Opening Faceoff
Towson plays its second game in a week's span this Wednesday with a quick trip down Charles Street and Cold Spring Lane to take on local rival No. 9 Loyola. Game time is set for 4 p.m. at the Ridley Athletic Complex, a trip of less than six miles from Unitas Stadium.

In The National Rankings
For the first time since the 2015 preseason, the Towson University men's lacrosse team fell out of the USILA Coaches' Poll entirely after last week's loss. The Tigers received votes in this week's Inside Lacrosse Media Poll, however. Towson has remained mentioned in that poll since topping No. 5 Johns Hopkins in the 2015 season opener.

The Quick-Trip Tigers
Towson plays its fourth-straight game in the Greater Baltimore Area on Wednesday, heading down the road to Loyola. The Tiger offense is paced by junior attackman/midfielder Jon Mazza and his 10 points (7g, 3a). Junior midfielder Brendan Sunday (5g, 1a) is second in points with six while classmates Grant Maloof (4g, 1a) and Timmy Monahan (3g, 2a) are tied for third with five points apiece. Mazza, Sunday and Maloof are all scoring at a strong rate, with all three carrying a shooting percentage north of 40 percent. Junior Alex Woodall has been dominant at the X, winning 54 of his 80 draws (67.5 percent) and has 32 ground balls to his credit. No faceoff man in the Shawn Nadelen Era (2012) has won more draws in the first three games than Woodall has this season. Senior keeper Josh Miller has played in 135 minutes this season, making 25 saves against 89 total shots faced. He has a save percentage of 51.0 and a goals against average of 10.67 and made a career-high 12 saves last weekend against Georgetown.

Scouting the No. 9 Greyhounds
No. 9 Loyola enters Wednesday's game with a 2-1 overall record and 1-0 mark in the Patriot League after a 19-5 win over Lafayette on Saturday. Pat Spencer leads a balanced Loyola offense with 11 points (5g, 6a) while Jay Drapeau has nine points (8g 1a). Three players, John Duffy (5g, 1a), Brian Begley (4g, 2a) Aidan Olmstead are tied for third with six points apiece. Mike Orefice has been the top faceoff specialist for Loyola, winning 46.0 percent of his chances (29-63). When he wins, he is deadly in transition with four goals ready this season. He has 15 ground balls to his credit. In goal, Jacob Stover has played 170 minutes, making 25 saves and carries a goals against average of 7.44. 

Towson-Loyola History
With less than six miles between homefields, the Tigers and Greyhounds will meet for the 61st time on Wednesday. Loyola has won the last two meetings, a 10-8 game at the 2016 NCAA Quarterfinals and an 11-7 decision last season, but Towson won the last matchup at the Ridley Athletic Complex with a 10-8 score on March 2, 2016. The series is tight when the game is at Loyola; the Greyhounds lead by a since game 12-11. The Tigers are hunting wins in back-to-back trips to Loyola for the first time since winning three straight away in 2003, 2005 and 2007

Towson-Loyola By the Numbers
All-Time Series Record Loyola 31-28 at Towson Loyola 11-9
at Loyola Loyola 12-11
at Neutral Sites Tied 1-1
at Unknown Sites Tied 7-7
First Meeting 1959, Loyola 8-6 
Last Meeting May 22, 2016  
#12 Loyola 11, #14 Towson 7
Streak............................................................Loyola +2

Last Time Out vs. Loyola | March 1, 2017 | Towson, Md.
A slow start out of the gates for Towson made the difference in the 60th meeting between these two teams as Loyola won 11-7 behind a 6-2 halftime score. Ryan Drenner, Mike Lynch and Tyler Konen all scored twice for Towson while Joe Seider had a pair of assists. Alex Woodall won 13 of his 22 faceoffs. Loyola was led by a five-point day from Pat Spencer (1g, 4a) while Jordan Germershausen had four goals on seven shots. Jacob Stover stopped 16 Towson shots, including six in the first quarter.

With a Win Wednesday Towson Would...
- Level Towson's record to 2-2 overall.
- Snap a two-game skid against the Greyhounds.
- Get back-to-back wins at the Ridley Athletic Complex for the first time since winning three-straight in 2003, 2005 and 2007.
- Be the Tigers first road win of the season.

Careers Versus Loyola
Eleven current players have suited up against Loyola in their careers. Defensive midfielder Zach Goodrich is the only current player with goals against the Greyhounds in his career, netting one in each of the last two seasons. Alex Woodall has a career faceoff percentage of .591 against Loyola, winning 13 of his 22 draws last season. Josh Miller is the only active keeper with minutes against the Greyhounds, playing all 60 minutes of last season's contest. Towson returns its entire starting close defense and keeper from the 2017 meeting.

