Opening Faceoff
For a third time in the last four years, the last two teams standing in the CAA Tournament will be the Tigers of Towson and the Minutemen of UMass, including a rematch of the 2017 title game. Last season, it was UMass that outlasted Hofstra on a wild goal, this year it's the Tigers coming off an overtime win from a Matt Sovero goal.

In The National Rankings
Towson was not mentioned in any of the weekly polls while red-hot Minutemen were ranked 16th in both the USILA Coaches Poll and the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll.

The Second-Seeded Tigers
Surviving a late push by third-seeded Delaware, the Tigers reached the CAA Championship for a fourth-straight season thanks to an overtime game-winner from Matt Sovero in the Semifinals. Jean-Luc Chetner (16g, 12a) has come on strong lately and surged into the points lead for Towson. Grant Maloof (18g, 5a) paces Towson in goals as a midfielder, including a pair Thursday night. After his third hat trick of the season, Brendan Sunday (16g, 5a) locked in with Chetner for second in total goals. Once again, the Tigers held another opponent below 10 goals as Towson held Delaware to eight. Shane Brennan has been steady in goal, making another nine saves on Thursday, bringing his season total to 119. Alex Woodall had another strong effort at the X on Thursday, winning 16 of the game's 21 faceoffs (.762). He leads Towson off the ground with 94 ground balls. Defensively, Zach Goodrich leads the Tigers with 19 caused turnovers, matching his career-high from last season. Chad Patterson and Koby Smith are second and third with 14 and 12 forces, respectively. 

Scouting the Top-Seeded Minutemen
Regular season champion UMass, one of the hottest teams in the country, won its 10th straight game Thursday afternoon, besting fourth-seeded Hofstra 10-6. Buddy Carr (34g, 23a) is the engine that makes the UMass offense go, including eight man-up goals. Jeff Trainor (26g, 20a) and Rookie of the Year Chris Connolly (21g, 20a) are second with 20 helpers apiece. Noah Rak has been a force at the X, winning 189 of his 301 faceoffs. He leads the Minutemen with 122 ground balls. Sean Sconone has been the go-to keeper in league play for UMass, making 112 saves at a 60.5 percent rate. He enters Saturday's title game with a 9.22 goals against average and has allowed just 73 goals in his 475 minutes of work.

Towson-UMass History
The series with UMass isn't the longest in program history, but it has been a tense battle over the last four years. The Tigers and Minutemen clash in the title game for a third time in the last four years and second-straight after the Tigers topped the Minutemen 9-4 at Towson's Johnny Unitas ® Stadium last season.  The Minutemen got the best of Towson earlier this season, despite a 3-1 Tiger halftime lead. UMass out-scored Towson 7-1 in the final 30 minutes. The teams first met in 1963, but did not square off again until UMass joined the CAA in 2010.

Towson-UMass By the Numbers
All-Time Series Record Towson 9-5
at Towson  Towson 5-2
at UMass Even 3-3
at Neutral Sites Towson 1-0
at Unknown Sites n/a
First Meeting 1963 (UMass 7, Towson 3)
Last Meeting  April 14, 2018 
rv/rv UMass 8, Towson 4
Streak UMass +1

Last Time Out vs. UMass | April 14, 2018 | Amherst, Massachusetts | Garber Field
It was a tale of two halves for the Tigers, who jumped out to a 3-1 halftime lead on UMass before falling behind 7-1 in the second half. The Minutemen surged past Towson for an 8-4 victory in the second weekend of CAA action. Towson got its four goals from four sources, Matt Sovero, Timmy Monahan, Luke Fromert and Jean-Luc Chetner. Monahan and Chetner finished with two points as each assisted a goal. Shane Brennan made 13 saves for Towson to keep the Tigers in the hunt. Jeff Trainer potted four goals for UMass while keeper Sean Sconone made nine saves against the Tigers.

With a Win Saturday Towson Would...
- Win its fourth-straight CAA Championship and fifth under head coach Shawn Nadelen.
- Earn the CAA's automatic qualifying bid to the 2018 NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship Tournament.
- Move above .500 for the first time this season. Towson leveled its record twice at 1-1 and 3-3 after wins over Mount St. Mary's and at No. 13 Ohio State in overtime.
- See its senior class become the first-ever group to win four CAA Championships. Only one student-athlete in CAA history has been part of four league titles, Towson's Brian Bolewicki, who graduated with rings from the 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017 seasons.
- Beat UMass in the title game for the third time in the last four seasons.
- Win its eight-straight CAA Tournament game, a run that began in the 2015 CAA Semifinals with an 11-8 win over Drexel.
- Win its northern-most CAA Championship. The farthest north Towson has ever won the CAA Championship was during the 2015 season, hoisting the trophy at Fairfield University's Rafferty Stadium.

