ELON, N.C. – The No. 17 Towson University women's lacrosse outscored Elon University 7-4 in the second half and battled for an 11-9 win in Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) action on Sunday afternoon. Sophomore Kaitlyn Montalbano had two goals and four assists to lead the tenacious Tiger squad to its third straight win and ninth of the season.

THE BASICS
No. 17 Towson 11, Elon 9
Rudd Field, Elon, N.C.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Tigers (9-2, 2-0 CAA) found themselves down early as Shelby Scanlin's goal at 15:44 gave Elon a 2-0 lead.
• Goals from freshman midfielder Natalie Sulmonte and redshirt junior midfielder Michelle Gildea allowed the Tigers to tie the score at 2-2 with 13:02 left in the stanza.
• Elon used a free position goal to take a 3-2 lead with 10:32 showing on the clock.
• Back-to-back goals from Montalbano and sophomore attacker Jenna Kerr gave Towson a 4-3 lead with 5:01 to go in the first half.
• A pair of goals from Anna Vitton in the final 33 seconds of the period gave Elon a 5-4 lead at the half.
• Towson won the opening draw of the second half and scored just 50 seconds into the stanza. Kerr tallied her second of the day and the goal again came off a pass from Montalbano.
• That goal started a 5-0 run by the visitors that gave Towson a 9-5 lead with 19:02 to play in the game. The run featured three goals from freshman attacker Carly Tellekamp and Sulmonte's second goal of the game.
• Elon called timeout and responded with a pair of goals. Abby Godfrey's goal pulled the Phoenix (8-4, 1-1 CAA) to within two, 9-7 with 9:24 to play.
• Towson pushed its lead to 10-7 with 7:42 to play as junior midfielder Samantha Brookhart scored off a pass from Montalbano.
• Godfrey and Scanlin each tallied their second goals of the day, which made it a 10-9 game with 3:53 to play.
• The two teams continued to battle as the Tigers added an insurance goal with 31 seconds to play. Montalbano scored her second of the day off a pass from Brookhart.

QUOTABLE

• "We definitely came out with a spark after the half," said Towson head coach Sonia LaMonica. "We talked about being composed and getting in control defensively at the intermission. The energy from our sideline got us started. We pushed, got transition and that goal to start the second half was big. Kaitlyn Montalbano is a versatile player and she is going to generate opportunities. I was pleased to see we had eight assists on 11 goals and Kaitlyn was a big part of that with her head up and looking."

                                               
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• Freshman Angie Benson had seven saves to earn the win in goal. Rachel Ramirez made three saves in the loss for Elon.
• Montalbano finished with two goals and a career-high four assists to tie her career-high with six points. It was Montalbano's third six-point game of the season. She also added four ground balls, four caused turnovers and a pair of draw controls.
• Tellekamp had a team-high three goals for her fourth hat trick of the season and second straight.
• Towson's win was it's ninth of the season, matching their win total of a year ago with five games remaining in the regular season.
• Senior midfielder Breanna Hamm had a game-high five draw controls and moved into sole possession of third place on the career draw controls list at Towson with 146.
• Towson won the draw control battle 13-9 in the game but was outshot 18-17.

The Tigers are back in action on Friday, Apr. 15 for a 7 p.m. game at Hofstra.