Opening Faceoff
Towson makes its longest road trip of the 2018 season to date when it travels to the midwest for a rematch of the 2017 NCAA Tournament Semifinals. The Tigers take on No. 13 Ohio State for the first game of the year at Ohio Stadium, squaring off on the Big Ten Network at 4 p.m.

In The National Rankings
The Tigers are still receiving votes in the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll, hovering in the middle of the pack. Towson did not receive any votes in the USILA Coaches' Poll this week, however. Ohio State checks in at No. 13 in the USILA Coaches' Poll and rank 14th in the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll.

The Traveling Tigers
After keeping things local through the first five games, Towson heads to central Ohio for its longest road trip to date. Towson's offense is powered by Jon Mazza (12g, 6a) and his 18 points. Timmy Monahan (7g, 4a) ranks second with 11 points. A trio of midfielders make up the next set of points with Jean-Luc Chetner (4g, 4a), Brendan Sunday (7g, 1a) and Grant Maloof (6g, 1a), with Maloof leading on the extra-man with a pair of strikes. Towson's defense has settled into its normal self, limiting UMBC to just six goals last Saturday after holding high-powered Loyola to nine goals in the first three quarters. Defensive midfielder Zach Goodrich (6ct) and LSM Koby Smith (5ct) are the backbone of the middle defense as Sid Ewell (4ct), Chad Patterson (3ct) and Gray Bodden (2ct) make up the close defense. After back-and-forth starts in goal, Shane Brennan has started the last two games in goal, making 19 saves in two games last week, including a career-best 14 at No. 9 Loyola. He has whittled his goals against average down to 12.00.

Scouting the Buckeyes
Through six games this year, Ohio State has played at home just three times, besting Boston University (15-9) and Hofstra (9-7) at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. Saturday's game will be the Buckeyes' first at Ohio Stadium this year. Five Buckeyes have double-digit points, paced by 18 from Tre Lecalire (12g, 6a). Gale Thorpe (6g, 5a) has 11 points while a trio, Jackson Reid (9g, 1a), Jack Jasinski (7g, 3a) and John Kelly (7g, 3a) are all tied at 10 points. Ohio State has rolled out two faceoff specialists this season, with Christian Feliziani winning 42-of-66 (.636) and Justin Inacio going 37-62 (.597). Matthew Smidt has played all 365 minutes in goal this year, stopping 60 shots at a 55.6 percent clip. He carries a 7.89 goals against average into Saturday's contest.

Towson-Ohio State History
Despite the distance, the Towson-Ohio State series has become a nice little rivalry for both programs. Ohio State leads the all-time series at 7-3, including an 11-10 win last year in the NCAA Semifinals. However, Towson won the last game at Ohio Stadium with a 10-9 overtime win. Ohio State has won the last two meetings, including a 6-3 game at Unitas Stadium that was moved back a day after heavy snows in the Greater Baltimore Area. The two teams have met each season since 2015.

Towson-Ohio State By the Numbers
All-Time Series Record Ohio State 7-3
at Towson Ohio State 2-1
at Ohio State Even 1-1
at Neutral Sites Ohio State 1-0
at Unknown Sites Ohio State 3-1
First Meeting 1962 - Towson 6-3
Last Meeting May 27, 2017
................... #3 Ohio State 11, # 11 Towson 10
Streak.....................................................Ohio State +2

Last Time Out vs. Ohio State | May 27, 2017 | Foxborough, Massachusetts
After Towson jumped out to a 7-3 halftime lead in the 2017 NCAA Tournament Semifinal matchup at Gillette Stadium, the Buckeyes rallied back, out-scoring the Tigers 8-3 in the second half. Towson got two hat tricks from Joe Seider (3-0-3) and Ryan Drenner (3-1-4). Chad Patterson finished with four caused turnovers at close defense. The Buckeyes were led by a four-point day from Tre Leclaire (3-1-4) while Eric Fannell had a pair of goals and one assist. In goal, Tom Carey made 10 saves while surrendering 10 goals. The since-graduated Jake Withers went 15-of-25 at the X and grabbed 10 ground balls.

With a Win Saturday Towson Would...
- Snap a two-game slide to the Buckeyes, both coming in last season's meeting.
- Collect its second-straight win at Ohio Stadium after a 10-9 overtime victory in 2016 during the Tigers' spring break.
- Pick up its first road win of the season. The Tigers are 0-2 on the road this year.
- Win back-to-back games for the first time this season.

Careers Versus Ohio State
Twelve current Tigers have suited up in the Black & Gold against Ohio State. Faceoff man Alex Woodall has won 10 draws in 28 attempts last season (.357). Former Buckeye Dylan Kinnear has one goal, scoring in 2016 in his first meeting against his former school. Jon Mazza scored once last season and handed out one assist. Josh Miller is the only Towson goal with career action against Ohio State, playing all 60 minutes in the 2017 regular season meeting. Hew made 11 saves in the 6-3 defeat. 

On this Date: March 10
Towson has only played on March 10 three times since elevating to Division I in 1980. All-time, the Tigers are 1-2 on March 10. The lone win came back in 1990 in a 20-9 win over Michigan State. The last two meetings came against Maryland, both losses, 9-7 in 2001 and 8-7 in 2007. Shawn Nadelen will make his first head coaching appearance on March 10, but was an assistant coach for the program back in 2007.

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".

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.

Bringing a Piece of Home With You
Interstate 70, which traverses nearly the entire United States, makes its humble start of the I-695 loop neaer Towson University. Despite covering roughly 4,000 miles for its next three games, at Ohio State, home against Duke and at Denver, the Tigers will be a missed shot away from I-70. Over the next three weeks, the farthest Towson will play from I-70, ironically, will be on March 17 at home. It is roughly 20 miles from Unitas Stadium to the start of I-70. This Saturday, Towson will play roughly five miles away from I-70, while playing roughly eight miles from I-70 at Denver's Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium.

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). 

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.

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 35-16 all-time at Minnegan Field, including a 2-1 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. 

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 59-8 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.