EMMITSBURG, Md. – After a sloppy first quarter, the Towson University men's lacrosse team surged in the second quarter, eventually topping host Mount St. Mary's 13-5 Saturday afternoon at Waldron Family Stadium.
 
The Tigers (1-0) opened the 2017 campaign with the win, extending the program's winning streak to four straight, thanks to a career day from sophomore midfielder-come-attackman Jon Mazza.
 
How it Happened

• It was a slow first quarter as both teams had several turnovers in the first 10 minutes. Mount St. Mary's (0-2) got the first goal of the game in transition as Ryan Lamon got a dish from Jack Mangan.
• Towson senior attackman Ryan Drenner notched his first of the year just one minute later, but the Mount regained a one-goal lead with 1:09 to play in the first on a Chris DiPretoro goal.
• That lead was short lived as senior classmates Joe Seider and Mike Lynch hooked up, the former with the goal and the latter with the helper, 31 seconds to play in the period.
• The Tigers, ranked 12^th in the USILA Coaches' Poll, continued to surge on offense, ripping off another five straight goals to open the second. Mazza, who made the first start of his career at attack, a position he played in high school, logged a natural hat trick over a six-minute stretch. Lynch and Tyler Konen had the assists on the last two goals of Mazza's solo run.
• Senior Brian Bolewicki and junior Cole Robertson, both midfielders, dropped in their first goals of the season , both unassisted, as Towson looked to take a 7-2 lead into the break.
• But The Mount, now through two games of a four-game home stand, got a second goal from DiPretoro with 12 seconds to go in the first half. Brendan McCarthy had the assist with the Tigers taking a 7-3 advantage into halftime.
• Towson's new-look defense, which featured four new starters down low and in the goal, held Mount St. Mary's off the board in the third quarter. Drenner got his second of the day, followed by Matt Wylly and another two Mazza goals to round out the third quarter with Towson on top 11-3.
• Seider and Mazza partnered for the final two Tiger goals of the game in the fourth quarter, with Drenner assisting Seider and the latter getting a dish from Seider.
• Mount St. Mary's bookended the game with two goals in the final 90 seconds from Brendan Doyle and Bubba Johnson.

 
Behind the Numbers

• Making the first start of his career, junior keeper Josh Miller made 11 saves, including several doorstop chances.
• Towson improved to 1-0 for a fourth-straight season under head coach Shawn Nadelen, who is now 5-1 in lidlifters.
• The Tigers are now 12-1 all-time against Mount St. Mary's, dating back to 1970. Towson has won 11 straight games against Mount St. Mary's, but played the Mountaineers for the first time to open a season.
• Sophomore transfer Alex Woodall had a solid outing in his Black & Gold debut, winning 13 of his 16 faceoffs, while snapping up nine groundballs. It marks the third time in the Nadelen Era (2012) that a specialist has won 13 faceoffs in a single game.
• Mazza is the first Towson player to get a sock trick (six goals in a game) on the road since Thomas DeNapoli had the same number at Drexel on April 20, 2013.
• The 13 goals scored by Towson on Saturday equals the most for the Tigers against Mount St. Mary's under Nadelen, drawing even with Towson's 13-5 win over The Mount on March 2, 2013.
• Saturday's game is the 31^st time in Nadelen's career at Towson that the Tigers have held opponents to single digits while scoring in double figures. Towson is 31-0 in such contests.

 
That's What He Said – Head Coach Shawn Nadelen

• On offense, we had some new guys in new spots. Jonny Mazza at attack, getting (Dylan) Kinnear in there … a couple of guys on the second midfield that are new. I thought they did a good job sharing the ball. Jonny had a strong day, pumping in six goals.
• It was sloppy at times, which I guess you can kind of assume in your first game, but I thought with the experience on the offensive end, we would have been a little bit cleaner there.
• Defensively, I thought Josh (Miller) did a great in the cage and key stops when we needed him to and as a whole unit, I thought they did an okay job playing together, there was definitely a lack of communication. I think we have some good pieces to work with.
• (Alex) Woodall had a very strong game, which we were hoping for. He's come in and earned that starting spot and takes a lot of pride in that. You can see that in his effort today and he really takes pride in practice and wants to be the number one guy.

 
Up Next

• The No. 12 Tigers continue to hit the road as the head to our nation's capital for a clash with Georgetown next Saturday.
• Opening faceoff at Multisport Field is slated for noon.
• The game will be audio broadcast on Towson Sports Network, with Ben Rosenbaum on the call alongside analyst Hunter Lochte.

 
- TowsonTigers.com –