TOWSON, Md. – Chevron, English, Fu Manchu, Handlebar, Horseshoe or Walrus, it didn't matter which style of mustache members of the Towson University men's lacrosse team wore this fall. All that mattered were the results.
Now a staple on the off-season calendar for the program, the Tigers had their finest showing ever in the 2017 HEADstrong Foundation Mustache Madness. The Tigers shattered the program record in their third season of growing.
Out of the 78 teams participating in 2017, the Tigers finished second overall, a one-spot improvement over the 2016 campaign. For a second-straight season, Towson eclipsed the $10,000 mark for HEADstrong, raising a program-record $17,581. This year's high-water mark shattered the previous best for the Tigers, which came last season at $11,503. In year one, 2015, Towson brought in $9,374 during Mustache Madness.
To date, the Tigers have raised an incredible $38,458 for the HEADstrong Foundation, an organization that provides support and assistance for families fighting pediatric cancer. A large portion of the money raised goes towards Nick's House I and the soon-be-completed Nick's House II. The homes, both located near Philadelphia, provide food and shelter for families of children undergoing cancer treatments.
Mustache Madness, which runs from Oct. 19 until Nov. 28, brought in $236,949 this year, surpassing two milestones. At the onset of the growing period, HEADstrong set its goal at $200,000. After hitting that benchmark, the Foundation upped the goal to $227,000.
The 27 represents the number Nick Colleluori wore as a member of the Hofstra University men's lacrosse team. In April of his freshman season at Hofstra, Colleluori was diagnosed with Diffuse Large B-Cell non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, a blood cancer affecting the lymphatic system.
At the midway point of this year's Mustache Madness, Nick's brother, Pat, got on a Google Chat video conference with the Tigers in the team locker room and motivated the Tigers to their best effort yet.
Towson finished second behind HEADstrong Texas, which raised $21,121. Towson was the top fundraising team in the Colonial Athletic Association, with Fairfield University ranking sixth with $10,629 raised.
In addition to a second-place finish, Towson won the Laxstache-Off, a bracketed competition between all of the fundraising teams. Each team was pitted against one another and the team that brought in the most donations during the allotted time advanced. Towson topped Mercyhurst Northeast Lacrosse, the University of Utah, Mount St. Mary's and Fairfield in succession. In the semifinals, Towson bested Bryant before beating Bowdoin in the championship round.
Individually, senior midfielder
Cole Robertson finished fifth overall with $2,783, narrowly edging classmate
Adam Ceribelli's $2,602. The pair finished among the top of the nearly 1,400 fundraisers.
- TowsonTigers.com –
