The Game: Towson (5-8, 4-2 CAA) vs. No. 15/13 Delaware (10-3, 6-0 CAA)
When: Sat., Apr. 29 – 12 p.m.
Where: Johnny Unitas® Stadium – Towson, Md.
Broadcast: FloSports
Radio Broadcast: Towsontigers.com
Series: Towson leads 44-22
Giveaway: Rally Towel for first 500 fans, presented by WesBanco
TOWSON, Md. – The Towson University men's lacrosse team closes out the regular season with an important matchup against rival and defending CAA champion Delaware on Saturday, April 29 at noon.
Tickets are available for the game through the Towson Athletics Ticket Office. For more information on tickets, interested parties can visit
www.towsontigers.com, call 410-704-3330 or email
dkogok@towson.edu. The first 500 fans in attendance will receive a rally towel, presented by WesBanco.
This contest will also be broadcast online on FloSports. Visit https://flosports.link/3PiZj24 to view the full Colonial Athletic Association schedule and sign up today. Spiro Morekas and Glenn Smith will also have the radio call on towsontigers.com live from Johnny Unitas® Stadium.
Towson has won its last two games and its last three CAA contests, coming off a 15-11 road win over Monmouth on Saturday to be 5-8 overall and 4-2 in the CAA to be tied for second place. Delaware has won its last five games, the last an 18-13 victory vs. Drexel, to secure first place in the CAA at 6-0 and 10-3 overall.
In a series which began in 1961, Towson leads the all-time record 44-22. Delaware has won the last four, including the 2022 CAA title game in Philadelphia 11-6.
A win for Towson would secure a berth in next week's CAA Tournament. Towson would also enter the tournament with a Hofstra loss at Stony Brook on Saturday.
TOWSON - 2022 CAA REGULAR SEASON CO-CHAMPION
In 2022, Towson was one of three teams who earned a share of the CAA regular season title with a 3-2 league record. The Tigers shared the regular season title with Delaware and UMass.
FOUR TIGERS EARN PRESEASON ALL-CAA
Four Tigers earned 2023 Preseason All-CAA recognition in the preseason coaches poll:
Colby Barsz,
Kyle Berkeley,
Matt Constantinides and
Garrett Zungailia.
Barsz, a First Team All-CAA LSM last season, finished with 25 ground balls and 12 caused turnovers, including three games with multiple caused turnovers.
Berkeley earned Second Team All-CAA last year, leading all Towson midfielders in total points with 43 off 25 goals and 18 assists, adding 19 ground balls.
Constantinides was the lone faceoff man on the Preseason All-CAA Team. Earning Second Team All-CAA and CAA All-Rookie Team last year, he had 147 faceoff victories and 86 ground balls in 2022.
A starter the past three seasons, Zungailia led all Towson non-faceoff players with 40 ground balls and 17 caused turnovers, being tied for fourth in the CAA in total caused turnovers last year.
NADELEN EARNS 100th VICTORY
On April 15th,
Shawn Nadelen earned his 100th victory at the helm of the Tigers. Currently in his 12th season, Nadelen has a 101-81 record as Towson head coach.
Nadelen is the second head coach in Towson history with 100 victories.
Head Coach Record Years at Towson
Carl Runk 262-191 1968-98
Shawn Nadelen 101-81 2012-pres.
Tony Seaman 99-93 1999-2011
TOWSON PREDICTED TO FINISH SECOND IN CAA
Towson has been predicted to finish second in the CAA preseason coaches poll. Towson received a first-place vote and 42 points overall, only trailing Delaware, the reigning league champion, with seven first-place votes and 49 total points.
2023 CAA Men's Lacrosse Preseason Poll
Team (1st) Points
1. Delaware (7) 49
2. Towson (1) 42
3. Drexel 35
4. Stony Brook 32
5. Hofstra 23
6. Fairfield 22
7. Monmouth 14
8. Hampton 7
BATTLING IN THE NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE
Towson will have a difficult non-league slate this season, scheduled to play four non-CAA teams who are ranked in the top-20 of the preseason polls, including a rematch against Virginia, ranked in the top-3 of the USILA Coaches Poll and in the
Inside Lacrosse Media Poll. In addition, Delaware, Saint Joseph's, Denver and Richmond were all in the preseason top-20 of each poll while Loyola stood in the top-10 when Towson played back in March.
PROGRAM APPROACHING 500TH VICTORY
Towson, which established varsity men's lacrosse in 1959, is just eight wins away from 500 as a program. Since the establishment under coach Billy Hooper in 1959, Towson has a program record of 497-378.
The Tigers are 347-272 since beginning DI play in 1980.
MIDFIELDER PAIR NOTCHES CAA AWARDS
Following Towson's victory at Monmouth on April 22, two Tigers who play in the first midfield earned CAA weekly honors. It is the third time where Towson has won two weekly awards in the same week (April 10 and March 27).
Kyle Berkeley was the CAA Offensive Player of the Week after earning career-highs with five goals and six points, also not having a turnover.
Mikey Weisshaar notched his first CAA Rookie of the Week after finishing with three goals, an assist and no turnovers.
