PHILADELPHIA – Down by one early in the fourth quarter, the Towson University men's lacrosse team, with a backup goalkeeper in play, used a 6-0 run to sprint past Drexel 16-11 to earn a victory in the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) opener.
 
Matt Nilan entered for Towson (5-3, 1-0 CAA) with 10:54 to play with Drexel (3-4, 0-1 CAA) up 11-10.  After a Nilan save, Towson rolled off six goals in six minutes, including three in a span of 24 seconds, to take the lead for good.
 
Key Stats:

• Towson outshot Drexel 43-29 in the game, including a combined 26-9 in the pivotal second and fourth quarters.  Towson outscored Drexel 5-1 in the second quarter and 6-1 in the fourth.
• Josh Webber led Towson with five goals, a career-high, off nine shots, adding an assist and a caused turnover.  Alex Roussel notched a hat trick on four shots while Nick DeMaio had a goal and four assists.
• In goal, Luke Downs had five saves and 11 goals allowed in the opening 49:06.  Matt Nilan finished the game, having two saves and no goals allowed in the final 10:54.  Colby Barsz tallied two ground balls and four caused turnovers on close defense.
• Matt Constantinides won 15-of-27 faceoffs, getting seven ground balls and a goal.
• For Drexel, Zach Augustine totaled four goals on five shots.  The loss went to Drew McGill with 12 saves and 16 goals allowed in 60 minutes.

How It Happened:

• Towson picked up the first possession and made it count as Mikey Weisshaar passed across the fan to Chop Gallagher, who scored on a hard shot to the right corner.  Despite a second faceoff win, a turnover got Drexel the other way, where defender Luke Carden scored to tie the game.
• Despite Matt Constantinides winning another faceoff, Drexel made two saves and went the other way.  The Dragons scored three goals in a span of two minutes to take a 4-1 lead, prompting Towson to call a timeout.
• Towson got back to winning faceoffs and stopped the Drexel run with Josh Webber pushing through a defender and scoring close range.  Webber scored again on Towson's next chance as Gallagher drew a double team near the post, dropping off to Webber for the perfect shot in the upper right corner, drawing Towson within one at 5:17 left in the first.
• Drexel got a goal back in the next minute to lead by two.  Luke Downs made a big save on the post to stop a potential goal in the following minute.  Towson picked up a couple of man-up chances, but Drexel held to lead 5-3 after one.
• Towson got another man-up chance and this time scored as Nick DeMaio found Webber on the doorstep for the score on the low shot.  Drexel countered with Gavin Kelly scoring after emerging from behind the net.
• The Tigers pounced to take the lead with three straight possessions with Gallagher, Joaquin Villagomez and Alex Roussel scoring in succession in a span of 2:22 to give Towson a 7-6 lead with 7:21 left in the half.
• Play went back and forth as Colby Barsz forced a turnover on a Drexel chance, but two Towson turnovers plagued the Tigers.  With 1:39 left in the second, Webber passed across to Weisshaar for the laser and score.  Towson led 8-6 at the break.
• Drexel scored quickly in the second half off a shot under the crossbar in the opening minute.  Towson held on a one-minute penalty and got a chance of its own on a Drexel offsides as Webber got open on the goal circle from DeMaio to return Towson's lead to two 2:30 into the quarter.
• Sean Curcio got inside his defender and scored low with 8:50 left in third to pull back within one.  Under two minutes later, Zach Augustine scored close range to tie the game, then added another 34 seconds later for a 10-9 Drexel advantage.
• After Roussel got a big ground ball on offense after a double team nearly forced a turnover, ball got to Austin Ducommun.  Ducommun went several yards rolling around defenders to get a shot on cage and scored to tie the game at 10-10 with four minutes left in the third, the eventual end of third quarter score.
• Reece Potter forced a turnover on Drexel's opening possession to get the ball to Towson, but a ninth save by Drew McGill sent the ball back to the Dragons.  Luke Tomak scored on a high-to-low shot while man-up to give the home team the lead with 12:18 to play.
• With Luke Downs needing to come off, Matt Nilan entered and made a huge save on a transition doorstep shot.  The other way, Roussel notched the goal straight away off the pass from DeMaio.  After Barsz forced a turnover, Towson went on a tear, scoring three goals in 24 seconds: Webber scored in transition from DeMaio, Constantinides scored straight off a won faceoff, then after a Drexel timeout, Potter fired to Roussel for the point blank goal to send Towson ahead 14-11 with 7:38 left in the 4^th.
• Towson's defense did not let up and stifled Drexel the rest of the way.  Towson added two more goals, a doorstep goal from DeMaio and a high-to-low shot by Villagomez, to win 16-11.

Inside the Numbers:

• Towson earns its biggest margin of victory in a game at Drexel since defeating the Dragons 13-5 on April 2, 2005.
• Josh Webber scored over two goals in a game for the first time in his collegiate career.
• With four caused turnovers, Colby Barsz has 55 career caused turnovers, tying him for ninth in Towson men's lacrosse history.  Barsz also had the first four caused turnover game for Towson this season.
• Nick DeMaio increased his point scoring streak to 18 games while Mikey Weisshaar increased his to 16 games.  Chop Gallagher has scored in 10 consecutive games played.
• DeMaio has had three games this season with at least four assists.

Next Game:

• Towson continues league play on the road, playing at Fairfield on Saturday, March 23 at 1 p.m.

- TowsonTigers.com –