McDonogh whips Loyola, 6-1

Junior forward Mike Gamble had a hand in five goals on Tuesday afternoon as top ranked McDonogh (11-1, 6-0) remained unbeaten in the MIAA A Conference with a resounding 6-1 win over Loyola in Owings Mills.

The No. 5 Dons (4-4, 3-3) played with great intensity in the early going, taking a 1-0 lead on a goal by Joe Taylor, eight minutes into the game. The Loyola lead was short lived, however, as Gamble answered  for the Eagles just 17 seconds later to tie the score, 1-1. Ten minutes later Julian Griggs scored on a feed from Gamble to give coach Steve Nichols a lead his team would never relinquish.

Gamble scored again at 13:47; Griggs tallied again at 12:32; and George Campbell made it 5-1 with 3:45 to go in the half.

Gamble finished the day with a hat trick and two assists.  He leads the conference with 18 goals.

“We went down 1-0 and it was a wake up call for us,” said Gamble. “We responded quickly.  We were struggling a bit in the beginning of the game, but we picked things up.”

Nichols said the score was very deceiving.

“Loyola is a really good team,” said Nichols.  “In the first half they were giving us fits up top.

“Mike (Gamble) and Julian (Griggs) are so special; every time they touched the ball I think we scored.”

Griggs finished with two goals, but left the game with a sprained ankle. He said he expects to be ready to go on Thursday when the Eagles host Mount Saint Joseph, the defending conference champs.

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