TOWSON, Md. – Senior
attackman Sean Maguire scored three
goals in the final 23 minutes as the Tigers (1-0) rallied from an 8-6
third quarter deficit to pull out a 12-10 win over Jacksonville University (0-1) at D.B.
Milne Field on Saturday afternoon.
With the victory, the Tigers presented
Coach Shawn Nadelen with a win in
his coaching debut.
Midway through the third quarter, the
Tigers were trailing the Dolphins by a two-goal margin. However, Maguire's goal with
7:17 left in the third period ignited a five-goal run that gave the Tigers an
11-8 advantage with 8:23 remaining in the game.
After Maguire trimmed the deficit to 8-7,
senior Carl Iacona scored the
game-tying goal with 3:53 left in the third quarter off a pass from freshman Justin Mabus, his second assist of the
game. With 13:46 remaining in the game, sophomore Thomas DeNapoli scored an unassisted goal to give the Tigers a 9-8
advantage.
When freshman Robby Zoppo added an unassisted goal with 9:32 left, the Tigers
upped their lead to 10-8. Maguire tallied his second goal of the game off a
pass from Mabus with 8:23 left, giving the Tigers an 11-8 advantage.
Junior midfielder Cameron Mann took a pass from Donovan
Lang with 6:48 left in the game to end the Tigers' scoring spurt and pull
the Dolphins to within 11-9. With 4:12 remaining, sophomore defenseman Warren Kalkstein of the Tigers was
called for a slashing penalty and Jacksonville had a man advantage. Moments
later, junior T.J. Kenary scored off
a pass from Max Gurowski to score an
extra man goal with 3:54 remaining, pulling Jacksonville to within 11-10.
But, Kalkstein atoned for his penalty
by winning the ensuing faceoff. Sophomore Andrew Hodgson picked up the ground ball and fed it to junior Dan Kramer. Kramer passed it to Maguire, who scored only nine
seconds after the Dolphins' goal, giving the Tigers a 12-10 lead with 3:45 left
to play.
In the final minutes, the Dolphins
managed only one shot, which junior goalkeeper Andrew Wascavage saved. The Tigers were able to run out the clock
and win their season opener for the first time since 2007.
Maguire, who recorded the first "hat trick" of his college career, led the Tigers with a career-high three goals and one assist. DeNapoli added
three goals for Towson while Zoppo scored the first two goals of his college
career. Kramer had a goal and an assist and junior Matt Hughes also scored a goal with an assist.
Wascavage made eight saves for the
Tiger defense as Towson forced 11 turnovers.
A third-year program, Jacksonville was
led by Ari Waffle, who had three
goals and an assist.
The Tigers, who played their season
opener on the earliest date ever, return to action next Friday evening when
they visit No. 2 Johns Hopkins for a 5 p.m. start.