The Loyola Greyhounds are the athletic teams that represent

Loyola University Maryland Loyola University Maryland is a private Jesuit university in Baltimore, Maryland. Established as Loyola College in Maryland by John Early and eight other members of the Society of Jesus in 1852, it is the ninth-oldest Jesuit college in the ...

. The teams include men and women's basketball, cross country, lacrosse, rowing, soccer, swimming & diving, and tennis. Men's sports also include golf, while women's sports also include track and field and volleyball. The Greyhounds compete in

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

and have been a member of the

Patriot League The Patriot League is a collegiate athletic conference comprising private institutions of higher education and two United States service academies based in the Northeastern United States. Outside the Ivy League, it is among the most selective gr ...

for all sports since July 1, 2013. Loyola's fight song, "Howl for the Hounds," was written by Andrew R. Grillo and Michael R. Sellitto and unveiled in November 2003.

History

Conference affiliations

Loyola's athletic programs made the transition to NCAA Division I from Division II when it became a charter member of the ECAC-Metro Conference in 1981. The circuit's name was changed to the

Northeast Conference The Northeast Conference (NEC) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools are members of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Teams in the NEC compete in Division I for all sports; football competes in the Division I Foo ...

on August 1, 1988. Loyola was a full members of the

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC, ) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I. Of its current 11 full members, 10 are located in three states of the northeastern United States: Connecticut, New Jersey, and ...

(MAAC) in all but two sports from July 1, 1989 to June 30, 2013. The exceptions were the men's and

women's lacrosse Women's lacrosse (or girls' lacrosse), sometimes shortened to lax, is a sport with twelve players on the field at a time (including the goalkeeper). Originally played by indigenous peoples of the Americas, the modern women's game was introduce ...

teams which were in the ECAC Lacrosse League and the

Big East Conference The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and M ...

respectively. The move to the

as its tenth member was announced on August 29, 2012 and became official on July 1, 2013.

Athletic directors

Teams

Basketball

The Loyola men's basketball team has a long history and has been playing since the 1908-1909 season. In all that time, the team has appeared twice,

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

and

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

, in the NCAA tournament. The team plays its games in

Reitz Arena Reitz Arena is a multi-purpose arena in Baltimore, Maryland. It is home to the Loyola University Maryland Greyhounds men's and women's basketball teams, as well as the Loyola women's volleyball team. Its seating capacity is 2,100.

and is coached by

Tavaras Hardy Tavaras Hardy is an American college basketball coach, and current head coach of the Loyola Greyhounds men's basketball team. Playing career Hardy was a two-time All-Big Ten Conference, Big Ten selection while playing at Northwestern Wildcats me ...

Skip Prosser George Edward "Skip" Prosser (November 3, 1950 – July 26, 2007) was an American college basketball coach who was head men's basketball coach at Wake Forest University at the time of his death. He was the only coach in NCAA history to take three s ...

spent one season as head coach of the Greyhounds, leading them to their first-ever Division I Tournament appearance in 1994. In 2012, as winners of the MAAC tournament, Loyola earned its second trip to the NCAA tournament under then-Head Coach Jimmy Patsos.

Lacrosse

The Loyola men's lacrosse team has played since 1938, with a two-year break in 1944 and 1945, winning over 400 games in that time. They won its first championship in the sport, the first national title in the university's Division I history, in

. The Loyola women's lacrosse program is fifth all-time among NCAA Division I women's lacrosse teams with 362 wins. The Greyhounds maintain several annual rivalries, headlined by

Johns Hopkins Johns Hopkins (May 19, 1795 – December 24, 1873) was an American merchant, investor, and philanthropist. Born on a plantation, he left his home to start a career at the age of 17, and settled in Baltimore, Maryland where he remained for most ...

( series page) and

Towson Towson () is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. The population was 55,197 as of the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Baltimore County and the second-most populous unincorp ...

( series page).

Men's soccer

The Loyola Men's Soccer team has consistently proven to be one of the most successful teams in the athletic department. Since 1965, the team has suffered only four losing seasons. The team is a perennial power in the MAAC and has reached the NCAA Division I National Tournament seven times since joining Division I in 1979, including quarterfinal appearances in 1986 and 1987 and a Sweet 16 appearance in 2001. Loyola enjoyed an undefeated regular season in 2008 before being upset in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Former Greyhounds include the 2009 Major League Soccer Goalkeeper of the Year,

Zach Thornton Zach Thornton (born October 10, 1973) is an American former goalkeeper who spent 16 seasons in Major League Soccer with the New York/New Jersey MetroStars (1996–97), Chicago Fire (1998–2006), Colorado Rapids (2007), New York Red Bulls (2008 ...

as well as many others who have played in the MLS and other professional leagues.

Golf

The men's golf team has won 22 conference titles: *

(4): 1986–89 *

(15): 1990, 1992–93, 1995–96, 1998, 2003–05, 2008–13 *

(2): 2014–15, 2017 :''Note: 1992 co-champions with

Siena Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centuri ...

'' 2 GCAA Academic All-Americans: Patrick McCormick and Ryan McCarthy

Rugby

The Loyola University Rugby Football Club is the men's rugby union team that represents Loyola in the National Small College Rugby Organization. The club is composed of over 50 student-athletes, alumni volunteers, and professional trainers. Founded in 1976 by a group of Loyola students, LURFC continues to be the oldest and most active club sport at the college. LURFC and its players have achieved many All-American titles and U.S. Rugby rankings, currently ranked #8 in the country and in the NSCRO "Sweet 16" in 2017. The Greyhound ruggers have also traveled abroad to play Irish teams, including teams in

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, and

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

. Loyola plays on Lugano Field, located on the grounds of the Ridley Athletic Center. Lugano Field is a state of the art turf pitch that, while used by the University as a whole, is a "rugby first" pitch, regulation size, lined and with limited grandstands. It is named in honor of the most decorated player in Loyola history, Sean Lugano, who tragically gave his life serving others in the World Trade Center attacks of September 11, 2001.

Former teams

Football

Loyola's football program has been

defunct Defunct (no longer in use or active) may refer to: * ''Defunct'' (video game), 2014 * Zombie process or defunct process, in Unix-like operating systems See also * * :Former entities * End-of-life product * Obsolescence Obsolescence is t ...

since 1933.

References

External links

* {{Maryland Sports