BALTIMORE, Md. — The Towson University women's lacrosse team will make the short trip to UMBC on March 9 at 4 p.m. for its first of two road trips this month.
The Tigers own the 38-7 all-time edge over the Retrievers and have won the past seven meetings dating back to 2011. The Black & Gold won the most recent contest 12-5 on Feb. 19, 2021.
Records
Last Time Out
Blair Pearre scored a season-high five goals and won a career-best 13 draw controls as the Towson University women's lacrosse team defeated Saint Joseph's 20-8 on March 5.
Kerri Thornton had a career-high four goals, including three in the third quarter. Gabby Garrett added a hat trick, while Lindsay Clarke scored twice and added three assists for the Tigers (1-3).
Towson won 23-of-31 draws on the evenings with Pearre, Thornton and freshman Milana Zizakovic combining to win 21.
Pearre Tabbed CAA Player of the Week
After leading Towson to a decisive 12-goal win over St. Joe's, Pearre earned the first Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Player of the Week award of her career.
As she recorded five goals in the contest, the former Under Armour All-American now has 17 career hat tricks and has scored at least two goals in 23 of 27 games at the collegiate level. Her 82 career goals are fast approaching the Top 20 in school history.
Pearre's 13 draw controls against the Hawks measured just one shy of the school and conference record set by Natalie Sulmonte against Georgetown in 2018. Her previous high of eight draw controls was set last season in the CAA Tournament against Elon (May 5).
The Pikesville, Maryland product also added two ground balls and a caused turnover in the win. She now leads the Tigers in multiple categories including goals (10), points (11), free position goals (6), ground balls (6) and draw controls (15).
Schedule Strength
The Tigers have a tough schedule in front of them this spring, as they have six teams currently ranked in the ILWomen/IWLCA poll on their schedule. Towson fell to both then-No. 9 Loyola (Feb. 23) and then-No. 10 Michigan (Feb. 27). The team has yet to face No. 24 Drexel (April 9), No. 19 Vanderbilt (March 23), No. 16 Johns Hopkins (April 6) and No. 21 James Madison (March 30).
Success From The 8 Meter
The Tigers lead the nation in free position percentage, shooting 65.2 percent (15-of-23) from the 8 meter to rank first.
Towson has not missed more than two free position shots in a game this season:
Pearre leads the team with six free position goals on nine shots. She also ranks eighth in the nation and first in the CAA with 1.50 free position goals per game.
Freshman Strength
Freshmen Halley Koras and Milana Zizakovic have made an immediate impact in their first years in the Black & Gold.
Koras and Zizakovic pace rank fourth and fifth on the team with seven and six goals, respectively. Each has had three games with at least one goal. Zizakovic also ranks second behind Pearre with 11 draw controls.
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.
128 & 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 120-79 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 for the team last season.
Oh Captain My Captain!
Rayna Deltuva and Kaitlin Thornton were chosen by the coaching staff to lead the Tigers for the upcoming campaign. 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.
Fresh Faces
Sonia LaMonica added a group of six freshmen to the team prior to the spring who will look to make an immediate impact. Shannon Sullivan (Midfield), Milana Zizakovic (Midfield), Mia Rehkemper (Attack), Katie McCormick (Midfield), Emily King (Midfield) and Halley Koras (Attack) will don the black & gold for the first time this season.
Transferring In
The coaching staff also added one transfer, Lindsay Clarke (Attack), from Oregon. During her freshman year on the west coast, Clarke amassed six goals and six assists for a total of 12 points in 11 games played.
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.
Scouting The Retrievers
UMBC has won two of its last three contests, most recently falling to then-No. 18 Temple, 14-11. Just before the loss, the team earned convincing back-to-back victories over American (17-9) and George Washington (16-5).
Claire Bockstie paces her team with an impressive 21 goals and six assists through five games. Kelly Brown leads the team with 15 ground balls while Kennedy Evans tops the stats with seven caused turnovers. On the draw, Megan Halczuk has grabbed a team-best 25 draw controls for the Reteivers.
Looking Ahead
Towson will return to Tiger Field for a trio of home games against Penn State (March 15) No. 19 Vanderbilt (March 23) and Georgetown (March 26).
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.
