EMMITTSBURG, Md. – The Towson University men's lacrosse team earned a dominant performance in the season opener at Mount St. Mary's, scoring 14 first half goals en route to a 20-7 victory in Emmitsburg.
 
Towson (1-0) outscored Mount St. Mary's (0-2) 14-1 in the first half, having a 16-1 lead six minutes into the third quarter.  11 different Tigers scored goals while Evan Long saved 11 shots an allowed just four goals in the opening 56 minutes.
 
20 goals ties the most in a season opener since Mar. 5, 1994 when Towson defeated Villanova 20-12.  Towson had a 28-9 victory over Lehigh in the season opener on Mar. 8, 1990.
 
Key Stats:

• Towson scored on 20 of its 48 shots, outshooting the Mount 48-37.
• In his first-ever collegiate game, Joaquin Villagomez earned five goals on eight shots, adding a pair of ground balls.  Kyle Berkeley finished with three goals and three assists while Nick DeMaio had two goals and two assists.
• On the defensive side, Evan Long earned the victory with 11 saves and four goals allowed.  Alex Kauffman finished the game in goal.  Reece Potter notched a caused turnover and three ground balls.
• For the Mount, Cormac Giblin and Jimmy Hayburn each had two goals.  Griffin McGinley got the defeat in goal with 17 goals allowed and eight saves.

How It Happened:

• Towson held on the Mount's opening possession.  Off a Brandon Hund clear, passes went from Kyle Berkeley to Nick DeMaio for the rip and score.  Next possession, the process repeated itself, this time with Chop Gallagher emerging from behind the cage and scoring on the doorstep for an early 2-0 lead.
• Mount St. Mary's got its first goal on a third won faceoff.  From there, Towson went on a tear, dominating possession and quickly stopping any Mount chances.  After a clear, Joaquin Villagomez scored his first collegiate goal, then Austin Stewart followed with a laser under the crossbar.  Two minutes later, Jamison Gaskins scored straight away, then a couple of passes from DeMaio to Berkeley added another goal.
• Drawing off a Mount St. Mary's penalty, Alex Roussel ripped from straight-away to score his first collegiate goal.  30 seconds later, Matt Constantinides won the faceoff, dropping off to Hund, who found Villagomez wide open on the doorstep for the 8-1 Towson lead, the eventual halftime score.
• With Evan Long locking down the cage on the Mount, which looked for quick attempts to try to come back, Towson's offense continued to roll.  In a span of 42 seconds, DeMaio scored, then Villagomez scored twice to put Towson up double digits.  Gallagher added another just below the crossbar a minute later for a 12-1 Towson advantage with 11:34 left in the first half.
• Towson's defense held the Mount off the scoreboard in the entire second quarter.  Berkeley had a hand in the last two goals of the quarter, swimming around Mount defenders and find Ryan Swain across the circle for the shot and score, then later spinning around his defender and scoring on a laser.  Towson led 14-1 at the break.
• Towson continued the attack, holding off a man-up attempt by the Mount and scoring man-down with Gallagher on the doorstep.  Towson drew its own man-up chance as Berkeley found Alex Reid on the goal circle for the goal, sending Towson up 16-1 with 9:57 left in the third.
• The Mount broke the scoring drought with a man-up goal by Cormac Giblin with 8:42 left in the third.  The sides went back and forth without scoring for almost eight minutes, then Towson scored another off a fast break as Sam Morin raced across and found Villagomez on the doorstep for the 17-2 Towson lead towards the end of the quarter.
• After a quick goal by Giblin for the Mount to begin the fourth, neither team scored in the next seven-and-a-half minutes.  Berkeley scored with 6:51 left, counter by William Vandergrift.  As the reserves came in, Evan Boswell scored, getting open space from his defender, then Andrew Milani scored off a scrum from a ground ball to give Towson a 20-5 lead.  Jimmy Hayburn scored two late goals for the Mount as Towson won 20-7.

Inside the Numbers:

• Joaquin Villagomez earns Towson's first five-goal road game since Grant Maloof had five goals at Delaware on Apr. 20, 2019.
• Kyle Berkeley earned his career-high in points with six, surpassing his five points vs. Mount St. Mary's on Feb. 15, 2022.
• Eight Tigers earned multiple points.
• Towson has won three straight games against Mount St. Mary's, improving its record to 17-2 vs. the Mount.  The 13-goal win is the highest margin of victory against the Mount since Towson's 24-8 win on Apr. 18, 1978.

Next Game:

• Towson has its home opener on Saturday, Feb. 18 at noon vs. Saint Joseph's at Johnny Unitas® Stadium.
• Season tickets are available now for $30.  For more information, interested parties can visit www.towsontigers.com, call1-855-TU-TIGER or email dkogok@towson.edu.

- TowsonTigers.com –