is 1-1 in the Patriot League.
Loyola features the Patriot League's top goal-scorer in sophomore Mason Cook, who has 29 on the season. His 3.63 goals per game rank fifth nationally. Cook has multiple goals in every game this season, with a high of eight against Colgate. The Greyhounds trailed 11-10 in the fourth quarter until Cook scored the game's final three goals.
Kenan Everhart (16-13-29) and Matthew Minicus (13-12-25) are also top point-producers for Loyola. The Greyhounds' top three scorers make up their starting attack unit and have accounted for 59.1% of the team's points on the season.
Max Watkinson has started every game in goal and played all but 12 minutes this season. He has a .503 save percentage and a 12.71 GAA. Watkinson has double-digit saves in all but one game, with a high of 16 against Colgate. His 12.5 saves per game rank second in the Patriot League.
Carson Hall is Loyola's top faceoff man. He ranks sixth in the Patriot League at 55.6% (80-144) after winning 14 of 17 against Georgetown on Tuesday.

The Bucknell-Loyola Series

Bucknell is 3-13 all-time against Loyola, and the Greyhounds bring a seven-game series winning streak into Saturday's game. The last three games have all been tight, however, with a combined margin of four goals.
Bucknell's three wins are all by one goal: 10-9 in OT in 2015, 9-8 in 2OT in 2017, and 12-11 in 2018.
Last season in Lewisburg, Loyola came from behind to force overtime and then won it 12-11 on Brady West's tally at the 2:56 mark of OT. Bucknell fell behind 5-2 early in the contest before racing ahead with a big six-goal second quarter. The Bison led by as many as three at 9-6 early in the third, but Loyola hung around and scored the final two goals of the fourth quarter to tie it up. Both goalies – Luke Renaud for Bucknell and Max Watkinson for Loyola – were outstanding with 17 saves apiece. Connor Davis led the Bison with three goals and two assists, and his first-quarter strike made him Bucknell's all-time goals leader. Matthew Minicus had five goals and two assists for the Greyhounds.
Loyola won 15-13 in the last meeting in Baltimore in 2024. Bucknell scored nine unanswered goals in the first half and led by as many as five in the third quarter, but Loyola closed the game on a 9-2 run to swipe the win. Michael Meyer (5) and Davis (3) combined to score eight goals for the Bison, and Brendan Coyle went 19-for-30 with 12 ground balls at the faceoff X. Evan James led Loyola with four goals, while Minicus and Adam Poitras scored three each.
Minicus had seven goals in Loyola's 14-13 win in 2023, and he enters Saturday's game with 15 in three career games against the Bison.
Bucknell and Loyola have met twice in the postseason, with Loyola winning both. The Greyhounds prevailed 7-6 in double overtime in a Patriot League Tournament semifinal game in 2016, and they won 11-7 in a quarterfinal game in Baltimore in 2022.

Next Up

Bucknell's next two games will be at home, starting on Saturday, March 28 when Lafayette comes to Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium for a noon start. The Bison are 48-9 all-time in the series but will be looking to avenge a lopsided 14-5 loss to the much-improved Leopards.