The Game: No. 20/18 Towson (8-3, 4-0 CAA) at Hampton (0-10, 0-4 CAA)
When: Sat., Apr. 13 – 12 p.m.
Where: Armstrong Stadium – Hampton, Va.
Radio Broadcast: Towsontigers.com
Series: Towson leads 1-0
 
TOWSON, Md. – The No. 20/18 Towson men's lacrosse team gets back on the road and heads to Virginia for a Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) match at Hampton on Saturday, April 13 at noon.
 
Spiro Morekas will have the radio call on towsontigers.com live from Armstrong Stadium.
 
Towson has won its last four games, all league contests, coming off a 15-11 win vs. Hofstra on Saturday to be 8-3 overall and 4-0 in the CAA.  Hampton fell on the road at Monmouth 15-4 on Saturday to be 0-10 overall and 0-4 in the CAA.
 
Towson has been nationally ranked the last two weeks, standing at #20 in the USILA Coaches Poll and #18 in the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll.
 
Towson and Hampton, which joined the CAA for the 2022-23 season, met for the first time on April 15, 2023, with the Tigers winning 20-1 at home. 
 
A win for Towson on Saturday would secure a spot in the 2024 CAA Tournament for the Tigers.
 
TOWSON - NATIONALLY RANKED
Towson stands at #20 in the USILA Coaches Poll and #18 in the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll.  Towson's rankings on April 1 were its first national rankings since 2020.
 
Towson is the only CAA team in the top-20 and stands with victories over Saint Joseph's (#19/#20) and Navy (receiving votes).
 
WEISSHAAR - IL MIDSEASON ALL-AMERICAN
On March 29, Mikey Weisshaar was honored as an Inside Lacrosse Second Team Midseason All-American.  He is the first Tiger to land on the publication's Midseason All-America list since Koby Smith in 2021.
 
The sophomore midfielder is Towson's leading goal-scorer with 32, including six man-up goals, adding 13 assists for 45 points in 11 games.
 
BARSZ - CAA PRESEASON DEF. PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Colby Barsz was selected as the CAA Preseason Defensive Player of the Year by the league's head coaches.  He is the first Tiger to earn this honor since Koby Smith in 2021.
 
A two-time First Team All-CAA honoree, Barsz was tied for the team lead in caused turnovers last season with 18, adding 22 ground balls.
 
FOUR TIGERS EARN PRESEASON ALL-CAA
Four Tigers earned 2024 Preseason All-CAA recognition in the preseason coaches poll: Colby Barsz, Matt Constantinides, Nick DeMaio and Josh Webber.
 
Constantinides, a two-time All-CAA Second Team player, was the lone faceoff specialist on the 2024 Preseason All-CAA Team, winning 56.1% of faceoffs and scooping 116 ground balls.
 
DeMaio earned 2023 All-CAA Second Team last season as Towson's scoring leader off 29 goals and 21 assists.
 
Webber picked up 2023 All-CAA Second Team as a starter in the first midfield, tallying 12 goals, 12 assists, 19 ground balls and eight caused turnovers.
 
In addition, Mikey Weisshaar was Preseason All-CAA Honorable Mention.  Weisshaar picked up 17 goals, eight assists and 15 ground balls last season.
 
TOWSON PREDICTED TO FINISH THIRD IN CAA
Towson has been predicted to finish third in the CAA preseason coaches poll.  Towson received 37 points overall, coming off a tie for second place in the conference last year after notching five league victories.
2024 CAA Men's Lacrosse Preseason Poll
Team (1st)                  Points
1. Delaware (5)              48
2. Stony Brook (2)         43
3. Towson                     37
4. Drexel                        31
5. Hofstra                       26
6. Fairfield                      19
7. Monmouth                  13
8. Hampton                     7
 
DEMAIO - USA LACROSSE DI PLAYER OF THE WEEK 2/20
With a nine-point performance in a victory over Navy, Nick DeMaio was honored as the USA Lacrosse DI Men's Player of the Week.
 
DeMaio finished with four goals and five assists.  He earned the first nine-point game for a Towson Tiger since 2019.
 
PROGRAM EARNS 500TH VICTORY
Towson, which established varsity men's lacrosse in 1959, earned its 500th victory as a program on Feb. 17 with a 17-5 win vs. Navy.  Since the establishment under coach Billy Hooper in 1959, Towson has a program record of 506-382.
 
Last season, Shawn Nadelen earned his 100th victory as Towson head coach, holding a 110-85 career record.
 
DOWNS - CO-CAA DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
For the third time this season, Luke Downs has been selected as a CAA Defensive Player of the Week.  He is the only player to have three CAA Defensive Player of the Week honors this year.
 
Downs earned the victory vs. Stony Brook as the netminder with 11 saves and just eight goals allowed.
 
GALLAGHER - CAA CO-OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
A six-point performance for Chop Gallagher vs. Hofstra earned him CAA Co-Offensive Player of the Week.
 
The Portland, Oregon native set new career-highs in points with six and assists with three, tying a career-high of three goals.
 
CONSTANTINIDES ENTERS TOP-5 IN TOWSON HISTORY IN FACEOFFS
Towson's primary faceoff man his first two years, Matt Constantinides stands third in program history with 497 faceoff wins.  This includes 207 wins in 2023.
 
Constantinides needs 10 faceoff wins to tie for second in program history with Justin Berry, who had 507 wins from 1999-2001.  Towson's all-time leader in faceoff wins is Alex Woodall, who had 583 from 2017-19.
 
He is also fifth in Towson history in ground balls, currently standing with 269.  He is five away from tying for fourth all-time with Mark Goers, who had 274 ground balls from 1993-95.
 
