As May Madness would dictate, we start the 2014 NCAA Tournament with a First Round upset, with Albany taking down Loyola 13-6.

Loyola men’s lacrosse wrapped up the ’14 regular season 15-1 and ranked No. 1 in the nation in both the USILA coaches’ poll and the Warrior/Inside Lacrosse Media poll. After RPI and strength of schedule evaluations they received a perfectly acceptable No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament and a home game against America East winner Albany.

Albany entered Saturday’s contest bringing the nation’s top offense (16.3 goals per game with them) to Baltimore. Loyola, though, appeared the more complete team on paper, boasting both the nation’s second leading defense (7.1 goals allowed per game) and a top five offense of their own.

So, it goes to figure that Albany’s defense — a unit that finished the season ranked outside the top 50 among NCAA programs — starred in the Great Danes’ upset victory, holding Loyola to its lowest goal and lowest assist total (a big fat zero) on the season.

“With all the hype surrounding the offensive side of the ball, in championship play you have to play outstanding defense,” Albany coach Scott Marr said postgame. “And I thought our defense did an outstanding job today limiting an outstanding offense.”

Miles and Lyle Thompson, Albany’s deservedly hyped attackmen siblings, looked every bit the dual Tewaaraton Award nominees after combining for 15 points against the Greyhound Saturday. However, it was another Albany pair, goalie Blaze Riorden and defenseman Cody Futia, who starred in Saturday’s contest.

Albany’s sophomore netminder finished with a game-high 13 saves. He survived a 25-shot barrage from the Greyhounds in the first half, making seven stops (his net also helped as Loyola hit four first half pipes) in that run. He then buckled down in the second half, frustrating Loyola’s shooters while making six saves. Through the game he didn’t allow more than two goals in a quarter.

“[Loyola] runs a lot of picks, and the only way to play defense against that is to communicate,” Riorden said. “Everyone was on the same track today, and it showed in our performance.”

Futia, a senior, matched up against Loyola’s Justin Ward, the Greyhounds’ quarterback and the nation’s second leading assists leader. Albany’s defender held Ward to zero assists and two unassisted second-half goals after the Danes had built a lead.

“Cody plays Lyle Thompson every day in practice. He has for the two years, and I think it’s made him a better defender,” Marr said. “We have a lot of faith in Cody, to make stops and go against the team’s best player.

Among Loyola's season scoring leaders, junior attackman Nikko Pontrello was held to just one goal, while senior Brian Schultz to zero points. Loyola’s first and second midfield lines were held to 1-for-17 shooting. In total, the Greyhounds finished a tough 6-for-41 shooting on the day. Ward and senior midfielder Pat Laconi each finished with two goals. Freshman midfielder Romar Dennis also scored on a nice dodge during the second quarter.

“With all do respect to Albany, I think we got pretty much every look we wanted to get throughout the game,” Loyola’s Justin Ward said postgame. “Our midfielders were able to break their middies down up top, and when we were attacking their guys below using big-bigs, big-littles we were still able to get topside. We had our opportunities. But some 18 yard shots just went out the other way, and when let that team run, they’re the most dangerous team in the country...we just didn’t execute mentally where we wanted to hit the ball.”

Back on offense, Albany junior Lyle Thompson kicked of the day by breaking the NCAA all-time single season points record with his first goal of the game, running up from left GLE and scoring unassisted in the contest’s first two minutes.

Arguably, Lyle’s biggest goal of the day came at the end of the second quarter, when he faked high, rolled right and scored underhanded against Loyola’s Joe Fletcher. Fletcher, a fellow top five Tewaaraton nominee, did his best face guarding Lyle, ultimately forcing three turnovers. But it wasn’t enough, as Lyle’s eight points put him at an NCAA-record 122 points on the year and counting.

Senior Miles Thompson worked superbly off his brother, finding open opportunities in front of the cage, while racking up five goals and two assists. He finished the game with 115 season points, breaking the previous season-best record and falling right behind his brother in the record books.

“We did our homework this year,” Miles Thompson said of his team’s preparation for the Greyhounds. “Loyola trusted in their individual defense so they weren’t sliding, and we were just trying to get ourselves in better position to put the ball in the back of the net or to find someone when they did slide.”

Cousin Ty Thompson finished with a hat trick, giving the Thompson trio a combined 18 points. Defenseman Jon Newhouse (1G) and attackman Will Steinberg each scored a goal apiece.

Albany wins just its second Division I NCAA Tournament game in school history. Fittingly, their last NCAA win came in a 19-10 victory over Loyola back in 2007.

Both teams had to sit through a 36-minute rain delay in the second half, with Albany up 9-4 with 3:15 left in the third quarter. Loyola wasn’t able to pull any weather heroics out of the stoppage, though they did score the first goal out of the delay on an unassisted Justin Ward attempt.

Albany will play Notre Dame in the NCAA Quarterfinals at Hofstra, N.Y. next Saturday.

Check out Loyola's team page here; Albany's here.