TOWSON, Md. – The Towson University men's lacrosse team earned a dominant, start-to-finish victory in the Saturday home opener, defeating Mount St. Mary's 15-5.
 
Towson (1-1) outscored the Mount (0-2) in all four quarters, dominating possession with 17 faceoff wins to Mount's six and outshooting its opponent 53-25.  Towson never trailed in the game, scoring 49 seconds in and beginning the game on a 7-1 run into the second quarter.
 
Towson's five goals allowed is tied for the top mark in a regular season non-conference game since the team's 11-2 win over Mercer on Feb. 12, 2016.
 
Key Stats:

• The Towson defense saved eight of the Mount's 13 shots on goal and forced 11 caused turnovers and six turnovers on the ride.  Luke Downs notched the win in goal with eight saves and four ground balls.  The 11 caused turnovers came from 11 different Tigers.
• Joaquin Villagomez had a career day against the Mount, earning five goals, two assists and a caused turnover.  Nick DeMaio notched six points on three goals and three assists while Alex Roussel scored two goals.  Towson finished with eight different goal-scorers.
• On face-offs, Matt Constantinides went 16-for-21, adding six ground balls, a caused turnover and an assist.  Elijah Smith notched seven ground balls and a caused turnover.
• For Mount St. Mary's, Cormac Giblin finished with two goals, an assist and two ground balls.  Owen Peters got the loss in goal with 13 saves and 15 goals allowed.

How It Happened:

• Towson got out of the gate quickly as Mikey Weisshaar found Joaquin Villagomez for the catch and shoot goal 49 seconds into the game.  As the ride stifled the Mount, Weisshaar forced a turnover and led to another possession.  Chop Gallagher's shot was picked up by Villagomez, who emerged from behind the cage and scored on the second chance to make it 2-0 Towson 3:22 into the game.
• Mount scored its first goal with 9:54 left in the first.  After some back-an-forth play, Weisshaar was denied a goal by a shot off the post, but a penalty on the Mount led to Nick DeMaio scoring off a quick restart.  Minutes later, a defender left DeMaio off a clear.  DeMaio took the opportunity, fired and scored to make it 4-1, the eventual end of first quarter score.
• Each side exchanged a shot saved as another Mount penalty put Towson a player-up.  Villagomez got a pass to Alex Roussel on the doorstep for the shot and score.  A minute later, Austin Ducommun made a move inside his defender for the point blank shot and score.
• Towson's ride forced three failed Mount clears, then Luke Downs saved a second chance Cormac Giblin shot to send Towson back to offense.  From behind the cage, DeMaio found Bode Maurer in front of the net for the catch and shoot score and a 7-1 Towson lead.
• The Mount got a goal back with 3:15 left in the second from Ben Schuster.  Towson peppered the goal but had a shot clock violation, then forced another turnover on a clear attempt.  Maurer's interception on the ride led to passes to Villagomez then Gallagher for a goal to give Towson an 8-2 lead at the break.
• Towson's defense picked up where it left off as Reece Potter forced a turnover and the Tigers cleared quickly.  DeMaio lasered a pass to Villagomez for a close shot and score a minute and nine seconds into the third.
• The pressure continued as Joe Petro and Villagomez caused turnovers and led another fast goal on offense as Roussel scored from Ducommun.  Roussel almost got another goal but hit the post, then Towson held off a tripping penalty.  But, another penalty saw Mount score to make it 10-3 Towson with six minutes left in the third.
• Towson added a goal with 2:03 left in the third as Josh Webber scored off a spin to give the home team an 11-3 lead after three.
• Into the fourth, the teams went back and forth as Towson held its lead at eight nearly halfway through the period.  The Mount broke the quarter stalemate with a man-up goal with 8:30 left in the fourth. Towson got the goal back as DeMaio made a couple of stutter steps around his defenders for a man-up goal.
• After the Mount scored, Elijah Smith grabbed the faceoff and found Matt Constantinides on the mid-line.  Constantinides threw the ball to Joe Meidling for the open shot and score.  Villagomez added two more in the coming minutes, each on shots close to the cage, to give Towson a 15-5 victory.

Inside the Numbers:

• In two career games vs. Mount St. Mary's, Joaquin Villagomez has earned 10 goals and two assists.  Villagomez set a new career-high in points with seven, surpassing his five vs. Mount St. Mary's on Feb. 11, 2023.
• Matt Constantinides is now tied for fifth all-time in Towson history with 375 career faceoff wins, standing with Mark Goers, who had 375 faceoff wins from 1993-95.
• Elijah Smith's seven ground balls tied for the most in a game for a Towson non-faceoff player since Garrett Zungailia had nine ground balls at Virginia on Feb. 6, 2021.
• Towson has won four straight games vs. Mount St. Mary's.

Next Game:

• Towson returns to Unitas to host Navy on Saturday, Feb. 17 at noon.
• To purchase tickets or if you have any questions regarding tickets, visit https://am.ticketmaster.com/towson/ or call the Towson Athletics ticket office at 410-704-4501.