Overtime Winner
Thanks to late heroics from Koby Smith, Jean-Luc Chetner and Matt Sovero, the Tigers won their second overtime game of the season. The first was also away from home at Ohio Stadium as the Tigers nipped No. 13 Ohio State on March 10. The Tigers are now 2-1 in overtime games this season, falling on the road 11-10 at No. 5 Denver on March 24.

#BattleTested
The Tigers are nothing this season if not battle-tested. Towson found itself in its fourth one-goal game of the 2018 season on Thursday night, improving to 3-1 in such games. The lone blemish in one-goal games was an overtime loss on the road at No. 5 Denver back on March 24. All-time under head coach Shawn Nadelen, the Tigers are 22-8 in one-goal games, including a 5-3 mark in overtime.

All-CAA Men's Lacrosse Honors
Junior defensive midfielder Zach Goodrich was selected by the league's head coaches as the 2018 CAA Defensive Player of the Year. He becomes the second-straight Tiger to win the honor after longstick midfielder Tyler Mayes was selected last season. 

In addition to Defensive Player of the Year honors, Goodrich was named to the league's First Team honor roll. Additionally, Koby Smith, a true freshman longsitck midfielder was selected Second Team All-CAA and was an All-Rookie selection. Fellow true freshman Phil Wies earned All-Rookie honors, as did redshirt freshman Shane Brennan.

Senior Success
The Class of 2018 is one of the most success classes in Tiger history, amassing 46 wins since stepping on campus in the fall of 2014. The 47 wins represent the second-most wins by a four-year class in the program's Division I Era (1980), surpassing the Class of 2017.

Going for CAA History
Since joining the CAA prior to the 2002 season, the Tigers have been the league's most successful program, winning 63 regular season league contests, four more than Hofstra's 59. No program has won more CAA Championships than Towson, which has seven league trophies in the case. The current alignment of the CAA has won a combined seven championships. A win on Saturday and Towson would extend that to eight total CAA Championships (2003, 2004, 2005, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017) and the Tigers would become the first program in CAA History to claim four consecutive titles. Only one program has ever won three straight, Towson, having done so twice.

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".

One Final Weekly Honor
As the league office handed out its final weekly honors, Towson's redshirt freshman attacker Luke Fromert was selected the Rookie of the Week following a two-point, one goal, one assist effort in the 8-7 win over Fairfield. Fromert accounted for the final two points of the game as he fed Jean-Luc Chetner with the game-tying assist before scoring an acrobatic, toe-dragging and toe-tapping goal with 3:29 to play in the fourth quarter.

Just Something About the Blue Hens...
Sometimes, student-athletes enjoy going against a particular opponent. Perhaps its scorn in the recruiting process, sometimes it's just a match up. Alex Woodall seems to enjoy facing off against the University of Delaware. This season, Woodall won 38 of his 45 faceoffs, a winning percentage of 84.4. Over the course of his Black & Gold career, Woodall has won 50 of his 64 faceoffs against Delaware, a percentge of 78.1.

Spring Football Success (Finally)!
Despite sharing a playing surface and being locker room neighbors, the Towson men's lacrosse team has had moderatly limited success on Towson football's spring game day. Since 2012, the Tiger laxers are 2-4, thanks to last week's win over Delaware, on the same day as the Towson spring game. The pair did not share game day in the spring of 2014. The last time Towson lacrosse won on spring football day was back in 2013, a season that resulted in a CAA Championship and a berth in the NCAA Tournament.

It's Rare
In his previous 113 games as the head coach of the Towson University men's lacrosse game, Shawn Nadelen has guided the Tigers to a 100 percent goals assisted mark just four times. Last weekend against Fairfield, the Tigers' eight goals were all assisted, adding to the previous three games, two of which came during his rookie head coaching season in 2012. The kicker? All three perfect goals-assisted games have came against teams located in New England. Illuminati confirmed?

More Rarity
If you're looking for consistency, the Towson-Delaware rivalry is the place to look, first and foremost. Since the Tigers and Blue Hens first squared off in 1961, the rivals have met 60 times. Towson and Delaware have met at least once a year, every year, since 1976. The regular season matchup was the fourth-different head coaching combination in the Tigers' Division I Era (1980) between the programs as Towson's Shawn Nadelen and Delaware's Ben DeLuca meet for the first time. Below is a breakdown of the all-time meetings between the programs' head coaches.
Carl Runk vs. Bob Shillinglaw: 16-3
Tony Seaman vs. Bob Shillinglaw: 10-7
Shawn Nadelen vs. Bob Shillinglaw: 5-1
Shawn Nadelen vs. Ben DeLuca: 2-0

Home Cooking
As the push for the 2018 CAA Men's Lacrosse Championship Tournament continues, the Tigers have some home cooking to look forward to. The Tigers cap the regular season with back-to-back home games at Johnny Unitas ® Stadium, which is a good thing. Since head coach Shawn Nadelen took over the program in 2012, no current member of the CAA has won more home games than the Tigers. With a win Saturday, the Tigers can lock up a winning record at home this season for a seventh-straight year, a feat no other CAA school has managed in that span.

