For the third consecutive year, the Towson University men's lacrosse team is headed to the NCAA Tournament after winning the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Men's Lacrosse Championship. For the second consecutive year, the Tigers won both the regular season and postseason conference championships.
The Tigers put on a great show this past week, as they defeated Drexel in the semifinals 8-4, and then beat UMass in the CAA Championship 9-4. So where most teams would be happy to hold an opponent to eight goals a game, the Tigers only gave up eight in the entire tournament.
For their efforts, the Tigers will face the Nittany Lions of Penn State on Saturday at noon in University Park, Pennsylvania. This is a team the Tigers will be somewhat familiar with; the two teams scrimmaged in the fall. Until 2014, Penn State was a member of the CAA before leaving to join the newly-formed Big Ten in 2015.
Four years ago, the Tigers played at the Penn State Lacrosse Field. In 2013, the Tigers were the three seed in the CAA Tournament up at Penn State, and the Tigers shocked everyone by winning. But, that is basically ancient history now, as the two teams will now face off with the winner headed to Delaware on May 21 to take on either Syracuse or Yale.
The Tigers boast the third-best scoring defense in the nation, giving up just 7.43 goals per game. But they will face their biggest challenge of the year, as Penn State has the fifth-best offense in the nation, scoring 13.67 goals per game. Something is going to have to give. Both teams have great faceoff men. Penn State's Gerard Arceri is six in the nation, winning 62.5 percent of his faceoffs. The Tigers'
Alex Woodall is right behind him at seventh in the nation, winning 61.3 percent of his faceoffs.
This game should be a great one. Jeff Tambroni, the head coach of Penn State, is 4-1 lifetime against the Tigers. But the Tigers are 14-8 against Penn State all-time.
Let's also give a shout out to the Towson University women's lacrosse team. Coach
Sonia LaMonica's squad received an at-large bid and will take on High Point in the first round of the women's tournament. They play Friday in College Park and the winner of that game will take on the Terrapins of Maryland on Sunday. Good luck, ladies!!!
Ben Rosenbaum will have all the women's lacrosse action for you this weekend. Hopefully Ben will bring you two games this weekend on TowsonTigers.com
I will be with you at 11:45 a.m. on Saturday from University Park, Pennsylvania when the Tigers take on the seventh-seeded Nittany Lions right here on TowsonTigers.com. I hope you will tune in.
Before I go, one thing that has become perplexing. When did winning stop mattering? As the brackets were unveiled on Sunday, teams with barely .500 records not only got into the tournament, but they also get to host first round games. We have also seen this in the men's basketball tournament. It doesn't make any difference that you lose a lot, as long as you lose to good teams. I think there are a couple of schools that should have been in the NCAA Tournament this year that were left out.
The lacrosse committee apparently has decided that the RPI (or Ratings Percentage Index) is the barometer for who gets in and who doesn't. I would ask folks who have a few minutes to look up what the RPI is. It is not a good barometer if you ask me. Why? Winning isn't as important as who you play. I find something seriously wrong with that. As former NFL head coach Herm Edwards once famously said, "You play to win the game."
Until next week, GO TIGERS!!!
