TOWSON, Md. — The Towson University women's lacrosse team will jump back into Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) play as it hosts Drexel, who is currently receiving votes in the ILWomen/IWLCA poll, on Saturday, April 2 at 2 p.m. The team will celebrate Senior Day against the Dragons, honoring 11 graduating student-athletes. The contest will be streamed on the Lax Sports Network.
The Tigers own the 36-6 all-time edge over the Dragons, although the team dropped all three meetings between the two teams in the 2021 season. Prior to last year's campaign, the Black & Gold had won the previous five meetings.
Records
- Towson — 4-7 (1-1 CAA)
- Drexel — 7-5 (2-0 B1G)
Last Time Out
Towson fell in overtime to No. 22 Johns Hopkins, 11-10, in its final nonconference game of the season on April 6.
Kerri and Kaitlin Thornton got the team going in the fourth quarter with a pair of scores to take the 10-9 advantage. With 1:06 left in regulation, Hopkins scored to knot the score at 10-all and send the game into overtime. JHU finished it with just under two minutes to go in the first overtime period to come away with the 11-10 win. The contest featured six total ties.
Blair Pearre led the way for the Tigers with three goals. She also added eight draw controls, two ground balls and a caused turnover.
Kerri Thornton had two free position goals and an assist while Lindsay Clarke also added a score and a helper. Milana Zizakovic, Gabby Garrett, Kaitlin Thornton and Halley Koras all added one goal apiece in the outing.
The Black & Gold were strong on defense, holding the Blue Jays scoreless for two respective spans of 13:57 and 18:01. The starting defensive unit of Shannon Sullivan, Blair Goodrich, Olivia Malamphy and Erin Williams combined for 10 ground balls and six caused turnovers.
Senior Day
The team will be celebrating Senior Day against the Dragons, honoring their 11 graduating student-athletes. The list includes Rayne Deltuva, Molly Lynch, Kerri Thornton, Carly Merlo, Kerri Liucci, Nicole Liucci, Julia Porter, Kaitlin Thornton, Sarah Rhoads, Erin Williams and Kamryn McNeal.
Sullivan Named CAA Rookie Player of the Week
After a stellar performance in Towson's 20-8 win over Elon, Shannon Sullivan earned the first Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Rookie of the Week award of her career. Against the Phoenix, she set career highs with four ground balls and three caused turnovers. The defender also added a draw control. Earlier in the week, Sullivan recorded two ground balls and a caused turnover at James Madison (March 30).
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 three scores against Hopkins, she now ranks 14th on the top 20 scoring list, just one behind Kathleen Stout (104).
The former Under Armour All-American now has 21 career hat tricks and has scored at least two goals in 29 of 34 games at the collegiate level.
With eight draw controls on Wednesday night, Pearre now has 139 career draw controls to remain at seventh in program history. She is now just two behind Stephanie Howell (141).
Reaching Triple Digits
With Kaitlin Thornton's fourth quarter goal against Hopkins, she now has 98 career goals and is just two scores away from becoming the 16th Tiger to reach the century mark in program history.
Clearing Success
Towson has been efficient on clearing attempts this season. The Black & Gold went a perfect 17-17 against Johns Hopkins for their fourth perfect performance of the season. The Tigers were also flawless against Mount St. Mary's (17-for-17), Loyola (16-for-16) and Vanderbilt (17-for-17).
The team is 174-for-196 on clear attempts through 11 games for an 88.8 percent success rate.
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, No. 12 James Madison (March 30) and No. 22 Johns Hopkins (April 6). The Tigers defeated Georgetown, who has received votes the past two weeks.
The team will face (RV) Drexel (April 9) over the weekend.
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 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 with 11 goals and tied for fourth with five assists. She ranks second on the team with 39 draw controls, securing a career high of seven draws against Georgetown.
On defense, Sullivan has secured 10 draw controls, grabbed 16 ground balls and caused eight turnovers. She has had more than two caused turnovers in three outings and picked up two or more ground balls in four games.
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. 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 were announced on March 11 and April 1. 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.
131 & 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 123-83 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 16th on the all-time goals list with 98. With two more scores she will become the 17th 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 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 161 goals and 67 assists for 228 points. The Liucci sisters have compiled 48 goals and 14 assists.
Scouting The Dragons
Drexel is one of two teams in the league with a perfect 2-0 CAA record, defeating Delaware (20-6) and William & Mary (21-10). Three of the Dragons' five losses have come at the hands of ranked opponents in then-No. 20 Johns Hopkins (11-6), then-No. 13 Florida (10-9) and then-No. 9 Denver (10-4).
Karson Harris leads Drexel with 36 goals, 30 ground balls and 43 points. Corinne Bednarik paces the Dragons with 51 draw controls while Belle McHugh tops the team with 17 caused turnovers.
Looking Ahead
The Tigers will travel to Long Island to face Hofstra in CAA play on Saturday, April 16 at 12 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.
