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2020 Men's Lacrosse Seniors
Rob Maloof

Men's Lacrosse

The Long and Winding Road

No path in life is simple. And one would be hard pressed to find a collegiate athlete who preferred the easy way out versus learning through adversity.

The Towson University men's lacrosse Class of 2020 could stand as a testament to that idea.

With some members of the class, Grant Maloof, Jon Mazza and Matt Sovero, matriculating to Towson for the 2016 season, they caught a Towson program on the rise. The Tigers claimed their second Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) under head coach Shawn Nadelen during the 2015 campaign. In that trio's freshman season, Towson won its second-straight league title in a 4-2 defensive battle against Fairfield and beat Hobart 18-5 in an NCAA Tournament play-in game. 

Then the Tigers shocked the lacrosse world with a 10-9 win on the road at defending national champion, second-seeded University of Denver. Maloof played in one game that season, Sovero redshirted the year, and Mazza played in all 19 with a goal and an assist against the Pioneers as the Tigers reached the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals for the first time in a long time.

That fall, more of the Class of 2020 joined the program. Guys like Jake McLean, Saunders Healy, Jack McNallen, Drew Laundry, Gray Bodden, Joe Patti and Eric Stout. That group of freshman had a front row seat to one of the greatest seasons in program history as the Tigers hoisted the CAA trophy for a third-straight year, beat No. 7 Penn State in the first round, knocked off second-seeded Syracuse 10-7 in the quarterfinals to reach Championship Weekend for the first time since 2001.

But that season wasn't without strife, despite all of the successes. That squad battled every game, playing seven games decided by a goal or two. The eventual class of 2020 may not have seen much game time, but that group pushed a very deep lineup to be better every day.

The 2018 season was the time for the 2020ers, now bolstered with Brody McLean and Tyler Canto, to rise and take their place. It was another season of tight battles for the Tigers, who opened the 2018 season 3-3, capped by a 7-6 overtime win at No. 13 Ohio State. 

A three-game skid hit the Tigers midseason as the league schedule began. Some midseason conflict led to tough decisions for the coaching staff before a rocky 3-2 finish in CAA play. Two of those wins came over longtime rivals Drexel (17-9) and Delaware (13-7), programs with no love lost between them and Towson.

Needing a win in the season finally to qualify for the CAA Tournament, Towson got just that with a 8-7 decision on Senior Day over Fairfield. Towson nabbed the number two seed in the CAA Tournament.
True to fashion, it was another one-goal battle for the Tigers against third-seeded Delaware. And it was a member of this class, Matt Sovero, who pushed the Tigers to their record fourth-straight CAA championship game with the overtime winner.

The Tigers fell short of their goal to reach the NCAA Tournament for a fourth-straight season (no team in CAA history has four-peated). And that tells you where the bar had been elevated for the Towson men's lacrosse program; reaching the CAA Tournament was no longer good enough, nor was reaching the title game. It's NCAA Tournament or bust for this program.

Falling in that title game sparked the Tigers and the Class of 2020 to be better. In this groups (mostly) junior season, 2019, the Tigers returned to form.

Towson dominated the first half of 2019, hammering rival No. 7 Johns Hopkins 17-8 at home, beating another rival and top-ranked Loyola 12-10 Johnny Unitas ® Stadium. Another slide hit the Tigers in the midseason with close losses at No. 2 Duke and home against No. 13 Denver.

After the skid, Towson bounced back to go 4-1 in league play, dropping a decision to UMass that decided the hosting rights for the CAA Tournament. Towson was once again heading for Garber Field to fight for the automatic qualifier.

The Tigers came, they saw, the conquered. Towson lifted the CAA trophy for the third time in the last four seasons. Towson's offense was not to be stopped as the Tigers averaged 17 goals a game during the CAA Tournament, beating Delaware 18-11 and Dreel 16-14 in the title match.

With dominating wins and another trophy in the back pocket, the Tigers hosted an NCAA Tournament first round game for the first time since 2005, drawing an in-state foe, Maryland. It was one more one-goal battle that saw the Tigers bow out of the NCAA Tournament 14-13.

The 2019 season was a coming out party for the Class of 2020. Brody McLean was the leading scorer for that class with 39 goals and six assists. Grant Maloof racked 24 goals and was a five-goal weapon on the extra-man. Jake McLean helped bring back the old-school two-way middie as he lined up at both defensive midfield and took offensive runs. Backup faceoff man Jack McNallen was called into service midway through the CAA slate and going 65-of-118 (.551). He even set the CAA Tournament single-game record with 27 wins in 31 tries during the semifinals.

There has never been a season like the 2020 campaign in program history. Towson struggled out of the gate, with mini in-game lapses that led to the slow start. And then the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world and shut everything down, something unprecedented in program history. (Towson men's lacrosse got its start in the late 1950s; not old enough to have seen the hiatus of collegiate sports during World War II).

But the CAA season was on the horizon for the Class of 2020. And with familiarity breeding its contempt, who knows how the remainder of the season would have shaken out.

All told, this class went 46-27 overall, including the 2016 campaign. This group of seniors won three CAA Tournament titles (2016, 2017, 2019), reaching the NCAA Tournament three times in the same seasons. Players from this group reached the NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals twice as well, knocking off two number-two seeds along the way.

It's not a group of superstars. But it's a group that has been key contributors and depth players along the way. This Saturday would have been senior day for this group as the Tigers were scheduled to take on longtime rival Drexel, potentially the final game of the 2020ers lives at Johnny Unitas ® Stadium.

No program is successful without that kind of group, going on this type of journey, to make everyone else better every day. The Towson University men's lacrosse Class of 2020 helped raise that bar and firmly affixed it higher than it was when they arrived.
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Players Mentioned

Gray Bodden

#33 Gray Bodden

D
6' 2"
Senior
Tyler Canto

#51 Tyler Canto

GK
6' 6"
Senior
Drew Laundry

#20 Drew Laundry

A
5' 10"
Senior
Grant Maloof

#13 Grant Maloof

M
6' 0"
Redshirt Senior
Brody McLean

#7 Brody McLean

A/M
6' 3"
Senior
Jake McLean

#6 Jake McLean

M
6' 0"
Senior
Jack McNallen

#19 Jack McNallen

M
6' 1"
Senior
Joe Patti

#39 Joe Patti

LSM
6' 1"
Senior
Matt Sovero

#12 Matt Sovero

M
6' 2"
Redshirt Senior
Eric Stout

#45 Eric Stout

D
6' 1"
Senior

Players Mentioned

Gray Bodden

#33 Gray Bodden

6' 2"
Senior
D
Tyler Canto

#51 Tyler Canto

6' 6"
Senior
GK
Drew Laundry

#20 Drew Laundry

5' 10"
Senior
A
Grant Maloof

#13 Grant Maloof

6' 0"
Redshirt Senior
M
Brody McLean

#7 Brody McLean

6' 3"
Senior
A/M
Jake McLean

#6 Jake McLean

6' 0"
Senior
M
Jack McNallen

#19 Jack McNallen

6' 1"
Senior
M
Joe Patti

#39 Joe Patti

6' 1"
Senior
LSM
Matt Sovero

#12 Matt Sovero

6' 2"
Redshirt Senior
M
Eric Stout

#45 Eric Stout

6' 1"
Senior
D