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Loyola Greyhounds Men's Lacrosse Head Coach Charley Toomey On Championships, Ray Lewis

Loyola Greyhounds Men's Lacrosse Head Coach, Charley Toomey, called into The Norris and Davis Show to talk about the team's chances in the Final Four of the Division I Lacrosse National Championship, and how Ray Lewis inspired the team.

Toomey, in his seventh season as head coach for Loyola, was also a player for the team when Loyola was last in the Final Four in 1990. He said the team is planning on making the most of this opportunity.

"This opportunity may never come again for guys in the locker room and so what we've been doing is taking it one game at a time and making sure we are as prepared as we can be for Saturday. We're not looking forward towards anything, this is all about the preparations for Saturday and being the best team we can be when we take the field," he said.

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Toomey also said as long as they can hold Notre Dame to their average of nine goals a game, he is confident in his team's chances of scoring ten.

"That's really been our mantra all year: if we can hold a team to eight we fell pretty good we can get to ten, this is going to be a defensive battle, but certainly Loyola's a team when the ball hits the ground we want to run. We are going to try to stay true to character and play as fast as we can when those opportunities are out there," he said.

Last Wednesday, Ray Lewis came and talked to the team and inspired them in many ways.

"Our message was 'guys give something up' and it was certainly the message Ray Lewis gave us last week, 'Give something up. Do something different. Prepare, rehydrate, watch more film,'' he said.

Toomey said they were able to get Ray Lewis to come and talk to them because of their many NFL connections on the team.

"Pat Moriarty's son plays for us, Kevin Moriarty, and Pat is the General Manager for the Ravens, so he certainly was in Ray's ear for probably a month or so saying, 'Hey, these guys are on a little bit of a run and if you are in town would consider doing it?' To our good fortune Ray Lewis was kind enough to come over and meet with out team," he said.

Loyola plays Notre Dame in the Final Four on Saturday, in Boston.

-Sarah Davis

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