TOWSON, Md. – The Towson University women's soccer team earned a season-opening victory in dominant fashion, blanking Saint Joseph's 3-0 in front of a strong crowd at Tiger Field.
 
A 43^rd minute goal by Phoebe Canoles gave Towson (1-0) a 1-0 lead at the break over Saint Joseph's (0-1).  Nia Christopher added a pair of goals in the second half as Towson held for the shutout in front of 522 at home.
 
Towson's three-goal win is the highest margin of victory in a home opener since 2007, when the Tigers defeated Eastern Kentucky 4-0.
 
Key Stats:

• Towson outshot Saint Joseph's 22-7 in the game, having double digit shots in each half.  Towson also had nine corner kicks to its opponent's two.
• Canoles earned her first career goal with her score late in the first half, assisted by Khori Banks in the 43rd minute.  Christopher scored her second and third goals, including her first career penalty kick goal.  Alexandra Rush earned her first career assist on Christopher's first goal in the 49^th minute, while the second Christopher goal came on a penalty kick in minute 69.
• Canoles had the team lead in shots with seven, putting four on goal.  Christopher also had four shots on goal on her five attempts.
• Riley Melendez (1-0) earned her fourth career shutout in goal, making three saves in a complete game.
• For Saint Joseph's, Izzy Greene took two of the team's seven shots.  The defeat went to Katie Cappelletti (0-1), who had four saves and one goal allowed in the first half of play.  Sara Nilessen Kilen was in goal in the second half, having two goals allowed and four saves.

Postgame Quotes:

• Towson head coach Katherine Vettori: "I'm really proud of the effort and the focus tonight to generate such great offense.  I'm thrilled with the creativity and intelligence that we played with in our attack.  Kudos to everybody executing defensively and offensively."
• Towson forward Nia Christopher: "It was a team effort, we knew what we had to do and we stuck to the plan.  Coming off last season, we needed this, it is an important starting point."

How It Happened:

• After some back and forth play to begin, Jenna Blank had the first look close range, with a kick being saved by Katie Cappelletti.  Towson kept the ball inside its offensive end with two corner kicks, but saw an Alexandra Rush shot go high in the 12^th minute.
• Towson kept on the attack as Phoebe Canoles looked to push through the defense, sending a shot high.  Another look in the 25^th minute on the ground was saved.
• After another Canoles shot was saved, Saint Joseph's countered, with Kayla Flanders having a shot in the 33^rd minute, with Riley Melendez picking up the save.
• Canoles kept pushing on attempts, and in the 43^rd minute, used some strong footwork off a pass from Khori Banks to score inside the left post, giving Towson a 1-0 lead.  Towson held off a late push in the final minute of the half as Sydney Cradle kicked away a potential shot, sending Towson to halftime up 1-0.
• Action was aggressive to open the second half as the Hawks took two shots off a counter, seeing the second by saved by Melendez.  Towson countered itself as Rush found Nia Christopher for the kick and score in the middle of the net to make it 2-0 Towson in the 49^th minute.
• Jenna Blank nearly got the next goal as Towson got a breakaway with a 2-on-2 in the 59^th minute.  A dribble away from the goalkeeper set up Blank, but a defender stopped the shot and sent the ball away.
• 68:13 through, Demi Pierre was tackled in the box to draw the penalty kick.  Christopher lined up and scored towards the right to make the score 3-0 Tigers.
• Erica Behr got a long range shot in minute 73 as Melendez again made the save.  Towson again almost scored as Riley Rumbley kicked a line drive towards the upper right corner, with Saint Joseph's making the save.
• Towson had some late chances but held control the rest of the way to win 3-0.

Inside the Numbers:

• This is Towson's first win in a season home opener since 2017, a 1-0 victory over Loyola.
• It was also the highest margin of victory in the season opener since 2007, when the Tigers beat UMBC 5-1 to open that year.
• Until tonight, Saint Joseph's was undefeated against Towson in its last three games.  The Tigers lead the all-time series 4-2-1.
• Christopher earns the first multi-goal game for Towson since Jenna Blank had a hat trick vs. Richmond on Sept. 19, 2019.
• Towson converts its first penalty kick since Justine Stoner did on Oct. 12, 2018 at Delaware.  It is the first converted penalty kick at home since Sept. 2, 2018 vs. Utah State, also by Stoner.

Next Game:

• Towson heads to Pennsylvania for a day trip to Bucknell on Sunday, Aug. 22.  Game time is set for 1 p.m.