Opening Faceoff
Saturday opens the 60th season of varsity lacrosse at Towson University and the seventh under head coach Shawn Nadelen, the 2017 USILA Division I Men's Lacrosse Coach of the Year. Towson is coming off one of the best seasons in program history and a trip to Championship Weekend, but as Nadelen noted in the Baltimore Sun this week "That was for last year's team, and that's how I want them to treat that. That was for them. This year is for us and for this group."

In The National Rankings
Towson continues to be a staple in the national rankings as 2018 is set to begin. The Tigers were ranked 14th in both the Nike/USILA Coaches' Preseason Poll as well as the Maverik/Inside Lacrosse Preseason Media Poll. This week's foe, Johns Hopkins, was slotted at 11th and 13th, respectively. The Tigers have been mentioned in the USILA Coaches' Poll for every game since Feb. 18, 2015, a run of 53-straight games.

The Season-Opening Tigers
There will be a healthy balance of familiar names and fresh faces for the Tigers in the early going of 2018. Towson returns its entire starting defense, Sid Ewell, Chad Patterson and Gray Bodden, along with Josh Miller, who started the first half of last season. Calvin Livingston will see reps down low as a well after a strong junior season. In the defensive midfield, Second Team USILA All-American Zach Goodrich is back for his junior season and will likely play alongside classmate Jimmie Wilkerson. Junior midfielder Jon Mazza (16-4-20) is Towson's top returning offensive threat, with senior Cole Robertson (3-0-3) back from a lower body injury. Towson will need to replace its entire starting attack after the graduation of 2017.

Scouting Blue Jays
After bowing out in the NCAA Tournament First Round last season, Johns Hopkins returns its top three offensive threats from last season in Shack Stanwick (26-21-47), Kyle Marr (25-20-45) and Joel Tinney (19-9-28). Looking to get the ball down to the potent offense will be senior faceoff man Hunter Moreland, who went 102-of-188 (.543) last season with 35 ground balls. Tinney is the top returning groundballer, grabbing 40 on the wings last season. After splitting time in goal last season, Brock Turnbaugh is the only returning goalie with more than 15 minutes in goal for the Jays last season. He logged 400 minutes, stopping 58 shots at a 40.8 percent clip. He finished 2017 with a goals against average of 12.59. Hopkins will shoot the ball early; last season, the Blue Jays took 293 first-half shots out of 562 total (52.1 percent).

Towson-Johns Hopkins History
Five miles down Charles Street separate the home stadiums of Saturday night's foes. The game will be the 46th meeting all-time between the programs. Johns Hopkins leads the series 40-5, but the Tigers have won two of the last three games. The Tigers are looking for their first win at Homewood Field since April 17, 1996, a 13-12 victory for the No. 19 Tigers over fifth-ranked Johns Hopkins. Saturday is the second-straight trip to Homewood in which Towson will play a Hopkins team ranked 11th by the USILA.

Towson-Johns Hopkins By the Numbers
All-Time Series Record Hopkins 40-5
at Towson Hopkins 20-3
at Hopkins Hopkins 20-2
at Neutral Sites n/a
at Unknown Sites n/a
First Meeting March 27, 1976 - JHU 15, Towson 8
Last Meeting March 12, 2016 
#17 Towson 13, #6 Johns Hopkins 8
Streak Towson +1

Last Time Out vs. Johns Hopkins | March 11, 2017 | Towson, Md.
In a top-20 showdown at Johnny Unitas Stadium, the No. 17 Tigers used a balanced attack to upend No. 6 Johns Hopkins 13-8 in front of 2,011 fans on a 30-degree day. Joe Seider finished with a game-high four goals while classmate Ryan Drenner contributed four points on three goals and one assist. Alex Woodall had a strong showing at the X, winning 15 of his 25 draws and collected nine ground balls. He added two goals and one assist off the draw as well. Josh Miller made six saves in goal while the Towson defense allowed just two players with multiple goals, the graduated John Crawley (3) and Kyle Marr (2). The Blue Jays split time in goal, with Gerald Logan starting the first 32 minutes and making six saves before he was spelled by Brock Turnbaugh. The latter made five stops.

