TOWSON, Md. – The Towson University women's lacrosse team held #8/#10 Loyola scoreless for more than 35 minutes on Wednesday evening during a 13-7 victory. The Tigers improved to 3-0 on the season.
 
Nikki Sliwak scored a career-best four goals and Kerri Liucci had her second career hat trick to lead the Towson offense. After losing the draw control battle versus UMBC in the home opener at Tiger Field last Friday, the Tigers controlled 15-of-23 draws against Loyola with Blair Pearre, Lindsey Marshall and Olivia Malamphy combining to win 14 at the circle.
 
Towson trailed 2-0 less than five minutes into the game, but scored six unanswered during a 10-minute stretch to take a 6-2 advantage into halftime. Liucci scored twice, while Marshall and Sliwak each had a goal and an assist during the run.
 
Pearre added two free-positions goals in less than a minute early in the second half to give Towson a 9-2 advantage. Sliwak added her second of the game to make it 10-2 with 20-minutes to play.
 
The Greyhounds cut the lead to 11-6 with 7:30 remaining, but Sliwak scored twice in the final five minutes as Towson defeated a ranked opponent for the first time since knocking off Johns Hopkins during the 2018 season.
 
Towson All-American defender Sami Chenoweth held Loyola All-American attacker Livy Rosenzweig to two assists and had her first career point in 66 games when she assisted Liucci on the eventual game-winning goal.
 
Towson defenders Erin Williams, Natalie Miller and Rayna Deltuva also played well. The starting defense caused six turnovers and scooped up five ground balls.
 
Carly Merlo, who entered the game ranked in the Top 10 nationally in both goals against average and save percentage, made 10 saves.
 
After starting the season with back-to-back victories over Mount St. Mary's (10-7) and UMBC (12-5), Towson received votes in the latest Women's Division I Media Poll announced Monday by Inside Lacrosse. The Tigers are one of six teams outside of the Top 20 to receive votes. Towson also garnered votes in the U.S. Lacrosse Women's Top 20 poll.
 
Records: 

• Towson – 3-0
• Loyola – 0-2

 
Head coach Sonia LaMonica Postgame Quotes: 

• On the victory: "Obviously I am so proud of this team. We went into this game with a big focus on being disciplined. They took that to heart."
• Draw Controls: "The draw group of Blair Pearre, Liv Malamphy and Lindsey Marshall did it together as a team. They hunted the ball together. It was never just one person. They were all fighting and hustling hard. That is what Blair and Liv do best. As a group, they just crushed it."
• The play of Sami Chenoweth and Towson defense: "Sami had an outstanding game on Livy (Rosenzweig). She stayed disciplined and really took the steam out of their quarterback. Collectively they all knuckled down and did a fantastic job as a group. Sami led that charge."
• Offense performance: "We played well as a team. We had a number of assisted goals. Nikki is playing a position that is new for her. She spent lots of time with Mike (assistant coach Michael LaMonica) working on that X game behind the cage. It is a little different than playing inside or the top of the 8. She is really settling into that role. The hard work is paying off."

 
How it Happened: 

• Towson trailed 2-0, when senior Kaitlin Thornton scored unassisted with 12:39 left in the opening half.
• Liucci then found the back of the net twice in a span of less than a minute in a half, off assists from Sliwak and Chenoweth.
• Senior Hannah Hobbes scored her first of the season to put the Tigers up 4-2.
• Marshall beat the shot clock with a left-handed goal to make it 5-2 with 4:17 left in the opening half.
• Sliwak scored left-handed on a crease roll to make it 6-2 with 2:37 before the half.
• About six and half minutes into the second half, Shelby Stack weaved through the Loyola D to make it 7-2.
• Pearre then scored back-to-back free position goals at 21:52 and 21:01 to extend the lead to 9-2.
• Sliwak scored on another crease roll to make it 10-2 at the 20:07 mark.
• After Loyola ended its scoring drought, Stack found Liucci on the doorstep. The junior finished for her second career hat trick.
• The Greyhounds then scored three straight goals to cut the deficit to 11-6, but Sliwak scored twice to ice the win. The first one, she beat the shot clock for her second career hat trick. A minute later, Marshall fed the Maryland transfer.

 
Key Stats:

• After Loyola scored at the 24:53 mark of the first half, the Greyhounds did not beat Merlo again until there was 19:31 left in the game. The total time elapsed between goals was 35:22.
• Towson converted on all 21 clear attempts. In last Friday's win over UMBC, the Tigers were a perfect 27-of-27 on clears.
• After three games, Merlo has a save percentage of .596 and is allowing just 6.33 goals per game.
• The Tigers have held all three opponents under 10 goals this season. During the 2018 campaign, Towson held opponents to less than 10 goals in four straight contests from April 6 through 15.
• Pearre matched her career-high in draw controls (7). She also reached that number against Ohio State last March.
• Marshall won five draw controls and has 14 in three career games.  She also has nine points (7g, 2a).
• Sliwak only previous hat trick was against UMBC as a sophomore at Maryland in 2018.
• This was Liucci's second career three-goal game. She also had a hat trick against St. Joseph's as a freshman two years ago.

 
Inside the Numbers: 

• Pearre has now scored at least two goals in eight of nine games at the collegiate level.
• Stack has now scored at least one goal in 23 of the last 25 games, dating back to 2019.
• Chenoweth caused two turnovers, increasing her school record total to 158.

 
Next Game: 
Towson will host George Mason (0-1) on Sunday, Feb. 28 at Tiger Field. Game time is 1 p.m.  The game will be streamed on Towson Sports Network with Ben Rosenbaum on the call. Live stats will be available on TowsonTigers.com.