Men’s Lax Clipped by Loyola, 13-12

Saturday, March 21

Baltimore, Md,

3:30 p.m.

Bucknell University

6-3, 2-2

Loyola

5-4, 2-1

Bucknell

Loyola Maryland

Photo by: Cindy Zanelli

3/21/2026 6:39:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score

BALTIMORE, Md. – Bucknell and Loyola locked up in an evenly contested matchup on Saturday afternoon, and the Greyhounds outlasted the Bison 13-12 in Patriot League men's lacrosse action at Ridley Athletic Complex. Owen Kovacs scored three goals, and Jaz Zanelli tallied 13 saves in another outstanding relief effort, but Bucknell fell one short and dropped to 6-3 overall and 2-2 in conference play.

It was a game of runs, as the Bison jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead before Loyola responded with a 6-1 run. Bucknell surged back in front with four straight goals, the Greyhounds responded with four straight to go up 10-8, but the Bison battled back again to tie the game at 11-11 on Peter Grandolfo's rip in the opening moments of the fourth quarter.

Both teams had long possessions throughout most of the fourth period, with both goalies making timely saves. Zanelli stoned Loyola sniper Mason Cook twice in that stretch, but counterpart Max Watkinson made two straight stops to keep the game tied. The Greyhounds finally cashed in at the end of a two-minute possession, with Kenan Everhart scoring the tiebreaking goal with 5:57 left in the game.

Loyola won the ensuing faceoff, and Matthew Minicus scored his first of the day at the 4:03 mark to make it 13-11. Colin McLoy nabbed the next draw but the Bison turned it over before they could get settled. Loyola went into clock draining mode and ran it under two minutes before Zanelli made another stop on Cook.

Bucknell cleared, and then Watkinson made two straight stops on leading scorer Michael Meyer. The Bison drew Loyola's first penalty of the day with five seconds remaining, and Meyer scored on the EMO with just over a second to go, but there was not enough time to win a faceoff and get off another shot.

Bucknell outshot Loyola 46-43 and committed only nine turnovers, but the Greyhounds won 19 of the 29 faceoffs and led 34-26 in ground balls.

The Bison got out to a dream start, with Grandolfo, Meyer, and Sean Murray all scoring in the game's first 4:24. Loyola responded out of an early timeout, scoring five in a row to go up 5-3. Hans Huber ended the run with an unassisted marker before Cook made it 6-4 after one period.

Peter Grandolfo with the rip and the Bison are off and running at Loyola! #rayBucknell

Watch: https://t.co/0bQsKIQPsd @PatriotLeague | @ESPN pic.twitter.com/8TbitHvJOj
— Bucknell Men's Lax (@Bucknell_MLAX) March 21, 2026

Bucknell dominated the second quarter, with Will Hopkins, Kovacs, Anthony Panetti, and Luke Brunner scoring four straight over a seven-minute span. The Bison led 8-6 after Brunner's goal off a Hopkins feed with 3:45 left in the half, and they had eight different goal-scorers at that point.

Long-pole Aidan Hevia scored one of Loyola's biggest goals of the day off the draw just eight seconds after the Brunner tally, and Bucknell's lead was just one at 8-7 at halftime.

The Bison have struggled in the third quarter in recent weeks, and the trend continued with Loyola scoring the first three of the second half to surge back in front 10-8. But Bucknell's trend of responding to those third-quarter runs also continued as Kovacs scored with 2:44 left in the period, and then after Luke Murphy made it 11-9 with 8.9 seconds left, the Bison got the ball back on a faceoff violation and Brunner picked out Kovacs for a rip from the right side with two ticks remaining.

Grandolfo tied it with a bounce shot from up top 1:20 into the fourth, and the game remained 11-11 into the late stages.

Kovacs (3-1-4) and Brunner (1-3-4) both had four-point afternoons, while Meyer had three points from two goals and an assist. Charlie Miller, John Young, and Will Pickering led the defensive corps with three ground balls apiece.

Cook (4-2-6), Everhart (3-2-5), and Murphy (3-0-3) handled the bulk of the scoring for Loyola, which improved to 5-4 overall and 2-1 in the Patriot League. The Greyhounds have now won eight straight in the series, with the last four decided by a combined margin of five goals.

First-place Boston University fell to 3-1 after losing to Colgate on Saturday, so the Bison remain just one game out of first place. After playing three of its first four Patriot League games on the road, Bucknell will play its next two at home, starting with Lafayette next Saturday.