TOWSON, Md. — The Towson University women's lacrosse team will welcome Vanderbilt to Tiger Field for a noon matchup on Wednesday, March 23.
The Commodores won the lone meeting between the two programs on March 19, 2000, 9-5. Vanderbilt is currently receiving votes in the ILWomen/IWLCA poll.
Records
- Towson 2-3 (0-0 CAA)
- Vanderbilt 5-3 (0-0 AAC)
Last Time Out
After an extremely close first half, Penn State pulled away to defeat Towson on March 15, 15-6. The tight contest featured four ties and four lead changes.
The Tigers ended a close first half down by just one score,5-4, before the Nittany Lions took over halfway through the third quarter to go on an eight-goal run and secure the 15-6 win.
Freshman Halley Koras scored the first three goals for the Tigers for her second consecutive first quarter hat trick. Blair Pearrea lso added two goals while Kerri Thornton netted one. Lindsay Clarke was strong behind the cage, handing out two assists.
The Black & Gold won the draw control battle, 14-11. Milana Zizakovic grabbed six draw controls to tie her career high while Pearre recorded five.
Moving Up
Junior midfielder Blair Pearre is well on her way to making her mark on the program.
The former Under Armour All-American has now scored at least two goals in 25 of 29 games at the collegiate level. She now has 87 career goals and is quickly approaching the program's top 20 scoring list. She is currently ranked No. 21, five behind No. 20 Jen DeVos.
Pearre also ranks eighth in program history with 118 career draw controls. She is just one behind Katie Leech for seventh place.
Schedule Strength
The Tigers have a tough schedule in front of them this spring, as they have eight teams currently ranked or receiving votes in the ILWomen/IWLCA poll on their schedule. Towson fell to then-No. 9 Loyola (Feb. 23), then-No. 10 Michigan (Feb. 27) and Penn State (March 15) who was receiving votes. The team has yet to face (RV) Vanderbilt (March 23), No. 15 James Madison (March 30), No. 20 Johns Hopkins (April 6), (RV) Drexel (April 9) and (RV) Hofstra (April 16).
First Year Phenoms
Freshmen Halley Koras, Milana Zizakovic and Shannon Sullivan have made an immediate impact in their first years in the Black & Gold.
Koras is currently tied with Kerri Thornton and Blair Pearre with 15 goals to pace the team. Her 15 points also rank third. She has had four multi-goal games, including three hat tricks. The freshman scored back-to-back first quarter hat tricks against UMBC (March 9) and Penn State (March 15).
Zizakovic is tied for fifth on the team with eight goals. She has scored in four of five games led by a career-high three goals against Loyola (Feb. 23). She ranks second on the team with 21 draw controls and secured a career high six draws twice this season against Mount St. Mary's (Feb. 12) and Penn State (March 15).
On defense, Sullivan has also been a big addition, recording eighth draw controls, five ground balls and two caused turnovers.
Preseason Praise
In late January, the CAA announced Rayna Deltuva and Blair Pearre both received Preseason All-CAA honors while Olivia Malamphy earned honorable mention recognition.
The All-CAA Preseason nod marks the second of Pearre's career while the honor is the first for Deltuva and Malamphy.
In the order of finish, the Tigers were voted to end the season in third place with 26 points. James Madison was picked to finish first in the league with five first place votes and 35 total points. Drexel was slotted to end in second, with two first place votes and 32 points. Rounding out the poll was Hofstra (21), Elon (15), Delaware (10) and William & Mary (8).
The All-CAA teams and order of finish was voted on by the conference's head coaches.
Tewaaraton Award Watch List
Blair Pearre has been named to the Tewaaraton Award Watch List for the second consecutive season. The Tewaaraton Foundation made the announcement on Feb. 10.
Since 2001, the Tewaaraton Award has been awarded to the most outstanding American college lacrosse men's and women's players across all three divisions of NCAA lacrosse. The watch list highlights 51 early contenders for the 2021 Tewaaraton Award. Additions to the list will be announced on March 11 and April 1, before the field will be narrowed to 25 men's and 25 women's nominees on April 21. Five men's and five women's finalists will be announced in early May and the Tewaaraton Award recipients will be chosen after the conclusion of the collegiate lacrosse season.
129 & Counting
Head coach Sonia LaMonica picked up her 125th win against George Mason last season (April 4). She ended 2021 with 127 career wins and currently stands with a 121-79 record at Towson.
In the previous 11 seasons with Sonia LaMonica at the helm, the Tigers have earned spots in the NCAA Tournament seven times, most recently last season. Towson has won seven Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) tournament titles since 2005, including four under LaMonica.
Returning Starters
12 of 18 Tigers that started at least one game for the black & gold in the 2021 spring will be returning to the field in 2022.
Towson is retuning plenty of veteran leadership on defense as Rayna Deltuva, Olivia Malamphy and Erin Williams are the only current Tigers that started all 18 games last season.
Oh Captain My Captain!
Rayna Deltuva and Kaitlin Thornton were chosen by the coaching staff to lead the Tigers for this season. The two lone graduate students on the roster also served as captains during the 2021 season as well.
Thornton currently ranks 17th on the all-time goals list with 96. With four more scores she will become the 15th Tiger to score at least 100 goals in program history.
Staying Local
Of the 32-woman roster, a whopping 18 student-athletes call Maryland home. Rayna Deltuva (Manchester), Molly Lynch (Forest Hill), Sara Tyssowski (Finksburg), Paiton and Paige Abbott (Mount Airy), Mia Rehkemper (Catonsville), Jenna DiPeso (Forest Hill), Lindsay Clarke (Parkton), Blair Pearre (Pikesville), Blair Goodrich (Chester), Carly Merlo (Reisterstown), Emily King (Monrovia), Lindsay Posner (Monkton), Lindsey Marshall (Columbia), Halley Koras (Lutherville), Sarah Rhoads (Westminster), Olivia Malamphy (Crofton) and Erin Williams (Parkton) all represent their home state.
Oh, Canada
Two Tigers join the team from our neighbors to the north, Canada as well, in senior Julia Porter and freshman Milana Zizakovic who both hail from the province of Alberta.
Sister Sister
The 2021 squad features three sets of sisters, including two sets of twins. Seniors Kerri and Nicole Liucci as well as sophomores Paiton and Paige Abbott are twins while sisters Kaitlin and Kerri Thornton round out the group.
The Thorntons have combined for 150 goals and 59 assists for over 200 points. The Liucci sisters have compiled 43 goals and 14 assists.
Scouting Commodores
Vanderbilt has had an up-and-down start to their season. The team started off strong, winning three in a row, including a 14-12 win over then-No. 12 Notre Dame. The team then lost three consecutive contests, all to opponents that are currently ranked or receiving votes. The Commodores have won their last two to get back in the win column, most recently defeating Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) foe Hofstra, 12-9, on Sunday.
Bri Gross leads the team with 16 goals. Vanderbilt currently has four student-athletes with 10+ draw controls, led by Gross with 32. Gabby Fornia leads the team with 31 total points and 22 assists.
Looking Ahead
Towson will host Georgetown on Saturday, March 26 at 1 p.m.
Tigers in the Community
For the 7th 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 #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. The Tigers won the 2018 Volunteer of the Year Award from Susan G. Komen of Maryland.
