Opening Faceoff
Towson continues a short two-game road swing to kick off the 2017 season, heading to the capital on Saturday for another clash with Georgetown. The Tigers are off to a 1-0 start after a 13-5 win at Mount St. Mary's last weekend, while the Hoyas are 0-2 after dropping a 16-10 decision in Dallas to No. 4 Notre Dame.

In The National Rankings
The Tigers saw small movement in this week's national polls. Towson moved up one spot in the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll to 12th, but slipped back one spot to 13th in the USILA Coaches' Poll. The Tigers held firm at No. 12 in the US Lacrosse Top 20 this week.

The Gelling Tigers
One game in to the 2017 season and the Tigers picked up right where they left off in 2016: strong defense with potent offense. The Tigers held Mount St. Mary's to just five goals in the 60 minute opener, including a scoreless third quarter. The Tigers went with Josh Miller between the pipes as the junior made 11 saves in his first career start. The defense in front of him, Gray Bodden, Sid Ewell and Chad Patterson, were stout in their first outing together. The Tigers' defensive midfield, anchored by the unheralded Tyler Mayes and Zach Goodrich, limited The Mount's midfielders to just two goals. On the opposite end of the field, Towson's offense got an explosive effort from Jon Mazza, who made his first-ever start at attack for the Tigers. He finished with a career-best six goals, including a natural hat trick to open the second quarter, while linemates Ryan Drenner (2g, 2a) and Joe Seider (2g, 1a) added to the mix. Midfielder Mike Lynch put up two assists while second liners Cole Robertson and Matt Wylly each had one goal.

Scouting The Hoyas
Georgetown (0-2) dropped a 16-10 decision at the Patriot's Cup in Dallas, Texas at the Cowboys' practice facility last weekend. Saturday's game will be the first at home for Georgetown after the Hoyas opened 2017 at High Point, a 9-3 loss. Peter Conley has a team-high seven points (6g, 1a) while Daniel Bucaro and Craig Berge have two goals and one helper apiece. The Hoyas have been split at the X this season, winning 22 of the 44 faceoffs. Riley Mann has been the go-to, winning 17 draws on 36 chances (.472). Peter Tagliaferri has spotted in, winning five of eight chances. Nick Marrocco has shouldered the load in goal, making 21 saves but allowing 24 goals (.467). He has a goals against average of 12.01. Georgetown struggles out of the halftime break, allowing 12 goals in the third quarter while scoring just once. The Hoyas out-scored foes 6-3 in the second period.

Towson-Georgetown History
Saturday's game marks the fourth-straight season the Tigers and Georgetown have clashed. Towson is 4-0 against the Hoyas under sixth-year head coach Shawn Nadelen. This will be Towson's second trip to the capital under Nadelen, who is 1-0 there after a 9-6 decision back in 2015. Towson picked up a 10-7 win at Johnny Unitas Stadium last season in a battle of ranked opponents. The Tigers were 13th at the time while the Hoyas were slotted 17th.

Towson-Georgetown By the Numbers
All-Time Series Record Towson 6-1
    at Towson Towson 2-0
    at Georgetown Tied 1-1
    at Neutral Sites n/a
    at Unknown Sites Towson 3-0
First Meeting April 10, 1963
Last Meeting Feb. 27, 2016
#13 Towson 10, #17 Georgetown 7
Streak Towson +4

Last Time Out vs. Georgetown
Towson jumped out to a 4-1 lead at the end of the first quarter and cruised to a 10-7 decision at Unitas Stadium in the Tigers third-straight home game to open 2016. The Hoyas out-scored Towson 3-2 in the second quarter, but Towson logged two goals in each of the final quarters in the win. Then-junior Ryan Drenner had a strong performance, finishing with seven points on four goals and three assists, taking just six shots in the game. Classmate Joe Seider tagged the Hoyas for two goals while Mike Lynch had two points from the midfield on one goal and one helper. The since-graduated Tyler White stopped 11 Hoya shots in the victory. The Tiger defense was disciplined, taking just two penalties for 90 seconds. Georgetown capitalized on just one of those chances while the Tigers' EMO unit went three-for-five in the game. Alec Burckley won seven of his 13 draws while Stephen Stillwell collected four wins at the X on his six attempts. Three Tigers grabbed a trio of ground balls, including Tyler Mayes, who added a pair of caused turnovers to his stat line.