Team: Home Record Since 2012
Towson: 39-18
Hofstra: 34-22
Drexel: 30-18
Fairfield: 30-22
UMass: 29-20
Delaware: 23-31

Player Notes
One member of the lacrosse program has been suspended indefinitely by head coach Shawn Nadelen for a violation of team rules: junior attackman Jon Mazza. Senior close defenseman Sid Ewell returned from what amounted to a two-game suspension for a violation of team rules.  A third student-athlete, redshirt junior Dylan Kinnear, has been removed from the program for a violation of team rules.

Hanging with the Cool Kids
On Wednesday, April 4, the Towson University men's lacrosse team took a quick trip up Charles Street to hangout with some Cool Kids at the Cool Kids Clubhouse on Bellona Road. The Tigers hungout with pediatric cancer patients and their families, playing keep it up with a ballon, teaching basic lacrosse skills, including one brave young man stepping to take some shots (don't worry, it was with tennis balls!) and general fun and games. At the end of the afternoon, the student-athletes, led by freshman Carson Gaeger, taught the Cool Kids the Tigers' fight song, Hail Towson!

For a Good Cause
The game helmets for the April 7 game against Drexel were sold on TowsonTigers.com at $350 per helmet. The proceeds from the sale will benefit the Cool Kids Campaign. The Cool Kids Campaign is devoted to improving the quality of life for pediatric oncology patients and their families by focusing on the academic, social and emotional needs brought on by a cancer diagnosis.

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 63 total wins in the CAA, three 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: 63 (7, 2017)
Hofstra: 59 (2, 2008)
Drexel: 50 (1, 2014)
Delaware: 35 (3, 2011)
UMass: 26 (1, 2012)
Fairfield: 11 (0) 

Peaking at the Right Time
Towson's vaunted defense was slow out of the gates in 2018, allowing 14 goals in the season opener at No. 11 Johns Hopkins. Since then, the Tigers have dropped their goals allowed per game every week (checked on Sundays) except one, and that was only a bump of seven-hundreths.

Date: Goals Allowed per game (NCAA Rank)
Feb. 11: 14.00 (41)
Feb. 18: 13.50 (61)
Feb. 25: 13.00 (60)
March 4: 11.40 (48)
March 11: 10.50 (40)
March 18: 10.43 (38)
March 25: 10.50 (39)
April 2: 10.33 (38)
April 8: 10.20 (38)
April 15: 10.00 (33)
April 24: 9.75 (27)
April 29: 9.54 (24)

How Big is a Tiger?
Not only has the roster size gotten larger this year, but the student-athletes that comprise have gotten bigger as well. Since Shawn Nadelen took over the program in 2012, the Tigers have gotten bigger and heavier. As researched by Media Relations Student Intern Zoë Winslow, below are the average heights (in inches) and weights (in pounds) for the last seven Towson University men's lacrosse teams.

2012: 71.2 / 182.3
2013: 71.4 / 182.3
2014: 71.5 / 182.7
2015: 71.5 / 184.2
2016: 71.4 / 183.9
2017: 72.0 / 187.9
2018: 72.0 / 187.2

Welcome to the Program, Chinny!
In advance of the March 3 game against UMBC, the Tigers added 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.

One and Done
Since head coach Shawn Nadelen took over the program in 2012, the Tigers have found themselves in some tight contests. The April 28 game against Fairfield marked the 30th time Towson was involved in a one-goal game. And the Tigers have flexed their clutch muscles in those games, sitting at 21-9 in games decided by one goal after an 8-7 win at home. In overtime games, Towson is now 4-4 and has won two of its last three extra-stanza contests, both wins coming on the road at Ohio Stadium. 

Tewaaraton Nominee
On April 26, the Tewaaraton Foundation announced its annual list of nominees, naming 25 male student-athletes from all three divisions and 25 female student-athletes from all three divisions as semifinalists for the coveted player of the year award. 

Towson junior defensive midfielder Zach Goodrich was selected among those nominees and one of two CAA members to be named.

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 37-17 all-time at Minnegan Field, including a 4-2 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 43-7 in games when Towson scores double digits. When Towson's defense limits opponents to single digits, the Tigers are a whopping 64-10 in that same time after a 9-8 overtime win over Delaware in the CAA Semifinals. On 39 occasions, the Tigers have scored in double figures while holding opponents to single digits, obviously a 39-0 record.