On this Date: February 28
In the program's Division I era (1980), the Tigers have played on Feb. 28 just three times. Towson holds a 2-1 all-time mark on this date and has only met Loyola once on Feb. 28, a 14-9 Greyhound win to open the 2004 campaign. Towson's pair of wins came over UMBC in 1998 (18-15) and an 11-9 win over Air Force in a neutral-site contest at Denver for the 2009 Harrow Sports Face-Off Classic. Wednesday's game will be the first time that head coach Shawn Nadelen has taken the helm on February 28.

How to Say It: TOWSON
TOWSON is pronounced TOW like towel + Son. 

IT IS NOT: TOE-son, Townson, Towsond, Townsend, Townsen, Towzen. One N, no Z.

We are Towson University, no longer Towson State University (and haven't been since July 1, 1997).

Our mascot is Doc The Tiger, named after Donald "Doc" Minnegan, long-time soccer coach and athletics department administrator. Towson became the "Tigers" in 1962 after John Schuerholz (yes, the Atlanta Braves Hall of Fame General Manager) pushed for the name change from the "Towson College Knights".

All-Time Versus No. 9
Wednesday's game will be the 11th time the Tigers will square off with a program ranked ninth in the USILA Coaches' Poll in the Division I Era (1980). All-time, Towson is 5-5 against a team ranked ninth. Towson is 3-1 against Loyola when the Greyhounds are ranked ninth. Towson last met a ninth-ranked Loyola on Feb. 19, 2014, a 20-4 Loyola win. Towson is 2-1 away from home against No. 9 Loyola.

Dog Days of Spring
Since head coach Shawn Nadelen took over as head coach of the program, the Tigers are 11-7 all-time against opponents that use a dog as a mascot. Towson has three dog foes this year. The first was last Saturday against Georgetown, which uses a bulldog. The Tigers play all three dog foes in a row, heading to Loyola (Greyhounds) on Wednesday, Feb. 28, followed by a home game against UMBC (Retrievers) on Saturday, March 3.

Woodall's Strong Start
Junior faceoff specialist Alex Woodall is off to a historically strong start at the X under head coach Shawn Nadelen. He has won 54 of his 80 draws so far this season, while hoovering 32 ground balls along the way. It is the most faceoffs won by a single player through the first three games of the season since Nadelen took over the program in 2012. Last season, Woodall won 45 of his first 62 restarts, a 72.6 winning percentage, which is the best for a specialist in such games.

CAA Rookie of the Week
After the first hat trick of his young career, rookie attackman Phil Wies was selected as the CAA Rookie of the Week on Feb. 27. The Towson native scored three goals on his first three shots on Feb. 17 against rv/rv Georgetown, while taking four on the afternoon. He collected a pair of ground balls as well. He is the first Tiger to be named CAA Rookie of the Week since the middle of the 2016 season when Ian Kirby was selected. Since joining the CAA, a Towson player has been named CAA Rookie of the Week 11 times.

EVENly Spread Out
As mentioned in the note above, a Tiger has been named CAA Rookie of the Week 11 times since Towson joined the league. Of those 11, eight have been named Rookie of the Week in even-numbered years. The last Tigers to win CAA Rookie of the Week in an odd-numbered year were Eric Boyle and Cryder DiPietro.

2018 Captains
At the program's annual Face-Off Night, head coach Shawn Nadelen made the announcement of the program's captain trio for the upcoming season: Junior shortstick defensive midfielder Zach Goodrich, a two-time captain, senior midfielder Cole Robertson and senior defensive midfielder Adam Ceribelli.

Conference History
For the first time in CAA history, a midfielder was named CAA Preseason Player of the Year, according to a poll of the league's head coaches. And it was not an offensive midfielder: defensive midfielder Zach Goodrich was selected as the top player in the league. He is just the second non-attackman to be named and second defensive player to earn the honor after former Penn State goalie Austin Kaut was selected.

Youth Movement
Towson will be a young but experienced team this season. At the onset of the 2018 season, there are 21 true freshmen or redshirt freshmen on the roster. That amounts to nearly 40 percent of the roster. Below is a roster breakdown by class
Freshmen: 18 | Redshirt Freshmen: 3
Sophomores: 11 | Redshirt Sophomores: 1
Juniors: 11 | Redshirt Juniors: 2
Seniors: 7 | Redshirt Seniors: 1

No Rest for the Weary
Coming off the success of 2017, the Tigers will take on another challenging schedule in 2018. Of the 20 teams on the USILA Division I Men's Lacrosse Preseason Coaches' Poll, Towson will take on six, including five on the road. Rankings below are based on the Preseason Poll.

