Opening Draw
The No. 19/20 Towson women's lacrosse team opens the 42nd season in program history and its 36th as a Division I program when the Tigers welcome No. 4/4 Penn State to Johnny Unitas® Stadium on Saturday. Live video of the game is available on the Towson Sports Network.
 
2017 Season in Review
Towson finished with a 12-7 record, advancing to the NCAA tournament for the eighth time in the last 10 years and ninth time overall. The Tigers have appeared in five of seven NCAA tournaments since Sonia LaMonica became head coach prior to the 2011 season. The team will be looking for its fifth CAA championship under LaMonica this year and it's eighth overall.
 
The Tigers return four of their top five scorers from a year ago, including their top four goal scorers, including junior Carly Tellekamp who had 54, the seventh-highest total for a single season in school history. Senior Kaitlyn Montalbano enters this season ranked 11th in school history with 141 points.
 
Defensively, the team returns its top two leaders in ground balls and caused turnovers in freshman Olivia Conti and Tianna Wallpher. Conti was the first freshman in CAA history to be named Defensive Player of the Year after she was just the second player in program history to total 40 or more caused turnovers in a season, finished with a school record 49. Meanwhile, Wallpher led the team in ground balls with 46, one more than Conti, while ranking second with 38 caused turnovers.
 
Among the Nation's Best
Towson enters the 2018 season ranked in two of the three Division I women's polls. The tigers are at No. 19 in the IWLCA Coaches Poll and No. 20 in the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll. The Tigers were receiving votes in the final 2017 IWLCA poll.
 
Led by eighth-year head coach Sonia LaMonica, Towson has been ranked or receiving votes in the final IWLCA poll in eight of the last nine years.
 
Tigers in Season Openers
Towson is 12-3 in its last 15 season openers after a 10-9 loss to No. 6 Stony Brook at home a year ago. The team has won three of its last four season openers and is 3-4 under head coach Sonia LaMonica.
 
By comparison, Penn State has won six-straight season openers and 11 of its last 13.
 
Scouting Penn State
In 2017, Penn State won its second-most games in a single-season and the most since 1989 when they finished the year 17-4 advancing to its second-consecutive NCAA National Semifinal and the 11th in program history.
 
The Nittany Lions graduated six starters from that 2017 team, a class that was the winningest since the class of 1992 as they compiled 57 wins over the last four seasons in Happy Valley.
 
Penn State set single-season program records for goals in 2017 with 303 and returns 73 percent of that scoring this year. The Nittany Lions also set a new single-season record for total points in 2017 with 427.
 
Towson-Penn State Series History
Saturday will mark the ninth all-time meeting between the Tigers and Nittany Lions. Penn State has won each of the previous eight, including a 13-11 victory in University Park, Pennsylvania a year ago. Prior to last season, the two teams had not met since the first round of the 2012 NCAA tournament. Penn State won that game, 15-8.
 
The last time the two squads was met was the first round of the 2012 NCAA Tournament. Towson trailed by just one at the half in that contest but the Nittany Lions opened the second half on a 5-0 run en route to a 15-8 victory.
 
Last Meeting
After trailing 9-2 at the end of the first half, Towson scored the first six goals of the second to pull within one, but Penn State answered with four consecutive goals of its own to take a 13-8 lead and hold on for a 13-11 victory at Holuba Hall. Kaitlyn Montalbano finished with two goals and one assist while Sami Chenoweth had four ground balls and three caused turnovers.
 
February is Lacrosse Season
Saturday marks the seventh-straight season that the Tigers will kick off their schedule in February. Towson played five games in February a year ago and is 13-4 during the month of February under head coach Sonia LaMonica.
 
Dating back to 1979, the Tigers are 16-5 during the second month of the year. Last year's February 4th season opener was the earliest start to a season for the Tigers in program history.
 
Approaching the Century Mark
Head coach Sonia LaMonica enters this season with 93 career wins between Towson and Mount St. Mary's. She has totaled 85 of those wins with the Tigers as she is 85-48 in seven seasons for a .639 winning percentage.
 
LaMonica's counterpart on Saturday, Missy Doherty, went 79-46 in seven seasons at Towson from 2004-10.
 
Preseason All-CAA Honors
Towson, winners of six of the last 10 CAA championships, was picked second in the 2018 CAA Preseason Poll while six Tigers were selected to the All-CAA Preseason Team. The Tigers received 31 points, just five behind defending CAA champion James Madison. The Tigers also received one first-place vote.
 
Elon was picked to finish third (24 points) followed by Delaware (21), Hofstra (16), Drexel (11) and William & Mary (8).
 
Among the 18 players named to the preseason all-conference team, Towson led the way with six, including seniors Emily Gillingham, Kaitlyn Montalbano and Tianna Wallpher, juniors Natalie Sulmonte and Carly Tellekamp and sophomore Olivia Conti.
 
More Preseason Honors
Towson University women's lacrosse sophomore Olivia Conti and senior Tianna Wallpher were both selected to the preseason Inside Lacrosse Media All-America Team. Conti was named to the second team while Wallpher was named honorable mention.
 
Oh Captain, My Captain
In the fall, head coach Sonia LaMonica selected seniors Kaitlyn Montalbano, Tianna Wallpher and Emily Gillingham as team captains.
 
"This trio has been hugely impactful to the success we have had as a program to date, and it's now their time to lead our group to the next level," said LaMonica. "When it comes to work ethic, attitude and accountability, these three fit the bill. I have no doubt they will uphold these values and set the example on a daily basis."
 
Tigers Face Challenging Schedule
Seven Towson opponents were ranked in the IWLCA preseason poll.  The Tigers open the season at home against No. 4 Penn State (Feb. 10) and play road games at No. 25 Loyola (March 7), No. 2 Stony Brook (March 17), No. 5 Florida (March 21), No. 21 Elon (April 13) and No. 22 Johns Hopkins (April 25). Towson will close out the regular season at home on April 28 against No. 16 James Madison.
 
10 Goals is the Key to #WinTheDay
Since head coach Sonia LaMonica took over prior to the 2011 season, the number 10 has become a key stat. Under LaMonica, Towson is 64-8 when its scores 10 or more goals in a season, including a mark of 11-3 last year.
 
By comparison, when the Tigers hold opponents under 10 goals, they are 64-13 after posting an 8-1 record last season.
 
Beat the Streak
As Towson begins the 2018 season, three players will be carrying some impressive scoring streaks with them. Junior Natalie Sulmonte has scored a point in 31 consecutive games dating back to the 2016 season. Meanwhile, senior Emily Gillingham and junior Carly Tellekamp have each scored a goal in eight consecutive contests.
 
Who's Next?
Towson continues its four-game homestand to begin the 2018 season when it welcomes local rival Georgetown to Unitas Stadium next Saturday, February 17 for a 3 p.m., contest following the men's game against Mount St. Mary's at noon.