TOWSON, Md. – The Towson University men's lacrosse team and No. 7 Loyola engaged in a physical back-and-forth thriller that saw the Tigers score twice late in the fourth to force overtime, but the Greyhounds took the victory 12-11 on Wednesday night.
 
Down 11-9 with 6:10 to play, Towson's (1-3) Chop Gallagher and Nick DeMaio scored in succession to get the game to overtime as Towson held off a final Loyola (3-1) regulation attempt.  Matt Constantinides won his 18^th faceoff to give Towson the first chance in overtime, with a Josh Webber low shot being saved.  The other way, Loyola's Adam Poitras scored to give the Greyhounds the win.
 
Towson's three losses have all come to teams either ranked or receiving votes in each poll and have been by a combined seven goals.
 
Key Stats:

• Matt Constantinides won 18-of-27 faceoffs, scooping up 14 ground balls and having a caused turnover.  His wins helped Towson have a 39-30 edge in ground balls.
• The shots were close to even in the game with Towson having a 45-43 edge.
• Nick DeMaio and Joaquin Villagomez each recorded hat tricks in the game, also having a ground ball each.  Jonathan Bender, from the second midfield, earned two goals and an assist, having a key fourth quarter caused turnover that led to Chop Gallagher's second goal.  Gallagher also had six ground balls.
• In goal, Evan Long had 10 saves and 12 goals allowed in the defeat.
• For Loyola, Adam Poitras and Seth Higgins each had hat tricks.  Luke Staudt finished with the win in goal off 15 saves and 11 goals allowed.

How It Happened:

• Towson got off to a fast start, scoring the game's first three goals in the opening 4:43.  Nick DeMaio had a pair of goals falling away off passes from Austin Stewart then Mikey Weisshaar.  Picking up a man-up chance, Jonathan Bender scored on the doorstep from a Kyle Berkeley pass off a man-up chance to make it 3-0 Towson.
• Loyola broke the drought with a goal from Adam Poitras with 8:30 left in the first.  Towson got the goal back as Joaquin Villagomez emerged from behind the cage and scored close range for a 4-1 Towson lead. 
• Over the next five minutes, Loyola scored two goals to pull within one.  Bender got inside his defender for his first goal to give Towson a 5-3 advantage after one quarter.
• Loyola went on a 4-1 run, despite a man-up goal by Villagomez for Towson, off four different goal-scorers, to have a 7-6 lead at half.  Neither team scored in the final 8:05 of the second quarter.
• Towson tied the game minutes into the second half off a shot from the hip close range by Josh Webber.  With 7:11 left in the third, Chop Gallagher scored on a bouncing shot off a pass to push Towson back ahead 8-7.
• Play went back-and-forth the rest of the quarter as Loyola tied the game off a Poitras shot off a clear.  The teams went into the fourth tied 8-8.
• Towson struck first in the fourth as Villagomez rocketed a shot over a defender's shoulder for the goal.  Loyola countered with three straight goals, started by two scores from Evan James, to take an 11-9 lead into the final minutes.
• Towson forced a scrum on a Loyola clear attempt as Bender forced a turnover on the ride.  Gallagher cleaned up the mess with a ground ball and score to pull Towson within one.  With 2:39 to play, DeMaio scored on the doorstep to tie the game.  Evan Long held off a final Loyola push in regulation to force overtime.
• Matt Constantinides won the faceoff in overtime as Towson got off two attempts: Berkeley's shot went high while Webber's shot was saved by Luke Staudt at his feet.  Loyola cleared and scored on Poitras's low shot as the Greyhounds took the win 12-11.

Inside the Numbers:

• Matt Constantinides set a new season-high in faceoff wins, coming just three shy of his career high of 21 at Drexel on Apr. 2, 2022.  He also had the first 10+ ground ball game of the year.
• Kyle Berkeley has netted at least one point in his last 12 games while Chop Gallagher has at least one point in his last nine.
• Evan Long has had at least nine saves in all three of his starts.
• Freshman Joaquin Villagomez became the first Tiger to pass the double-digit goal mark this year, having 11 on the season.

Next Game:

• Towson takes the short trek to Catonsville to play UMBC on Saturday, March 4 at noon.

- TowsonTigers.com –