Opening Draw: The Towson women's lacrosse team opens the 40th season in program history and its 34th as a Division I program when the Tigers welcome Monmouth to Johnny Unitas® Stadium Wednesday at 4 p.m. Video coverage of the game is available on Towson Sports Network with
Ben Rosenbaum providing the call.
Updating the Tigers: The Tigers get their 2016 season underway Wednesday afternoon. The Tigers are coming off their fifth straight appearance in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) title game. Last year, the Tigers again faced an extremely tough schedule as six of the Tigers' 18 opponents were ranked. Towson scored two goals while two-men down to avenge a regular season loss to Hofstra and advanced to the CAA Championship game. The Tigers return 22 letter winners and seven starters from a year ago. That group includes Second Team All-CAA defender
Emily Roth (35gb, 19ct) and three CAA All-Rookie Team members in
Emily Gillingham (16g, 2a),
Kaitlyn Montalbano (16g, 8a) and
Erika Cavallo (12g, 1a).
Scouting Monmouth: Monmouth kicks off its first season under Head Coach
Eileen Ghent when it faces the Tigers. The Hawks were picked third in the 2016 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Preseason Coaches' Poll. The Hawks will look to
Marial Pierce and
Kristina Vangeli to lead the way in 2016. Both players were selected to the Preseason All-MAAC team. Pierce led the team with 50 points on 31 goals and 19 assists last season. She also contributed 53 draw controls and 20 caused turnovers. Vangeli had 52 draw controls, 30 ground balls and 25 caused turnovers. With the graduation of
Katie Donohue in goal, the Hawks will most likely turn to
Caroline Huelster, who appeared in six games last season.
Towson-Monmouth Series History: Wednesday's game will be the fourth meeting all-time between the two schools. Towson has won each of the first three meetings, including a 4-3 victory last year at Monmouth. In that game, Towson trailed 3-1 at the half but shut the Hawks out in the second half while scoring three times to claim the victory. Then freshman
Kaitlyn Montalbano netted the game-winning goal on a free position shot in the final 10 minutes of the game.
Ready to Get Things Started: Towson is 11-2 in its last 13 season openers after an 4-3 win over Monmouth last year. The Tigers will be looking to improve their record (3-2) in openers under sixth-year head coach
Sonia LaMonica. The Tigers will also look to even their record in home openers under LaMonica (2-3).
Getting An Early Start: Wednesday's game marks the fifth straight season the Tigers will kick off their schedule in February. The Feb. 10 opening game is also the earliest start date for the Tigers in program history. Towson is 4-2 in it's last six games in February and 9-3 overall in games played in the month. Wednesday marks the first of four games in February for the Tigers (Monmouth-Feb. 10, Jacksonville-Feb. 13, UMBC-Feb. 17 and Loyola-Feb. 28).
Oh Captain, My Captain: A pair of Tiger seniors have been named team captains for the 2016 season. Redshirt senior defender
Nadia Podo and senior midfielder
Breanna Hamm have been selected to lead the Tigers this season. Podo returns after missing the 2015 season due to injury. In 2014, she was a key member of a Tiger defense that held opponents to nine goals or less in eight games. That year Podo finished third on the team with 14 caused turnovers and recorded multiple caused turnovers in a game five times. Hamm has been a strong force in the circle for the Tigers during her career. Last spring she appeared in 16 games and made 15 starts. Hamm led the team with 52 draw controls while becoming the sixth player in program history to record over 50 draw controls in a single-season. She enters her senior season ranked eighth in single-season history at Towson for draw controls.
Up Next: Towson is back in action on Saturday, Feb. 13 as the Tigers travel to Jacksonville for a 1 p.m. game.
