TOWSON, Md. — The Towson University women's lacrosse team will host Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) foe William & Mary on Wednesday, April 27 at 5 p.m., in its final home contest of the season.
Towson owns the 18-8 all-time edge over William & Mary. The Tigers have come out on top in the last 12 meetings between the two programs, dating back to 2009.
Records
- Towson — 6-7 (3-1 CAA)
- William & Mary — 4-11 (0-5)
Last Time Out
Gabby Garrett led Towson to a CAA overtime win against Hofstra on April 16, 11-10.
Blair Pearre won the draw control toward the end of the first overtime period, to give the Tigers possession. Garrett got around the defender and scored with 1:54 left in overtime to secure the 11-10 win for Towson.
Kerri Liucci and Milana Zizakovic each scored three goals to tie their own career highs. Pearre and Garrett added two scores a piece while Kerri Thornton also found the back of the net.
The Tigers won the draw control battle, 14-12. Pearre led the way with seven draws to bring her career total to 149. She currently ranks fifth in program history. Thornton also added five draw controls.
Erin Williams (4) and Olivia Malamphy (3) led the team in ground balls while Thornton caused two turnovers.
CAA Tournament Berth: Clinched
Towson has clinched their spot in the 2022 Women's Lacrosse CAA Tournament. Drexel is the only other team to reserve their spot, with a 4-1 conference record.
As the Black & Gold defeated the Dragons earlier in the season in overtime, 16-15, the Tigers do own the head-to-head tiebreak over the Dragons for the No. 1 seed in the tournament.
The 2022 Women's Lacrosse CAA Tournament will be hosted by Drexel at Vidas Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Semifinals will take place on Friday, May 6, with the Championship to follow on Sunday, May 8.
Getting It Done in Overtime
Towson's last three contests have all been sent into overtime, against Johns Hopkins (April 6), Drexel (April 9) and Hofstra (April 16).
The team has won the last two extra minute battles, defeating both the Dragons (16-15) and the Pride (11-10).
Zizakovic Earns CAA Rookie of the Week Nod
Milana Zizakovic was named the CAA Rookie of the Week on April 18 following the Tigers' win over Hofstra in overtime, 11-10.
The freshman matched her career best of three goals against the Pride, which she previously set against Loyola (Feb. 23). She also scooped up one ground ball in the outing.
The Alberta, Canada native is the only freshman to start every game this season. Zizakovic has scored in all but four games this season and racked up 2+ scores five times.
Moving Up
Junior midfielder Blair Pearre continues to make her mark on the program.
Pearre recently became the 15th player in program history to reach 100 goals with seven scores against Elon (April 2). With two scores against Hofstra, she now ranks 13th on the top 20 scoring list with 105 career goals, just one behind Amy Buck (106).
The former Under Armour All-American now has 21 career hat tricks and has scored at least two goals in 30 of 36 games at the collegiate level.
With seven draw controls in the team's last outing, Pearre now has 149 career draw controls to move up to fifth in program history. She is now just 19 behind Becky Trumbo (168).
Reaching Triple Digits
Kaitlin Thornton made history against Drexel, becoming the 16th Tiger in program history to score 100 career goals. She reached the century mark at the 6:07 mark of the third quarter on her second tally of the game.
She is tied for 15th on the top 20 scoring list with 101 career goals, four scores behind teammate Blair Pearre (105).
Clearing Success
Towson has been efficient on clearing attempts this season. The Black & Gold have now stayed flawless in five outings through 13 contests:
- Mount St. Mary's (17-for-17)
- Loyola (16-for-16)
- Vanderbilt (17-for-17)
- Johns Hopkins (17-17)
- Drexel (19-19)
The team is 209-of-234 on clear attempts through 12 games for an 89.3 percent success rate to rank 24th in the country and third in the CAA.
Schedule Strength
The Tigers have eight teams currently ranked or receiving votes in the ILWomen/IWLCA poll on their schedule. Towson has fallen to then-No. 9 Loyola (Feb. 23), then-No. 10 Michigan (Feb. 27), (RV) Penn State (March 15), (RV) Vanderbilt (March 21), No. 12 James Madison (March 30) and No. 22 Johns Hopkins (April 6). The Tigers defeated Georgetown 9 (March 26), who was receiving votes in the weeks after meeting head-to-head.
The team defeated (RV) Drexel (April 9) in overtime, 16-15, for their first win over a team mentioned in the poll.
First Year Phenoms
Freshmen Halley Koras, Milana Zizakovic and Shannon Sullivan have made an immediate impact in their first years in the Black & Gold.
All three freshmen have garnered at least one CAA Rooke of the Week award and have earned four total.
Koras is currently third on the team with 23 goals. She has had seven multi-goal games this season including four hat tricks.
Zizakovic is fifth on the team in both goals (16) and assists (5). She ranks second on the team with 41 draw controls, securing a career high of seven draws against Georgetown.
On defense, Sullivan ranks top five in three categories: draw controls (18-4th), ground balls (19-4th) and caused turnovers (8-5th).
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.
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 was named to the Tewaaraton Award Watch List for the second consecutive season.
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. 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.
133 & Counting
After picking up her 125th win against George Mason last season, head coach Sonia LaMonica recently earned her 130th win against Georgetown (March 26). She ended 2021 with 127 career wins and currently stands with a 125-83 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.
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 is tied for 15th on the all-time goals list with 101.
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 2022 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 169 goals and 68 assists for 237 points. The Liucci sisters have compiled 52 goals and 14 assists for 66 points.
Scouting The Tribe
William & Mary is currently on a six-game slide, most recently falling to Hofstra on April 23, 18-11. The team's last win came against Longwood (19-10) on March 23.
Belle Martire leads the Tribe's offense with 37 goals and 16 assists for 53 total points. Caroline Hertzberg also plays a key role for William & Mary as she paces the team in both draw controls (57) and ground balls (28).
Looking Ahead
Towson will finish out its regular season at Delaware on Saturday, April 30 at noon.
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.
