PHILADELPHIA  – The top-seeded Towson University women's lacrosse team punched its ticket to the 2022 Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Championship game with a 12-8 victory over No. 4 Delaware.   

The contest was close through the first half of action in very rainy conditions. The score wasn't separated by more than a goal in the first two quarters. The Blue Hens took a 8-6 lead to start the third but the Tiger rallied, scoring six unanswered goals to come out with the 12-8 victory.  

Blair Pearre led the way for Towson with five goals and an assist for six points. Kerri Thornton secured seventh hat trick of the season in additon to an assist for a total of four points. Gabby Garret added a pair of scores while Milana Zizakovic and Lindsay Clarke also contributed tallies.  

Pearre, the former Under Armour All-American, now has 24 career hat tricks and has scored at least two goals in 33 of 39 games at the collegiate level. She remains 12th on the top 20 scoring list with 117 career goals. She is now just five scores behind Andi Raymond (122). 

Nicole Liucci led the defense with two caused turnovers while Olivia Malamphy paced the team with four ground balls.  
 
Records    

• Towson – 9-7 (5-1 CAA)    
• Delaware – 5-12 (2-4 CAA) 

How it Happened    

• The two teams went back and forth to begin the contest, as each team tallied three goals to knot the score. Clarke, Thornton and Garrett all scored to start.  
• Pearre gave the Tigers the 4-3 edge with just under three minutes to go in the opening period before the Blue Hens tied it up at the last second.  
• Delaware carried the momentum into the second quarter as they struck first to regain the 5-4 lead. Towson once again had an answer though, as Thornton found the back of the net again once again.  
• Each team scored once more before the end of the first half to go into the locker room with the score knotted, 6-all.  
• UD came out in the second half with a quick two-goal spurt to go ahead once again, 8-6. This would be the opposition's last lead of the outing.  
• Pearre rallied for her team though, scoring her third and fourth goals of the contest less than a minute apart to tie up the score, 8-8. Thornton added a score of her own to put the Tigers in front, 9-8.  
• The Black & Gold kept it going in the fourth, extending their run to six goals with scores from Zizakovic, Pearre and Garrett to secure the 12-8 victory.  

Key Stats  

• This will be Towson's first trip to the CAA title game since 2018 and their 11th in program history. It will also be the the eighth championship game under head coach Sonia LaMonica, in which she is 4-4. 
• Towson won the draw control battle, 14-10. Pearre led the way with four draw controls to bring her career total up to 164. She remains ranked fifth in program history, just four behind Becky Trumbo (168).  
• Kerri Thornton's three goal performance marks her second consecuitve hat trick against the Blue Hens as she also scored six goals during the teams' last meeting (April 30).   
• Carly Merlo ended the day with eight saves, one more then the Delaware's netminder.  
• With five unique goal scorers against the Blue Hens, the Tigers have now seen five or more players score in 10 consecutive outings. 
• The Black & Gold will ride a five-game winning streak into the CAA Championship game, their biggest of the slate.  

Next Game 

Top-seeded Towson will meet the winner of No. 2 Drexel and No. 3 Hofstra in the Championship game at Drexel's Vidas Field on Sunday, May 8 at 12 p.m.