TOWSON, Md. – The Towson University field hockey team is set for a two-game homestand at the TU Field Hockey Complex, starting with Monmouth (7-3, 2-0 CAA) in its final Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) home tilt of the season Friday, Oct. 6 at 3:00 p.m. The Tigers (5-6, 0-3 CAA) will host the Richmond Spiders (6-4, 2-1 A10) Sunday, Oct. 8 at noon.
Friday's game will be streamed on FloLive. Live stats for both games will be available on TowsonTigers.com. Admission for all Towson home games is free.
For Sunday's Pink Game, the first 75 fans who enter the TUFH Complex will receive a free pink shirt.
First-year head coach
Katie Gerzabek Salem returns 18 players from the 2022 roster, including leading scorer and preseason All-CAA selection
Hannah McKeon and program standout
Georgia Beachley, who stands ninth all-time in team history in goals scored.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
Monmouth checks in at 7-3 overall and 2-0 in CAA play. The Hawks have defeated common opponents of the Tigers in wins over Rider and Drexel. They also have beaten Wagner and then-ranked Delaware.
Richmond stands at 6-4 with a 2-1 record in A-10 play. The Spiders fell to Longwood to open the season before recording wins against Davidson and Saint Louis. The Tigers defeated all three common opponents of the Spiders earlier this season.
JOIN THE PARTY
Third-year Tiger
Sarah Hatfield has earned a spot in the program record book with 14 points through 11 games this season. Totaling 27 points on twelve goals and three assists, Hatfield ranks 33
rd all-time at TU in 35 starts.
Gianna Antone has joined Hatfield and three others among all-time points leaders with 11 points on five goals and one assist this season. With 24 career points on nine goals and six assists, she ranks 39
th all-time in program history.
Hatfield and Antone join three other active Tigers ranked among top point producers in team history. Totaling 53 points on 19 goals and 15 assists, Beachley stands seventh all-time among point leaders in team history.
Samantha Aljets ranks 12
th all-time with 42 points, logging 14 goals and 14 assists. The Tigers' top goal scorer in 2022, McKeon, is 28
th all-time in program history, totaling 29 points with ten goals and nine assists.
DO THE ROAR
First-year head coach
Katie Gerzabek Salem and assistant coach
Noelle Frost each had illustrious playing careers for the University of Maryland. Gerzabek Salem won a national championship with the Terrapins as a freshman in 2011 and collected numerous individual awards over her collegiate playing career. Frost was a three-year starting goalkeeper for the Terrapins, with appearances in the national championship in 2017 and 2018.
FIFTH TIME'S THE CHARM
Four seniors from last year's rotation have returned for a fifth season to help establish a strong veteran presence within the program. The four have combined to start 229 games for the Black & Gold dating back to 2019.
Beachley leads the charge with 70 starts, while McKeon checks in at 68. Each midfielder started all 18 games last season. Forward
Samantha Aljets has made 48 starts, missing action in 2021 due to injury. Forward
Gianna Antone has gotten 43 starting nods for the Tigers after a medical redshirt season in 2019.
YO HOME TO BEL AIR!
Four of Towson's 27 players played for C. Milton Wright High School in Bel Air, Maryland before joining the Tigers. Beachley, fifth year forward
Samantha Aljets, senior
Annie Keele and freshman
Riley Cushman played for the Mustangs. In 2017 and 2018, C.M. Wright went 38-3, capturing the 2018 Maryland 3A State Championship and were runners-up in 2017. In 2019, Keele's senior and Cushman's freshman seasons, the Mustangs won the regional championship.
Beachley, the team's leading scorer two seasons ago, and Aljets, the top point producer on the 2019 and spring 2021 teams, have been teammates since elementary school and have played together for more than a decade, including eight years with the H2O club program.