ELON, N.C. - The Towson women's lacrosse team continues Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) play on Friday when it travels to North Carolina to take on Elon at Rudd Field beginning at 6 p.m. Matt Martucci and Halley Quillinan will have the call live on Lax Sports Network (subscription needed). Live stats will be available at TowsonTigers.com.

Game Storylines

• Towson is off to the second-best start to a season in school history. The team started 14-2 under head coach Sonia LaMonica in 2016 en route to the program's seventh CAA title.
• Junior Natalie Sulmonte needs just one goal to become the fourth player this season to reach 100 for her career.
• Senior Emily Gillingham has scored a goal in 20 consecutive games.
• Sophomore Kiley Keating was named CAA Defensive Player of the Week for the second time in the last three weeks on Monday after making a career-high 14 saves against Delaware.
• Towson was ranked at No. 7 in the first NCAA RPI rankings released on Tuesday.
• Senior Emily Gillingham was added to the Tewaarton Award watch list on Thursday, joining sophomore Olivia Conti and junior Natalie Sulmonte.
• Friday's game will feature four players who have been named to the Tewaarton Award watch list as Elon's Stephanie Asher is also on the list.
• Towson has scored 36 goals over its last two games, the most in back-to-back games since the team also scored 36 in a 22-5 win over Stetson (March 12) and a 14-11 win over No. 10 Notre Dame (March 15) a year ago.
• The Tigers are lead the CAA and are ranked third in the nation in scoring defense. They also lead the conference and rank fourth nationally in caused turnovers per game. Sophomore Kiley Keating also leads the CAA and is ranked sixth in the nation in saves percentage.
• Friday will mark the first of two games for the Tigers on LSN. They will also be featured on April 28 when they host No. 4 James Madison.

A Towson Win Would …

• Improve the Tigers' win streak to six.
• Snap Elon's CAA win streak at six.
• Improve the team's road win streak to four and surpass the team's number of road wins from all of last season (4-3).
• Improve Towson's record to 17-6 on the road since 2016.
• Improve the career record of head coach Sonia LaMonica to 104-59 (.638) in nine seasons overall and 96-50 (.658) in eight seasons at Towson.

Last Time Out

• Senior Emily Gillingham and junior Natalie Sulmonte each finished with three goals to lead nine different goal scorers as the No. 10 Tigers posted a 16-7 CAA victory over Delaware.
• Freshman Abby Wilkinson scored her first career goal with 10:51 remaining in the second half to give the Tigers a 14-6 lead.
• Sophomore Kiley Keating finished with a career-high 14 saves, including eight in the first half.
• Keating highlighted a Towson defensive effort that held the Blue Hens to just 1-of-8 on free position shots.
• The Tigers held a 12-11 edge in draw controls, the first time in the last nine games, and just third time this season, that they have totaled more draw controls than their opponent.

Scouting Elon

• Elon is one of three remaining CAA unbeatens, joining Towson and James Madison. Having won each of its last five CAA games last season, Elon has won six-straight conference games.
• Stephanie Asher leads the Phoenix with 27 goals this season. She also has 167 career goals to rank ninth among active Division I players. For the second  year in a row, she has been named to the Tewaaraton Award watch list.
• Asher also leads the team with 52 draw controls, tying her for the most in program history.
• Shannon Horan leads the team with 20 ground balls and 14 caused turnovers. Alexis Zadjura is second with 13 caused turnovers while totaling 13 ground balls to become the second player in program history and the first field player to reach 100 ground balls in a career.
• Tori Cipllone has played all 10 games in goal while making eight starts. She has totaled a 11.93 goals against average and 57 saves for a .348 saves percentage.

Towson-Elon Series History

• Friday will be the sixth all-time meeting all-time between the Tigers and Phoenix with Towson holding a 5-1 lead in the series.
• The Tigers won the last meeting between the two teams at Rudd Field, 11-9, back on Apr. 10, 2016. Kaitlyn Montalbano had two goals and four assists to lead the Towson offense.
• The Tigers and Phoenix will meet for the fifth time in the last three seasons on Friday.
• The two teams have met in the CAA semifinals each of the last two seasons.

 Last Meeting: Drexel 10, Towson 9 (May 5, 2017)

• Stephanie Asher scored with 2:15 to play in the second half of overtime to lift the third-seeded Phoenix to a 10-9 win over second-seeded Towson in the CAA semifinals at Unitas Stadium a year ago.
• Senior Emily Gillingham scored three goals for Towson while junior Natalie Sulmonte had two goals and two assists and pulled down nine draw controls.
• Elon held a 26-25 edge in shots while both teams won 11 draw controls in the contest.
• Asher led Elon with four goals including the game-winner.

 Keeping it 100

• The number 100 has been a constant storyline for the Tigers this season. Towson is on the verge of having a fourth player score her 100th career goal this season.
• Junior Natalie Sulmonte is just one goal shy of joining senior Kaitlyn Montalbano, senior Emily Gillingham and junior Carly Tellekamp in scoring her 100th career goal. Montalbano did it against Michigan, Gillingham reached the milestone at Stony Brook and Tellekamp scored her 100th career goal at Drexel.
• In addition, head coach Sonia LaMonica reached her 100th career win with a 15-10 victory over Oregon on March 26. She is also just seven wins shy of reaching 100 wins in eight seasons at Towson.

