Loyola was the best team in the country. The Greyhounds were disrespected, but they were the best. And they proved it when they won the national championship.

Now, the same teams that played like they hardly scouted Loyola (Md.) in 2012 storm onto the field determined to knock off the defending champs. And the Greyhounds have not proven to be the best.

“That’s what we’ve seen from every single team, just energy in the first half, first quarter from every single team that’s just beyond what I’ve seen in the past couple years,” Loyola midfielder Pat Laconi said. “You can see extra fire in other teams wanting to try to bring us down.”

Three times already, LU’s opponents have done just that – sometimes due to injury and suspension, others, like Maryland, were just better. As the No. 8 Greyhounds (10-6, 6-1 Eastern College Athletic) prep for their final game of the season against No. 11 Johns Hopkins (8-4) on Saturday, they do so thinking about simply shoring up a spot in the NCAA tournament they ran through last season. It’s a mental and emotional balancing act for Loyola, dealing with unprecedented expectations, the same nagging cynics that doubted the team last season and disappointment.

Watching last year’s game film with defensive coordinator Matt Dwan, the Greyhounds hit a humbling realization.

“It’s hard to realize because you think, ‘Oh, I thought we played pretty well then,’” Laconi said, “and then he showed us the clip saying, ‘This and this and this and this’ and we’re like, ‘Wow, we got really crossed up.’”

It started when Laconi and his teammates watched film of the 2012 season opening win against Delaware. At first, they thought it was just a typically loose start to the season. Then they saw the film from Duke. They weren’t impressed with their old selves despite the 13-8 win.

The Greyhounds saw that, results aside, they only vaguely resembled the national champions they became once the ECAC tournament came around. This year, they believe they’re doing the same.

Worse still, with the respect they thought they always deserved, teams came in better prepared to play and beat Loyola. Opposing shooters picked out goaltender Jack Runkel’s weak spot, opposing attackers ran less downhill dodges at the LU defenders who relish playing one-on-one defense and offenses ran big-man-little-man combinations to take advantage of Loyola’s hesitance to slide.

“We knew it was going to be a different year, and we’ve definitely dealt more with injuries and guys missing games than we dealt with last year,” midfielder Scott Ratliff said.

Offensive X-factor and short-stick defensive midfielder Josh Hawkins was suspended for the first seven games for violating team rules. He missed two of LU’s three losses serving the suspension. Midfield playmaker Chris Layne missed Loyola’s last loss in overtime against then-No. 3 Denver.

And in the loss to Duke, Matt Sawyer was visibly slowed by a knee injury he suffered earlier in the week.

“A big message that we’ve just been talking about is just trying to peak at the right time, getting all our guys on the field and playing our best lacrosse at the right time,” Ratliff said, “which obviously is right now.”

Despite holding the national title, doubters swooped in when the Greyhounds struggled to reel off the same early season dominance they showed last year. The players didn’t obsess over it, but they also didn’t ignore it.

Ratliff said it was only natural that he and his teammates would read and hear criticisms of their team, and use it as motivation.

“After a few games people start doubting you and you start reading stuff about how we don’t have the same drive,” he said.

Those doubts have allowed Loyola to assume the natural role it took on last season when it shocked the country all season long.

“We almost still kind of see ourselves as the underdog,” Ratliff said.

That identity will be highlighted Saturday when LU visits local rivals Johns Hopkins, a team this senior class has never beaten. The Blue Jays were the only team Loyola lost to last season.

A win against LU’s historically dominant neighbors – JHU has won nine NCAA titles since 1971 – would likely seal an at-large bid to the NCAAs for the Greyhounds. And Loyola’s back where it started last season: disrespected. For years, they’ve read The Baltimore Sun’s predictions in the build-up to the local rivalry.

“It’ll always say ‘Hopkins, Hopkins, Hopkins’ with one or two Loyola picks,” Laconi said. “And that doesn’t mean anything to us. It’s just, it still digs at us that – we don’t deserve respect right now because we haven’t done anything this year.

“But we plan on getting it this weekend.”

Published on April 23, 2013 at 1:11 am

Contact Jacob: jmklinge@syr.edu | @Jacob_Klinger_