Opening Faceoff
Towson begins a nearly three-week long homestand, with four of the next five contests at Johnny Unitas ® Stadium, kicking off Saturday with visiting Fairfield. It has been two years since the Tigers and Stags clashed.

In The National Rankings
Towson received votes in the USILA Coaches Poll this week, but not earn mention in the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll. Fairfield was not recognized in either poll.

The Prepared to be Home Tigers
After playing 60 percent of the 2021 season on the road, the Tigers are returning home for four of the next five games. Towson is coming off another one-goal game, falling at Hofstra 8-7. Towson will be looking for its first CAA win of the season against Fairfield this weekend. James Avanzato (13g, 11a) paces the Tigers with 24 points, backed up by 23 points from Brody McLean (18g, 5a). Redshirt freshman Andrew Milani (18g, 1a) is one point away from hitting 20 for the season after dishing his first career assist last week. The Tigers boast one of the best man-down units in the country, ranking 11th in Division I with a 77.3 percent penalty kill rate. Towson is one of six Division I teams to allow five or fewer goals on 20 or more opponent power plays to date this season. Mo Sillah has been the Tigers' go-to takeaway man, forcing 12 opponent turnovers. The rangy Garrett Zungailia has 10 caused turnovers as well. Zungailia leads the Tigers with 24 ground balls, with netminder Shane Brennan ranking second with 20. Brennan has played all but 12 minutes this spring, making 101 saves in that stretch, doing so at a .502 percent clip. He enters Saturday with an 11.25 goals against average.

Scouting the Stags
Fairfield fell to 0-4 in the league and 2-5 overall after dropping a 16-11 decision at No. 12 Delaware last weekend. The Stags have wins over Lafayette (13-11) and Sacred Heart (14-8). Graduate student Dylan Beckwith (16g, 16a) leads the Stags with a balanced 32 points. Taylor Strough (15g, 3a) has been nearly a pure goal scorer for Fairfield, while Matt Chalastwa (8g, 10a) has been the second feeding option with 18 points. Frankie Labetti has been the top faceoff man for the Stags, winning 89 of his 149 chances, a .597 winning percentage. He leads with 47 ground balls. Colin Consoli has played every second in net for Fairfield this spring, making 102 saves in his 420 minutes, stopping 51.0 percent of opponent shots on goal. He carries a 14.00 goals against average.

Towson-Fairfield History
It's a brief history between the Tigers and the Stags. The programs have met just six times prior to this season. Towson leads the all-time series 5-1, with the lone blemish coming during the 2017 season, a 9-8 loss in Connecticut. Towson won the last meeting 14-7 on April 6, 2019. The teams did not meet last season following the COVID 19 shutdown. Towson is riding a two-game winning streak against the Stags, one shy of the longest in series history. Towson averages 10 goals per game against Fairfield while limiting the Stags to 7.2 an outing.

Towson-Fairfield By the Numbers
All-Time Series Record  Towson 5-1
at Towson Towson 3-0
at Fairfield Towson 2-1
at Neutral Sites n/a
at Unknown Sites n/a
First Meeting  April 11, 2015 (Towson 8-7)
Last Meeting April 6, 2019
#11 Towson 14, Fairfield 7
Streak Towson +2

Last Time Out vs. Fairfield | April 6, 2019 | Fairfield, Conn. | Rafferty Stadium
Towson used big efforts in the first and third quarters on offense, coupled with smothering defense in those frames to double up Fairfield 14-7 in Connecticut two years ago. Three Tigers put up five points apiece: Timmy Monahan notched five points on two goals and three assists, while Brendan Sunday and Luke Fromert went for four goals with one helper apiece. Brody McLean reeled in a hat trick on the road as well. Patrick Drake and Dylan Beckwith had three points each, the former with two assists and a goal while the latter post two goals with an assist. The Tigers went 2-for-2 on the EMO while fighting off four penalties and allowing just one Stags extra-man goal late in the game.

With a Win Saturday Towson Would...
- Snap a three-game slide in league play.
- See Towson win its sixth game all-time against Fairfield.
- Be back-to-back wins at home, coupled with an overtime victory against No. 12 Loyola.
- Run the Tigers winning streak over the Stags to three in a row.
- Be Towson's first CAA win of the year and first since dispatching Drexel 11-9 on April 27, 2019

Long-Standing Rivals
- Last Saturday was the 51st meeting all-time between Towson and Hofstra.
- With that meeting, it will continue to rank among the most games played in a series.
- Towson has five opponents it has played at least 50 times in program history
Loyola: 64 | Delaware: 64 | Drexel: 57 | Hofstra: 51 | UMBC: 50
- There are only two teams in program history Towson has played more than 60 times
- Towson vs. Delaware: 64 Meetings (Towson Leads 45-19)
- Towson vs. Loyola: 64 Meetings (Loyola Leads 34-30)

The Home Stretch
- After playing six of its first nine games on the road, the Tigers will cap the regular season with four of the next five at Johnny Unitas ® Stadium.
- Towson is 2-1 at home this spring, but 1-5 on the road. The Tigers' home loss was against No. 1 Duke back on Feb. 20.
- After this weekend, every remaining home game will be the second meeting of the season against a league foe: Hofstra (April 13), Delaware (April 24) and Drexel (May 1).

