TOWSON, Md. – The Towson University women's lacrosse team is home twice this week, first with a Tuesday night meeting against Ohio State.
 
The game will be streamed on the Towson Sports Network with Ben Rosenbaum on the call and live stats will be available on TowsonTigers.com.
 
Last Time Out
The Tigers are coming off a tough loss at No. 6 Stony Brook with a 13-8 final. Sophomore Julia Porter had a strong night with five points on one goal and four assists. After the Seawolves took a 2-0 lead, Towson combatted and it was a 4-2 lead for the home team early. Stony Brook sent in three-straight scores and took a 7-2 lead. Towson scored twice more but the Seawolves held strong, taking a 9-4 lead into halftime. Entering the second half, the home team scored four straight, holding a nine-goal lead over the Tigers. With 12:51 to play Kerri Thornton ended a long scoreless drought for the road team, Towson scored four goals in the remainder of the game to end 13-8.
 
Scouting the Tigers
Towson enters the week 1-4 with a win over High Point at home. Senior Shelby Stack leads the offense with 15 points on 11 goals and four assists. Freshman Blair Pearre also has 11 scores this season, the most of any rookie on the team. Sophomores Molly Lynch and Julia Porter have assisted five times in 2020, leading the Tigers. Defensively, senior Sami Chenoweth continues to be a force with 11 caused turnovers; she also has nine ground balls. Goalie Carly Merlo has the team-high in ground balls with 15. Three players have double figure draw controls this season, with sophomore Kerri Thornton leading the pack she has 18.
 
 The Ohio State Series
Tuesday will be just the second meeting between Towson and Ohio State. The last time these teams met was in 1996, most likely no player on either team was even alive yet. The Buckeyes came to Towson in '96 and the Tigers took a 16-6 victory.
 
Scouting the Buckeyes
Ohio State has already played eight games this season with a 5-3 record entering the week. The Buckeyes have wins over Cincinnati, Kent State and Marquette to name a few. OSU has fallen to Stony Brook, Notre Dame and most recently UMass. Leading the offense is Liza Hernandez with 21 points from 18 goals and three assists. Four more players have scored at least 11 goals this season for Ohio State. Three different Buckeyes have five or more assists this season with Sophie Baez and Ashley Turner recording six apiece. In the net, Jill Rizzo has started all eight games, with nearly 500 minutes in goal she has recorded 98 saves and holds a .476 save percentage.
 
Nationally Ranked Tigers
Towson has one player in the top-10 leaderboard for national statistics. Senior defender Sami Chenoweth is ninth in the nation in caused turnovers per game, averaging 2.2. Freshman midfielder Blair Pearre is 11th nationally in free position goals per game, averaging 1.4. Rookie goalkeeper Carly Merlo appears at 35th in ground balls per game (3). Senior Shelby Stack is 34th in shot percentage (.611). As a team the Tigers are 18th nationally in caused turnovers per game (10.6).
 
Tigers in CAA Leaderboards
Conference play is still a handful of games away, but the Tigers are holding on to top-10 spots in Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) stat categories. Shelby Stack is 10th in the league in goals, with 2.2 on average. Molly Lynch is third in the CAA in assists with 1.67. Shelby Stack is eighth in points per game with 15 total, averaging three. Carly Merlo leads the league in ground balls per game with three on average. Sami Chenoweth leads in caused turnovers per game with 2.2. Kerri Thornton is ninth in draw controls per game, averaging 3.6.
 
Tigers In The Community
The Towson University athletics department deems community service as one of its highest priorities to give back to the Greater Baltimore area. For the seventh consecutive year, the department exceeded 10,000 hours of community service to the Greater Baltimore region, finishing with 11,162 hours of community service in the 2018-19 academic season. Towson ranked No. 1 nationally for community service and won the 2018 National Championship for Community Service through the Helper Helper NCAA Team Works Competition. Towson had a 97% participation rate, attended 118 community service opportunities and volunteered with 19 organizations. Towson won the 2018 Volunteer of the Year Award from Susan G. Komen of Maryland.
 
Join us at Johnny Unitas ® Stadium
Tickets remain on sale all season long to watch Towson women's lacrosse. Six home games remain! Visit the ticket link on our schedule page, or call 1-855-TU-Tiger today to purchase tickets.