Tigers Ranked Among Nation's Best

• Towson has been ranked in the last 34 consecutive IWLCA Division I Coaches Polls dating back to Feb. 29, 2016. During that time, the Tigers have climbed as high as No. 10 on four occasions.
• Towson are currently ranked at No. 6 in the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll for the second time. The team was also ranked at No. 6 on Mar. 26, 2018.
• The Tigers are at No. 10 in the U.S. Lacrosse Magazine rankings. There were as high as No. 8 on Mar. 5, 2018.
• The team's ranking at No. 6 by Inside Lacrosse represents the team's highest-ever ranking. The Tiger's previous high came on Mar. 29, 2010 when they were at No. 7 in the IWLCA poll.

 The Honors Continue to Roll In

• Sophomore Kiley Keating was named CAA Defensive Player of the Week on Monday, earning her second conference honor in the last three weeks. She also earned the honor on March 26.
• Senior Tianna Wallpher (April 2) and sophomore Olivia Conti (March 6) have also received the award.
• A total of five Tigers have been honored by the CAA this season. Freshman Kaitlin Thornton was named CAA Rookie of the Week on March 26 while senior Emily Gillingham (Feb. 20) and junior Natalie Sulmonte (Feb. 13) were both named CAA Player of the Week.

 Three Tigers Named to Tewaarton Award Watch List

• Sophomore Olivia Conti, junior Natalie Sulmonte and senior Emily Gillingham have each been named to the 2018 Tewaarton Award watch list by the Tewaaraton Foundation.
• Conti and Stony Brook's Taryn Ohlmiller were the only sophomore's selected to the watch list.
• Towson has had at least one player named to the Tewaaraton Award watch list in each of the last two seasons after Kaitlyn Montalbano was selected in 2017.
• Five men's and five women's finalists will be announced on May 10 and invited to the 18th annual Tewaaraton Award Ceremony in Washington, D.C., on May 31.

 Four Tigers Selected as Midseason All-Americans

• Four Tigers were selected as Division I Midseason All-Americans by Inside Lacrosse. The Tigers' four selections were the most in the CAA, edging the three from James Madison.
• Sophomore Olivia Conti was named to the second team and sophomore Sami Chenoweth was named to the third team while junior Natalie Sulmonte and senior Tianna Wallpher were both named honorable mention.
• Conti and Wallpher were both selected as Inside Lacrosse Preseason All-Americans.

 Tigers Face Challenging Schedule

• Towson currently owns the nation's 22nd-toughest schedule out of 115 teams according to NCAA.com. The Tigers' 17 opponents this season boast a record of 117-80 for a .594 winning percentage.
• To date, the team has played the 21st-toughest schedule in the nation as its 11 previous opponents have a record of 85-53 for a .616 winning percentage.
• Seven of Towson's opponents are currently ranked in the IWLCA Division I Coaches Poll. The Tigers opened the season with back-to-back home games against No. 17 Penn State (Feb. 10) and No. 23 Georgetown (Feb. 18) before traveling to No. 10 Loyola (Mar. 7), No. 1 Stony Brook (Mar. 17) and No. 6 Florida (Mar. 21). The Tigers close out the regular season with back-to-back games at No. 22 Johns Hopkins on April 25 and at home against No. 4 James Madison on April 28.

It Takes 10 Goals to #WinTheDay

• Since head coach Sonia LaMonica took over in 2011, Towson is 72-9 when it scores 10 or more goals, including a mark of 8-1 this year after going 11-3 last year.
• By comparison, the Tigers are 69-13 when they hold opponents under 10 goals, including 6-0 this year after posting an 8-1 record last season.

 Historic Win Over Penn State

• Junior Natalie Sulmonte totaled six points with three goals and three assists and a defensive stop by sophomore Sami Chenoweth in the final seconds preserved a 14-13 victory over No. 4 Penn State last Saturday at Unitas Stadium.
• Towson posted its first win in nine all-time meetings against the Nittany Lions and the program's first win over a top five team.

 Towson to Host National and World Championships

• Towson will host the 2021 NCAA Women's Lacrosse Championship weekend with the national semifinals on May 28 and the national championship on May 30 at Johnny Unitas® Stadium.
• This will be the fifth time the national champion will be decided in Unitas Stadium as Towson played host to the championship in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2014.
• In addition, the Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) announced that US Lacrosse will host the 2021 FIL Women's World Cup from July 7-17 at Unitas Stadium.
• The Women's World Cup is the major international championship for women's lacrosse and features the top female lacrosse players in the world, representing up to 30 countries.

 Molster Named to Team England

• Towson assistant coach Michael Molster has been appointed as an assistant coach for the England Senior Women's Team for the 2021 FIL World Cup.
• He also served as an assistant coach with England Women's U19 team which won bronze at the 2015 World Championships.

 Up Next for Towson

• The Tigers continue their road trip on Sunday when they head to Williamsburg, Virginia to take on William & Mary at 1 p.m.
• Towson posted a 14-11 victory over the Tribe at home last season and a 20-9 win in the last meeting at Martin Family Stadium on Apr. 19, 2015.