With a Win Saturday
- The Tigers would open a season with a 2-0 record for a second-straight season, the first time Towson would have such a record under head coach Shawn Nadelen.
- Give the Tigers a 2-0 record in back-to-back seasons for the first time since doing it three years running from 1992-1994.
- Improve Towson to 7-1 all-time against Georgetown, with the series dating back to the 1963 campaign. It would be Towson's fourth-straight win over the Hoyas under Nadelen.
- Give the Tigers their first 2-0 record to start a season with at least two true road games since opening the 1994 season with a 3-0 record in three straight road games. 

It's Called a Sock Trick
Last weekend at Mount St. Mary's, sophomore Jon Mazza made his first career start at attack for the Tigers. The decision, which came in light of injuries, paid dividends as Mazza himself out-scored the Mount. The former midfielder dropped in six goals in the No. 12 Tigers' 13-5 win over the Mountaineers. He had the first sock trick (double hat trick) on the road since Thomas DeNapoli scored six at Drexel on April 20, 2013. Mazza also scored the Tigers' first natural hat trick (three-straight goals) since Ben McCarty did so at Drexel during the 2015 regular season.

60 Percent of the Time...
...It works every time. Sophomore Jon Mazza scored on 60 percent of his shots in the Tigers' 13-5 win at Mount St. Mary's last weekend, hitting for six goals on 10 attempts.

That... Is Surprising...
The Tigers are looking to do something that hasn't been done since before all but one player on the team was alive: Open back-to-back seasons with 2-0 records. Shockingly, the Tigers have not managed that feat since doing it three years in a row during the 1992-94 seasons. Only redshirt senior Brian Bolewicki was alive during that stretch.

SHOTS, SHOTS, SHOTS, SHOTS
To paraphrase Will Rogers, Joe Seider has never seen a shot he doesn't like. And while the senior attackman has improved his shooting percentage from the 2015 season, he's not shy to pull the trigger. In each of the previous two seasons, Seider has taken 137 shots, the school record for shots in a season. Through one game in 2017, Seider has ripped off eight shots, scoring twice at Mount St. Mary's (.250). He has taken 362 attempts in his career, second most in program history. He is closing in on the all-time shots mark of 458 set by Glenn Smith from 1988-1991.

Career Goals Mark
Joe Seider is also closing in on the exclusive 100-goal club. The senior from Sparks, Maryland has 94 career goals to his credit and is just six shy of becoming the seventh player in program history to reach the century mark. He is just two goals adrift of program legend Bob Griebe's 96 career goals, which ranks seventh all-time.

All-CAA Nod
After a six-goal outburst at Mount St. Mary's to open the season, sophomore midfielder-come-attackman Jon Mazza was selected as the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Men's Lacrosse Player of the Week on Feb. 21. He is the first Tiger to win the award this season. He was also the NewDay USA Male Student-Athlete of the Week on TowsonTigers.com.

February Star
Despite a slow start in February in the early seasons of the Shawn Nadelen Era (2012), the Tigers have vastly improved in the second month of the year. Over the last three seasons, Towson is a combined 7-1 in February, including 4-0 in the last two seasons (2016 3-0, 2017 1-0). After going a combined 2-5 in his first two Februarys at the helm, Nadelen has not had a sub-.500 February since, going 2-2 in 2014. Towson will look for a perfect February for a second-straight season on Saturday at Georgetown.

Why Was 6 Afraid of 7?
Because .789.
In the early goings of 2017, the Tigers lead Division I in faceoff winning percent, emerging victorious in 15 of the 19 draws last weekend at Mount St. Mary's, a 78.9 percentage. Sophomore transfer Alex Woodall went 13-of-16 in his Tiger debut, collecting nine groundballs along the way.

Lid Lifters
Since taking over the program prior to the 2012 season, head coach Shawn Nadelen is now 5-1 in season openers, including victories in each of the last three seasons. Since elevating to Division I prior to the 1980 season, Towson is 19-19 in season openers. All-time since the program's first game, a 7-4 win over the Brown Lacrosse Club in 1959, Towson is 28-31 in the first game of the season.

Crabcakes and Lacrosse
Maryland has long been known as a hotbed for lacrosse talent. With 26 current players from the Old Line State, Towson is certainly reaping the benefits of that. Following last Saturday's game at Mount St. Mary's, head coach Shawn Nadelen is 34-19 all-time when playing games within Maryland. This season, the Tigers will play eight games in Maryland, including six at Johnny Unitas Stadium. Saturday and March 4 will be the only two games in Maryland in which Towson will not be the home team. Nadelen has a sub-.500 record in just one season when playing in Maryland, winning four of the nine games in 2012.