Feb. 10 at No. 11 Johns Hopkins | Feb. 28 at No. 13 Loyola | March 10 at No. 8 Ohio State
March 17 vs. No. 2 Duke | March 24 at No. 4 Denver | March 31 at No. 19 Hofstra

In Minto Condition
It was a busy summer for redshirt junior Dylan Kinnear. In addition to the Tigers' run to Championship Weekend and the overseas trip to Ireland, Kinnear suited up in the box for the Okotoks Raiders, Junior A Lacrosse Club.

Kinnear helped lead the Raiders to the Minto Cup Tournament after capturing the Alberta Provence championship. The Calgary native finished his nine games with 25 goals and 20 assists as a transition player.

And Miles to Go Before I Sleep
Through the first month of the 2018 season, Towson will not have very far to travel. In addition to a pair of home games against Mount St. Mary's (Feb. 17) and Georgetown (Feb. 24), the Tigers will make two quick trips down Charles Street. Between Unitas Stadium, Homewood Field and the Ridley Athletic Complex, Towson will cover just 20 miles in February.

And then March hits. 

Towson host two games in March: UMBC on March 3 and Duke on March 17. In between the games is a plane trip to Columbus to take on Ohio State (March 10), followed by a flight to Denver (March 24) and bus ride to Hofstra (March 31). 

Round trip to the three March road games covers over 4,600 miles. On April 14, Towson will head to Amherst, Massachusetts to face UMass, another 712 miles.

The Neighbors to the North
Towson's roster has three Canadians: fifth-year Richmond Transfer Jean-Luc Chetner (British Columbia), redshirt junior Dylan Kinnear (Alberta) and Brody McLean (Ontario).

Transfer Tigers
It was a busy offseason for the Towson compliance office as the Tigers welcome six transfers to the program this spring. In addition to four in the previous two seasons, the newest crop of Tigers include transfers Timmy Monahan (Maryland), Luke Fromert (Mercer), Jean-Luc Chetner (Richmond), Brody McLean (Stony Brook), Tyler Canto (UMass Lowell) and Spencer Coyle (Navy).

Previous transfers included Sid Ewell (CCBC Essex), Alex Woodall (High Point), Johnny Giuffreda (Loyola) and Dylan Kinnear (Ohio State). 

No Place Like Home
Since taking over the program for the 2012 season, head coach Shawn Nadelen and the Tigers love playing at the friendly confines of Johnny Unitas Stadium. The Tigers are 34-16 all-time at Minnegan Field, including a 1-1 mark this season. In 2016, the Tigers set a program record for home wins, going 11-1 at Unitas Stadium. The Tigers have never suffered a losing mark at home under Nadelen, logging three 4-3 seasons (2012, 2013, 2015) at home. During the 2014 campaign, the Tigers finished with a 6-3 mark at home. 

RIP Long Time Ranked
Last Saturday's game was the 40th-straight game the Towson University men's lacrosse team played as a team ranked inside the USILA Coaches' Poll Top 20. Unfortunately, that streak comes to an end this weekend as the Tigers received votes in the most recent poll. The last time Towson played a game as an unranked team was on May 2, 2015 against UMass in the CAA Championship game; Towson received votes prior to the start of the league tournament. 

The 40-straight games in the USILA Coaches' Poll Top 20 were the longest such streak for the Tigers in the Shawn Nadelen Era (2012) and longest stretch since 41 games between March 10, 2001-March 21, 2004. (Preseason polls did not begin until 2007 (this excludes games played before the first poll of the season came out. Preseason).

Towson was ranked inside the USILA Coaches' Poll Top 20 for 30 consecutive weeks. That is the longest stretch of rankings for the Tigers since earning a spot in the Coaches' Poll for 32 consecutive weeks from March 5, 2001-March 15, 2004. The final USILA Coaches' Poll of the 2017 season was released on Monday, May 8.

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 41-7 in games when Towson scores double digits. When Towson's defense limits opponents to single digits, the Tigers are a whopping 58-8 in that same time, including the 10-7 win over second-seeded Syracuse (May 21). On 37 occasions, the Tigers have scored in double figures while holding opponents to single digits, obviously a 37-0 record.