So, So Close.
- Towson has played tight games all spring, with five of the nine games decided by one goal.
- The Tigers are 2-3 in one goal affairs; both wins have come during overtime (vs. Saint Joseph's, vs. No. 12 Loyola).
- Towson's five one-goal games this season represent the second-most one-goal games in the Shawn Nadelen Era (2012). The most was six (3-3) during the 18-game 2015 season.
- This is Towson's second season with five one-goal games under Nadelen. Towson went 4-1 during his sophomore coaching season in 2013.
- The Tigers are 24-19 all-time under Nadelen in one-goal showdowns.

The Buddy System
So far this season, Towson's feeders have been all over the field; There have been 31 different pairs of goal scorers and assisters this season. James Avanzato has assisted Brody McLean six times, including two at Mount St. Mary's (Feb. 24).
J. Avanzato -> B. McLean: 6
R. Swain -> A. Milani: 4
R. Swain -> B. McLean: 3 | C. Wasserman -> J. Avanzato: 3
A. Stewart -> A. Milani: 3
J. Avanzato -> R. Swain: 2 | J. Avanzato -> A. Milani: 2
J. McLean -> J. Avanzato: 1 | J. McLean -> B. McLean: 1 | B. McLean -> J. Avanzato: 1
B. McLean -> A. Milani | R. Gaeger -> B. McLean: 1 | B. McLean -> A. Beacham: 1
C. Gallagher -> B. McLean: 1 | C. Wasserman -> G. Ey: 1 | A. Beacham -> B. McLean: 1
A. Ducommun -> A. Milani: 1 | J. Bender -> J. Gaskins: 1 | J. Gaskins -> A. Milani: 1
B. McLean -> J. McLean: 1 | A. Stewart -> J. Avanzato: 1 | A. Stewart -> C. Wasserman: 1
C. Wasserman -> A. Milani: 1 | B. Hund -> B. McLean: 1 | A. Stewart -> R. Swain: 1
T. Montgomery -> C. Gaeger: 1 | J. Avanzato -> A. Stewart | A. Stewart -> T. Montgomery: 1
A. Milani -> J. McLean: 1 | E. Ticehurst -> B. McLean: 1 | B. McLean -> T. Montgomery: 1

It's Free Real Estate
Two weeks ago, Towson played its third overtime game of the year, beating No. 12 Loyola 7-6 with 2:41 seconds elapsed in bonus lacrosse.
- The Tigers are 2-1 in overtime games this season, improving to 7-6 under the command of head coach Shawn Nadelen.
- Towson's three overtime games this season are tied for the most in the Shawn Nadelen Era (2012) (and third time if you want to include the triple-overtime game against Navy in 2015).
- Since elevating to Division I, Towson has played three or more overtimes in three seasons
1989: 2-1 | 2013: 2-1 | 2021: 2-1
- Towson played back-to-back ovetime games for the first time in program history with the games at Delaware (March 20) and Loyola (March 27).

The Gauntlet
- Year in and year out Towson constructs one of the toughest Division I schedules.
- In this week's major polls, six 2021 opponents are ranked inside the top 20
#1/#1 Duke | #4/#6 Virginia | #12/#12 Delaware | #13/#13 Loyola
#15/#15 Richmond | #19/rv UMass | #20/#18 Hofstra
- Drexel received votes in the USILA Coaches' Poll. Both Drexel and UMass received votes in the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll
- Towson played four ranked opponents in six games during 2020: No. 11 Johns Hopkins, No. 12 Cornell, No. 12 Loyola, and No. 13 Georgetown.
- The Tigers played five single-digit ranked opponents during the 2019 season: No. 7 Johns Hopkins, No. 1 Loyola, No. 3 Cornell, No. 2 Duke, No. 6 Maryland.

Preseason Accolades
Senior defenseman Koby Smith was honored several times during the preseason. He was selected as the CAA Preseason Defensive Player of the Year and was a second team All-America pick by both the USILA and Inside Lacrosse. Additionally, Smith was selected to the Preseason All-CAA Team.

Ever See Half a Bird?
This season, the Tigers will enter in round-robin-and-a-half style conference schedule. Towson will play all five CAA opponents, while squaring off with long-time rivals Delaware, Drexel and Hofstra twice, once at home and once on the road. Towson will play eight league games this spring, three more than the normal five-game slate. Hofstra will host the 2021 CAA Men's Lacrosse Championship at Shuart Stadium in early May. The top four teams will vie for the league's automatic qualifier to the NCAA Tournament.

On this Date: April 10
- The Tigers will be playing their 13th game all-time on April 10.
- Towson is 5-7 on this date.
- The Tigers have played a majority of April 10 games on the road; Towson is 2-3 all-time at home on this date.
- Towson has never played on April 10 under the guidance of Shawn Nadelen.
- The Tigers' last April 10 game was a 10-9 win at #7 UMass in 2010.
- Towson and Fairfield have never played on this date.

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 54-8 in games when Towson scores double digits. When Towson's defense limits opponents to single digits, the Tigers are a whopping 73-12 in that same time after an 8-7 loss at Hofstra (April 3). On 46 occasions, the Tigers have scored in double figures while holding opponents to single digits, obviously a 46-0 record.