THREE TIGERS SELECTED AS CAPTAINS
Towson has picked three captains for the 2023 campaign.  All are captains for the first time.
Colby Barsz (Sr. D)
--Two-time All-CAA First Team on defense
Ray Glass (Sr. SSDM)
--2023 Joseph Ferrante Memorial Scholarship recipient
Josh Webber (Sr. M)
--2023 All-CAA Second Team midfielder
 
HONORING THE 1974 NATIONAL TITLE TEAM
2024 marks the 50th anniversary of the 1974 Towson State College national championship team in the College Division.
 
Captained by Jeff Clarke, Tom Moore and Wendell Thomas, the Tigers went 14-1 in 1974, defeating Hobart 18-17 in overtime in the Division II national title game.  Carl Runk earned DII Coach of the Year while Jim Darcangelo notched College Division Player of the Year while Wendell Thomas earned College Division Defenseman of the Year.
 
Towson will be honoring the 1974 national title team during the April 20 game vs. Monmouth.
 
FROM THE HOME STATE....
Of the 49-man Towson roster, 21 players reside in the home state of Maryland.  This includes four players from Baltimore County: James Azbill (Catonsville), Matt Burnam (Nottingham), Ben Ellis (Towson) and Ray Glass (Perry Hall).
 
....AND FROM DIFFERENT TIME ZONES
Towson players are represented in all time zones of the contiguous United States.  Including Maryland, Towson has representatives from 17 different states and Canada.
--Central Time Zone: Elijah Smith (Nebraska), Conor Spagnolli (Texas)
--Mountain Time Zone: Ethan Pearson (Colorado)
--Pacific Time Zone: Taz Delaney (California), Nick DeMaio (California), Chop Gallagher (Oregon), Bode Maurer (Washington)
 
TIGERS IN THE PROS/NATIONAL TEAMS
Towson alumni have made their mark in the professional/national lacrosse ranks this past season.
PLL - Premier Lacrosse League (PLL)
--Ryan Drenner '17 - Cannons, PLL
       --2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023 PLL All-Star
       --USA Men's Box National Team player pool
--Zach Goodrich '19 - Cannons, PLL/Team USA
       --2021 and 2023 PLL All-Star
       --Gold medal in 2023 World Championship w/ team USA
       --2020 MLL Defensive Player of the Year
--Fred Lee '08 - Team New Zealand
       --Started five games in 2023 World Championship
--Koby Smith '22 - Atlas, PLL
    --Member of Atlas Sixes Team
 
ACTIVE POINT STREAKS (10 GAMES OR LONGER)
Player                          Games (Points)
Nick DeMaio              21 (87P - 39G, 48A)
--Started: Mar. 11, 2023 at Virginia
Mikey Weisshaar       19 (65P - 46G, 19A)
--Started: Mar. 25, 2023 vs. Fairfield
Chop Gallagher         13 (32P - 17G, 15A)
--Started: Mar. 18, 2023 vs. Drexel
            (note: did not play April/May 2023)
 
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT:
Hampton was established as a men's lacrosse program in 2016.
 
Sophomore Darius Stanley is the team's top scorer with 10 goals and two assists.  Graduate student Mamadou Meite, who transferred in from Hobart, has eight goals from the midfield.
 
The team's primary goalkeeper is sophomore David Sadasivam, who has started all 20 games with a 40.7% save rate and 22.09 goals allowed average.  Classmate Dillon Bethea helps protect him on close defense with 25 ground balls and 11 caused turnovers.
 
Four different Pirates have taken over 50 faceoffs this season.  Sophomore Trevor Tran is the primary faceoff man, winning 39% with 13 ground balls.
 
SERIES HISTORY - vs. HAMPTON
Series record: Towson leads 1-0
    --Streak: Towson has won last one
    --in Towson: Towson leads 1-0
    --in Hampton, Va.: N/A
    --Neutral Sites: N/A
 
First Meeting: April 15, 2023 - Towson, Md.
--Towson wins 20-1
 
Last Meeting (latest to earliest):
Date                Location                      Result             
4/15/23            Towson, Md.               W, 20-1
 
NADELEN NAMED HEAD COACH OF U20 MEN'S NATIONAL TEAM
Towson head coach Shawn Nadelen has been selected as the head coach of the United States Men's U20 National Team.  Nadelen will prepare the U.S. U20 Team for the upcoming 2025 World Lacrosse Men's U20 Championship in South Korea.
 
He was part of the U.S. Senior National Team which won the gold medal in the 2010 FIL World Lacrossse Championships in England with a 12-10 victory over Canada in the title game.
 
Nadelen becomes the second Towson men's lacrosse head coach to lead one of the U.S. National Teams.  Tony Seaman, Towson head coach from 1999 to 2011, was the head coach of the U.S. Men's Senior National Team for the 1994 World Lacrosse Championship.
 
STRONG SEASON
Towson is having one of its strongest seasons in several years.
    --At 8-3, Towson has earned its winningest season since 2019, when the Tigers went 11-5.
    --Towson is 4-0 in the CAA for the first time since 2010.
    --Towson's 3-1 start to the year was the best since 2019, when the Tigers started the year 5-0.
 
THREE TIGERS SELECTED AS CAPTAINS
Towson picked three captains for the 2024 campaign.  All are captains for the first time.
Colby Barsz (Sr. D)
--Two-time All-CAA First Team on defense
Ray Glass (Sr. SSDM)
--2023 Joseph Ferrante Memorial Scholarship recipient
Josh Webber (Sr. M)
--2023 All-CAA Second Team midfielder