With a Win Saturday
- Towson would collect a season-opening win for a fifth-straight season, a run dating back to an 11-8 win over High Point in 2014.
- The Tigers would get their first season-opening win on the road since Shawn Nadelen's first season at the helm, a 12-10 win at Jacksonville on Feb. 11, 2012.
- Towson would win back-to-back games over the Blue Jays for the first time in series history.
- The Tigers would collect their first win at Homewood Field since a 13-12 victory in 1996.
- Towson would improve to 7-3 over Baltimore opponents since 2015, the best mark for any of the four schools over that stretch.

Careers Versus Johns Hopkins
With the graduation of the Class of 2017, it's a thin group that has playing experience against Johns Hopkins. Eleven current Tigers have suited up against the Blue Jays. Oddly, junior faceoff specialist Alex Woodall leads the Tiger returners in career points against Johns Hopkins, depositing two goals and one assist last season. He went 15-of-25 at the X and grabbed nine ground balls. Jon Mazza and Dylan Kinnear have one career goal for the Black & Gold, while Johnny Giuffreda scored one goal against Hopkins as a sophomore at Loyola in 2016. Josh Miller is the only active goalie with playing time against Hopkins, logging all 60 minutes in last season's 13-8 win, making six saves.

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".

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.

Face-Off Night: An Annual Tradition
On Saturday, Feb. 4, the Towson University men's lacrosse team continued its annual tradition: Face-Off Night.

Those who saw Towson in the fall and spring exhibitions may have noticed players without decals on their helmets.The vast majority of those were newcomers to the Tiger program and had not yet "earned their stripes". 

Face-Off Night is a blending of new faces and those who have graduated. Each new player is presented with his jersey and number for the current season. These jerseys are presented to the new player by at least one alumnus, often paired with a new player wearing the same number he wore during his time with the program.

Preseason All-America Honors
Three Tigers were mentioned in Inside Lacrosse's Preseason Media All-America Team. Junior defensive midfielder and USILA Second-Team All-American Zach Goodrich earned first team honors by the media, while Sid Ewell and Alex Woodall collected honorable mention plaudits.

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

Could be a First
Of the four goalies on the Tigers' roster this season, one is a true freshman (Jake Stout), one is a redshirt freshman (Shane Brennan), one is a sophomore  (Tyler Canto) while the fourth is a senior (Josh Miller). Miller, the incumbent senior, has played in nine games in his career, including eight last season. None of the other three have regular season experience.

Should Stout or Brennan get the start on Saturday, will mark the first time in the Tigers' CAA Era (2002) that a freshman or redshirt freshman will get his first career start in the season opener.

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). 

Long Time Ranked
Saturday's game will be the 39th-straight game the Towson University men's lacrosse team will play ranked inside the USILA Coaches' Poll Top 20. 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 39-straight games in the USILA Coaches' Poll Top 20 is 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 has been 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.

Class of the CAA
Since joining the CAA for the 2002 season, no program in league history has enjoyed more success than Towson University. The Tigers have racked up 59 total wins in the CAA, two more than rival Hofstra. Below is a list of the current members of the CAA and their win totals in conference games since joining the league. The Tigers have appeared in the conference title game a total of nine times, bringing home the trophy on a league-record six occasions.

Team: Wins (CAA Titles, Last)
Towson: 59 (6, 2016)
Hofstra: 57 (2, 2008)
Drexel: 49 (1, 2014)
Delaware: 31 (3, 2011)
UMass: 20 (1, 2012)
Fairfield: 9 (0)

Best in Baltimore
Local rivalries are always important. And once again, Towson will honor those rivalries and square off against the three Greater Baltimore schools: Johns Hopkins, Loyola and UMBC. Towson and Johns Hopkins are the only two schools in Greater Baltimore that are scheduled to play the other three this season.

Over the last three regular seasons, Towson has controlled the Baltimore Area.

Towson: 6-3
Johns Hopkins: 5-3
Loyola: 3-2
UMBC 3-2

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 33-15 all-time at Minnegan Field, including a 5-3 mark last 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.

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 40-6 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. 

23-Man Rosters
Towson has enjoyed a resurgence of its alumni at the professional level over the last two seasons.

During the professional offeseason, MLL teams announced their 23-man protected rosters. Among the 207 protected players, four are former Tigers.

Jack Adams | 2017 | SSDM | Charlotte Hounds
Patrick Conroy | 2016 | LSM | Atlanta Blaze
Ryan Drenner | 2017 | Attack | Florida Launch
Andrew Hodgson | 2015 | Midfield | New York Lizards