FAIRFIELD, Conn. – A furious comeback in the final two minutes of the game fell just short as the No. 15 Towson University men's lacrosse team was upended 9-8 on Saturday at Fairfield University's Rafferty Stadium.

Towson (7-4, 3-1 CAA) dropped its first Colonial Athletic Association contest of the season, despite a three-goal burst in the final 96 seconds of the game from three different players. Senior attackman Joe Seider finished with a four-point, three goal and one helper day.

Fairfield (4-9, 1-3 CAA) got a big afternoon from goalie Tyler Behring, who made 17 saves.

Despite the loss, the Tigers had previously locked up a berth in their sixth-straight CAA Tournament. The field has been set with Towson, Hofstra, Drexel and UMass. Next weekend's games will determine the seedings as the Tigers host Hofstra at Johnny Unitas ® Stadium at noon on Saturday.

How it Happened

• Fairfield jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead with strikes from Matt Sharpe and Colin Burke at 9:17 and 6:47, respectively. Both goals were unassisted.
• The Tigers scored their first of the day to cut the Stags' lead in half as Jon Mazza threw a low shot along the ground with a Brian Bolewicki assist.
• After a holding penalty near the end of the first quarter, Fairfield took advantage as Travis Ford scored an extra-man chance on a Drew Murray feed.
• Fairfield extended its run to four after opening the second period on a three-goal burst. The first two goals were by Joe Rodrigues, with Burke assisting on the first. Dylan Beckwith got the final goal of the run at 4:00 to make it a 6-1 Fairfield lead.
• Towson got one back just 45 seconds later for the final tally of the half. Dylan Kinnear cut down left-handed and brought the stick to his opposite side and tucked away his fourth of the year. Ryan Drenner had the helper to extend his point streak to 24 games.
• Fairfield took a 6-2 lead into the half after killing of a two-minute nonreleasable penalty for an illegal bodycheck against Mike Lynch.
• Rodrigues got his third of the day 31 seconds into the third quarter.
• Towson out-scored Fairfield 2-1 in the third stanza as Seider and Alex Woodall connected off the draw.
• The Tigers cut the lead back to three as Lynch got vengeance for a second illegal body check as the senior drilled his 11^th goal of the year at 13:06 of third on an extra-man chance, the final goal of that quarter.
• Burke redoubled Fairfield's lead to 8-4 with a strike at 12:45 of the fourth quarter as he was falling to his knees.
• The Tigers cut the lead back down to three at 8:01 as Towson took advantage of a Fairfield too-many men penalty. Seider buried a top-shelf shot as Drenner hit him with a pass from the top of the box.
• Ford scored his second goal of the day at 4:15 to put the Stags up 9-5 on an even-strength goal.
• Towson was in free-shooting mode late in the fourth quarter. Tyler Konen banged one off the right pipe, which Lynch caught on the rebound and fired a shot that missed just left.
• The Tigers called a timeout at 1:42, followed by Kinnear's second goal of the day on a similar look to his first. Seider had the assist on the backend.
• Woodall won the next faceoff and the Tigers scored with 1:19 left in regulation as Seider got another goal on the doorstep from a Konen assist.

Behind the Numbers

• The Tigers out-shot Fairfield 43-32 in the game, putting up double digits in all but the second quarter. Lynch took 14 shots while Joe Seider finished with 10.
• Towson won 13 of the game's 19 faceoffs, including 60 percent of the second-half draws. Woodall took every faceoff for Towson while Will Fox won six for the Stags and Joe DeLasho did not get a win in his four chances.
• The Tigers scored three extra-man goals on five chances, while the man-down unit held the Stags to one goal on three chances.
• Towson won the ground ball battle by a 21-16 count, collecting eight loose balls in the final quarter. Zach Goodrich grabbed three grounders for the Tigers while Tyler Mayes snapped up four along with four caused turnovers.
• Towson snapped a nine-game road winning streak, dating back to last season. It was the Tigers first road loss in a CAA game since April 25, 2015 at Drexel.

Up Next for Towson

• The Tigers return home next Saturday for a crucial clash against the Pride of Hofstra University.
• Saturday's noon game at Johnny Unitas ® Stadium will be Senior Day for the 11 members of the Towson University Class of 2017.
• The game will be the CAA Game of the Week on Lax Sports Network.
• A long-standing conference rivalry, Towson and Hofstra will also be carried on the Towson Sports Network with Spiro Morekas and Hunter Lochte on the