Opening Faceoff
The Tigers conclude a busy week with their third game in a seven-day stretch this Saturday when they take on crosstown rival UMBC at noon. The matchup will be the 59th meeting all-time with the Retrievers.
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 Returning-Home Tigers
After a quick trip down the road to No. 9 Loyola, the Tigers return home to Johnny Unitas Stadium for a third-straight Saturday. The Tigers are 1-1 at The U this season. Junior attackman/midfielder Jon Mazza (7g, 4a) leads the offensive attack for Towson while attackman Timmy Monahan (6g, 4a) is close behind with 10 points. Brendan Sunday (7g, 1a) is Towson's top threat up top, along with Jean-Luc Chetner (4g, 3a) and Grant Maloof (5g, 1a), who leads Towson with two EMO goals. Despite the final score on Wednesday, Towson's defensive unit looked much more cohesive, holding a high-powered Loyola offense to just seven goals through 45 minutes. Redshirt freshman Shane Brennan made a career-best 14 saves at No. 9 Loyola in the first 60-minute outing of his career. After Alex Woodall (57-87) struggled early at the X, senior Steven Stillwell came off the bench for his first action since 2016 and went 13-of-17, winning 11 straight draws from the second quarter until midway through the fourth. As a team, Towson is 70-104 (.673) at the X this season.
Scouting the Crosstowning Retrievers
After topping Richmond 9-6 in its opener, UMBC has dropped two straight and enters Saturday with a 1-2 overall record. Trevor Patschorke (3g, 6a) leads the way for the Retrievers' offense, followed by Billy Nolan (4g, 3a). Nine different Retrievers have scored so far in 2018, with three of the top four scorers coming from the attack unit. Sophomore Jake Brothers is the leading man at the X for UMBC, winning 20 of his 48 draws and collecting 12 ground balls. LSM Justin Barrigan has spotted in, winning three on five chances. UMBC is riding a freshman keeper in the early going, with Tommy Lingner playing 165 minutes so far. He has a goals against average of 8.38 with 25 stops to his credit. UMBC is averaging 7.00 goals per game on offense and puts nearly half of its 94 total shots on goal.
Towson-UMBC History
A 20 mile trip around the I695 Loop separates these crosstown rivals. Today's game will be the 49th meeting all-time between the Tigers and the Retrievers, the third-most played opponent in Towson's history behind 53 meetings against Drexel and 61 against Loyola. The Tigers have reeled off six-straight wins over UMBC, all coming under the guidance of Tiger head coach Shawn Nadelen. Saturday's game will be the second-ever meeting between Nadelen and UMBC second-year head coach Ryan Moran. Nadelen leads 1-0 over Moran.
Towson-UMBC By the Numbers
All-Time Series Record Towson 32-15
at Towson Towson 14-7
at UMBC Towson 14-8
at Neutral Sites Towson 1-0
at Unknown Sites Towson 3-0
First Meeting 1970, Towson 10, UMBC 7
Last Meeting March 4, 2017 #14 Towson 8, UMBC 6
Streak Towson +6
Last Time Out vs. UMBC | March 1, 2017 | Towson, Md.
Towson jumped out to a fast 6-2 start at halftime across the Loop in Catonsville, thanks to three-straight goals to open the game. Ryan Drenner finished the contest with three goals while Jon Mazza tagged the Retrievers for a pair. Joe Seider, Brian Bolewicki and Dylan Kinnear all scored once. Josh Miller got the win behind seven saves in goal. Max Haldemann was the only UMBC player to score multiple goals, finishing with a pair. Jack Andrews, Max Maxwell and Ryan Frawley all had one assist. Ruston Souder stopped six Tiger shots in his 60 minutes of action.
With a Win Saturday Towson Would...
- Snap its first two-game slide since the middle of 2017. The Tigers have not dropped three-straight contests since falling in four straight to end the 2014 season.
- Improve to 2-1 at Johnny Unitas Stadium this season.
- Run its winning streak over the Retrievers to seven straight, the longest winning streak in the series since Towson was victorious in 12 meetings from 1984-96.
Careers Versus UMBC
Seventeen current members of the program have suited up in the Black & Gold against UMBC. Jon Mazza has tucked away three goals against the Retrievers, including a pair last season. Zach Goodrich posted one goal against UMBC as freshman in 2016 while Dylan Kinnear has one career goal, coming last season at Unitas Stadium. Alex Woodall is 9-of-16 all-time against UMBC (.562). Senior keeper Josh Miller is the only active goalie to see shots against UMBC, winning last season's game after stopping seven shots on the road.
On this Date: March 3
Since the program elevated to Division I at the onset of the 1980 season, the Tigers have played just three times on March 3. All-time, Towson is 2-1 on this date, including a 2-0 mark at home. The last time the Tigers played on March 3 was during the 2015 season, an epic three-overtime game in freezing, pouring down rain at Navy. The Midshipmen handed Towson its lone March 3 loss, 8-7.
Welcome to the Program, Chinny!
In advance of Saturday's game, the Tigers will add one more member to the program as Chinny Hackley signs an "NLI" and becomes an honorary member of the Towson University men's lacrosse team. The 10 year old brain cancer survivor elected to take a trip to Johnny Unitas Stadium with his grandparents as part of a family tradition. Chinny will be with the program all day sporting his jersey number, 30, on the sidelines with the Tigers.
Tewaaraton Watch List
On Thursday evening, the Tewaaraton Foundation announced its annual watch list, naming 50 male student-athletes from all three division and 50 female student-athletes from all three divisions as players to watch for the coveted player of the year award.
Towson junior defensive midfielder Zach Goodrich was selected to the Watch List and is one of four CAA members to be named. The two-time captain and Second Team All-American will look to make the cut later this season when the next round of watch listers is announced on March 22.
You Are NOT the Weakest Link
They say you're only as good as your weakest player. For the much-improved Towson faceoff unit, the Tigers are deep at the X. After struggling in the first quarter at No. 9 Loyola, Alex Woodall was spelled for several quarters by senior specialist Steven Stillwell. The senior got his first action since the 2016 season and performed very well, going 13-of-17, including 11-straight wins on the road, no easy task. It's not the first time Stillwell has won double-digit draws off the bench. In 2016, he came in as a replacement against the Blue Hens of Delaware, winning 11 draws on 17 chances along with four ground balls. In a "start" against Fairfield in the regular season, Stillwell won a then-career best 11 faceoffs in 23 chances in an 18-11 shootout Tiger win at home.
Ohio State Game Time Shift
After it was originally announced that the Towson men's lacrosse team would square off with Ohio State in Columbus for an NCAA Semifinal rematch from last season for a 1 p.m. start, the game time has since been amended. The Tigers and Buckeyes will now meet on the Big Ten Network in Columbus, Ohio with a 4 p.m. faceoff on March 10.
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.
Lax Sports Network CAA Game of the Week
This weekend's game will be featured on Lax Sports Network as the CAA Game of the Week. Towson will be the first league team featured for LSN's CAA Game of the Week package. Towson will play the CAA Game of the Week two more times this season, hosting Drexel on April 7 at noon and capping the regular season on April 28 against Fairfield with an 11 a.m. start.
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.