MCDONOUGH TO PLAY FOR TEAM AUSTRALIA
Connor McDonough will be competing for Australia in the 2023 World Lacrosse Men's Championship this summer in San Diego. McDonough, a junior also formerly played for the U19 Australia Team. His mother is from Perth while his grandparents still live in Perth.
Australia plays in the Blue Division along with Team USA, which will include Towson 2019 alum Zach Goodrich. The 2023 World Lacrosse Championship will be played from June 21 to July 1.
FOUR TIGERS SELECTED AS CAPTAINS
Towson has picked four captains for the 2023 campaign.
Brandon Hund (Sr. A/M)
--Second-ever Tiger to be a three-time captain (Zach Goodrich '19)
Reagan McNemar (Sr. D)
--2022 Joseph Ferrante Memorial Scholarship recipient
Ryan Swain (Gr. M)
--2021 All-CAA First Team
Garrett Zungailia (Gr. D)
--2023 Preseason All-CAA Team
SIX TIGERS PLAYING AS GRADUATES
Six Tigers have their undergraduate degree entering the 2023 campaign, including five earning their degree at Towson.
Player Major
Kyle Berkeley BS - Criminal Justice
John Kiracofe BS - Communication & Media
(degree earned at Michigan)
Alex Reid BS - Business Administration
Austin Stewart BS - Communications Studies
Ryan Swain BS - Business Administration
Garrett Zungailia BS - Business Administration
As a team, Towson earned a 3.2 grade point average during the Fall 2022 semester.
CONSTANTINIDES ENTERS TOP-10 IN TOWSON HISTORY IN FACEOFFS
Towson's primary faceoff man the past two years,
Matt Constantinides stands ninth in program history with 325 faceoff wins. This includes 178 wins this year.
Constantinides needs five faceoff wins to tie for eighth in program history with Alec Burckley, who had 330 wins from 2014-17. Towson's all-time leader in faceoff wins is Alex Woodall, who had 583 from 2017-19.
MORIN - USILA DI TEAM OF THE WEEK
LSM
Sam Morin helped Towson nearly complete a big comeback vs. Drexel, scoring the final two goals in the final minute of regulation to complete a hat trick, adding two caused turnovers in the game on March 18.
His performance earned him as one of 10 players on the USILA DI Team of the Week.
FROM THE HOME STATE....
Of the 52-man Towson roster, 24 players reside in the home state of Maryland. This includes seven players from Baltimore County/City:
James Azbill (Catonsville),
Ray Glass (Perry Hall),
Brian Hoskins (Baldwin),
Andy Joerres (Reisterstown),
Andrew Milani (Catonsville),
Alex Reid (Baltimore) and
Garrett Zungailia (Timonium).
....AND THE WEST COAST
Four Towson players hail from the western side of North America, connecting a coastline from the Yukon Territory to Mexico.
--
Austin Ducommun - New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
--
Bode Maurer - Kirkland, Washington
--
Chop Gallagher - Portland, Oregon
--
Nick DeMaio - San Diego, California
TIGERS IN THE PROS
Towson alumni have made their mark in the professional lacrosse ranks this past season.
PLL - Premier Lacrosse League (PLL)
NLL - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
MLL - Major League Lacrosse (MLL, now defunct)
--Ryan Drenner '17 - Cannons, PLL
--2019, 2021 and 2022 PLL All-Star
--Zach Goodrich '19 - Cannons, PLL
--2021 PLL All-Star, 2020 MLL Defensive Player of the Year
--
Koby Smith '22 - Atlas, PLL | Philadelphia Wings, NLL
--Member of Atlas Sixes Team
--Alex Woodall '19 - Cannons, PLL
--2019 MLL Rookie of the Year, All-Star
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT:
Delaware is currently ranked #15 in the USILA Coaches Poll and #13 in the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll.
Redshirt senior Tye Kurtz is the CAA's leading goal scorer with 46 and leading point scorer with 68 off 22 assists. Junior attack JP Ward has 37 assists to lead the league, adding 26 goals for 63 points, second in the CAA.
Delaware has more CAA leaders on defense, including graduate student goalkeeper Matt Kilkeary, who has league leads with a 54.1% save rate and 8.83 goals allowed average. Owen Grant stands second in the league with 30 caused turnovers, adding 37 ground balls and six goals.
The primary player at the faceoff-X is senior Roland Hockenbery, who wins 51.8% for 56 ground balls.
SERIES HISTORY - vs. DELAWARE
Series record: Towson leads 44-22
--Streak: Delaware has won last four
--in Towson: Towson leads 21-9
--in Newark, Del.: Towson leads 21-12
--Neutral Sites: Towson leads 2-1
First Meeting: May 16, 1961
--Delaware 6-3 - Newark, Del.
Last 10 Meetings (latest to earliest):
Date Location Result
5/7/22 Philadelphia, Pa. L, 6-11
4/16/22 Newark, Del. L, 10-11
4/24/21 Towson, Md. L, 8-16
3/20/21 Newark, Del. L, 12-13 (OT)
5/2/19 Amherst, Mass. W, 18-11
4/20/19 Newark, Del. W, 14-12
5/3/18 Amherst, Mass. W, 9-8 (OT)
4/21/18 Towson, Md. W, 13-7
4/15/17 Newark, Del. W, 10-6
4/16/16 Towson, Md. L, 7-10