50 Nifty
Last season in the CAA Semifinals, head coach Shawn Nadelen picked up the 50th win of his Towson career, eliminating Drexel with a 10-6 win at Unitas Stadium. He became the third coach in program history to hit the 50-win plateau, and became the fastest of the three to gain 50 Division I victories. That game was his 81st contest at the helm. Former head coaches Tony Seaman and Carl Runk needed 88 and 89 games, respectively, to grab 50 Division I wins. However, legendary head coach Carl Runk is the fastest Towson coach to 50 total wins, hitting the mark in 1972 in just 69 total games in the Tigers' Division II Era.

No Oil Changes
During the 2017 regular season, the Tigers won't even need to change the oil on the bus, logging just an estimated 1,093 hours spread over 12 games. In the nonconference season, the Tigers will roll just 278 miles between Mount St. Mary's, Georgetown and UMBC.

Lax Sports Network
This season, the CAA office and the Lax Sports Network signed the Network's first-ever conference deal, picking up a total of 15 games for the CAA Game of the Week. LSN will broadcast 10 men's games and five women's games for the package, which features at least one CAA member. The Tiger men's team will be featured three times as the CAA Game of the Week: March 14 vs. Ohio State, March 25 vs. Denver and April 29 vs. Hofstra. Additional games may be added to the LSN broadcast schedule at a later date.

Challenging Schedule
The adage goes that to be the best, you have to beat the best. This season, the Tigers continue to have a challenging nonconference schedule, with four teams currently ranked in the Feb. 13 USILA Coaches' Poll Top 20. All four of those opponents, No. 9 Loyola, No. 5 Johns Hopkins, No. 20 Ohio State and No. 1 Denver will make the trek to Johnny Unitas Stadium this season.

Tigers Favored in the Preseason
After a highly successful 2016, the lacrosse pundits agree on one thing: The Tigers are the team to beat in the CAA this season. In a preseason poll of the league's head coaches, Towson was the league favorite, garnering 25 points and five of the six first place votes (coaches cannot vote for their own team). Fairfield was second with 21 points and the final first place vote. Hofstra and Drexel had 15 and 11 points, respectively, rounding out the potential field for the CAA Tournament.

Preseason All-America Looks
Three Tigers earned mention in the Inside Lacrosse Preseason All-America conversation, with senior defensive midfielder Jack Adams picking up second team honors. Classmates and fellow Marylanders Ryan Drenner and Joe Seider, both attackmen, earned honorable mention.

Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere
Since taking over the program in 2012, head coach Shawn Nadelen has not shied away from the "anyone, anytime, anywhere" mentality. Under his direction, Towson has won 21 true road games in that time, including a combined 11 in the last two seasons. Nadelen's teams have finished at .500 or better on the road in three of his five seasons at the helm: 5-1 in 2016, 6-3 in 2015 and 5-5 in 2013. In each of those season, the Tigers have won the CAA Tournament and earned a berth in the NCAA Tournament via the league's automatic bid.

Stay East, Young Man
After three trips to the Midwest and beyond last season, two to Columbus, Ohio and one to Denver, Colorado, the Tigers will keep things on the East Coast this regular season. Saturday's game will be the farthest west Towson travels between now and the NCAA Tournament. Second-furthest west: Georgetown next weekend.

Familiar Faces
If the 2017 schedule looks similar to the 2016 edition, it's for one simple reason: All 12 teams on this year's slate are teams the Tigers played at least once last season. With the exception of Denver (March 25), Towson played every 2017 opponent during the 2016 regular season, while also drawing Drexel, Fairfield and Loyola in the postseason.

2017 Captains
This season, the Towson men's lacrosse coaching staff, in conjunction with the student-athletes, named four captains.

Redshirt senior midfielder Brian Bolewicki is a captain for a second-straight season. He is the fourth two-time captain in the Shawn Nadelen Era, joining Thomas DeNapoli (2013, 2014), Greg Cuccinello (2014, 2015) and Ben McCarty (2015, 2016). Seniors shortstick defensive midfielder Jack Adams and attackman Ryan Drenner are captains for the first time in their career. Sophomore defensive midfielder Zach Goodrich was named this year as well, becoming the first sophomore captain in the Nadelen Era.

Defense + Offense = Success
With a defense as heralded as Towson's, it's not a surprise to followers of the team that the Tigers have lots of success when the offense and defense pair well. Since head coach Shawn Nadelen took over in 2012, the Tigers are 34-5 in games when Towson scores double digits. When Towson's defense limits opponents to single digits, the Tigers are a whopping 49-8 in that same time, including last week's season opening 13-5 win at Mount St. Mary's. On 31 occasions, the Tigers have scored in double figures while holding opponents to single digits, obviously a 31-0 record.