BALTIMORE – Led by strong performances by freshmen Ronan Fitzpatrick and Kai Lopez, the Towson University men's lacrosse team earned its first win of the season with a decisive 17-10 victory at UMBC on Friday night. 
 
Towson (1-4), down 3-1 late in the first quarter, switched to Lopez at faceoff, which helped the Tigers go on a 6-0 run vs. UMBC (2-1) and take the lead for good.  Towson built the lead to seven early in the fourth and held off a late UMBC comeback attempt for the win.
 
Key Stats:

• The shots were near even, with UMBC having a slight edge 34-33, but Towson made eight saves in goal to UMBC's three.  Towson scored on 85% of its shots on goal.
• Ronan Fitzpatrick had another career day, notching four goals and three assists, adding four ground balls.  Mikey Weisshaar earned four goals, two assists and two caused turnovers while Chop Gallagher finished with three goals and an assist.
• Kai Lopez went 15-for-27 on faceoffs, including scooping up 13 ground balls.
• Luke Downs took the win in goal, having eight saves and 10 goals allowed.
• For UMBC, Corey Myers led the home team with four goals.  The loss in goal went to Connor McMahon with three saves and 17 goals allowed.

Postgame Quote, Head Coach Shawn Nadelen: "Excited for the guys, we've been in a tough stretch.  This week, they stayed positive, got their energy back and continued to believe in themselves.  They exploded offensively, and Kai [Lopez] did a great job at the faceoff-X to help us get momentum on possessions.  Really proud of the effort and making the little plays to help us score goals."
 
How It Happened:

• Early on, both defenses held as Towson forced three shot clock violations and UMBC caused three turnovers.  After a UMBC offsides, Evan Boswell scored on a heater inside the right post from Chuck Matusek with 6:34 left in the first.
• UMBC scored two goals in a span of 55 seconds, the second on a man-up, to take the lead.  The home team added another off a Towson failed clear to go up 3-1.
• Towards the end of the quarter, Chop Gallagher looked to throw a pass across the middle, being deflected by a UMBC defender into the goal.  Towson trailed 3-2 after one.
• Into the second, Kai Lopez turned around the faceoff battle and got Towson the first possession.  Ronan Fitzpatrick, getting whacked by a defender, got to the cage and scored point blank to tie the game 3-3 in the opening minute of the second.  Minutes later, Fitzpatrick did the same exact thing as before, coming from behind the cage and scoring close range to give Towson a 4-3 lead, 10:46 left in the second.
• The Towson offense kept going and built on the lead.  Mikey Weisshaar hit a close range laser into the top corner, then Josh Webber ran several yards around and in front of the cage and scored.  Minutes later, again Fitzpatrick was hassled by a defender but kept going forward and scored on a low shot to make it 7-3 Towson with 4:24 to go in the half.
• Despite two late goals in the half for UMBC, Towson took a 7-5 advantage into the break.
• Forcing a shot clock violation during a couple of minutes of scoreless play, Towson added to its lead with a 3-0 run in a span of two minutes.  Gallagher got free straight away and scored from 10 meters out, then Chuck Matusek got the ball off the low pass from Fitzpatrick to score on the doorstep.  A minute later, Alex Roussel netted a catch-and-shoot man-up to make it 10-5 Towson.
• UMBC stopped the run on a goal by Corey Myers.  Towson got the goal right back and Fitzpatrick found Roussel for a forward dive outside the crease and score over the goalie's shoulder.  Towson kept going as Schrier got a ground ball in the middle and found Fitzpatrick on the doorstep for a 12-6 Towson lead.  Again UMBC scored, and again Towson responded as Fitzpatrick pulled a double team and dropped off to an open Schrier for the catch and shoto goal and a 13-7 Towson advantage with 1:11 to go in the third, the eventual end of third score.
• Towson kept going as Weisshaar got free from behind the cage around a short stick and scored.  Towson led 14-7 in the opening minutes of the fourth.
• UMBC made a comeback attempt, getting three straight goals to pull within four.  Towson halted that chance by scoring the last three goals, with Weisshaar having a hand in all three: scoring two and assisting another.  Towson earned the win 17-10.

Inside the Numbers:

• This is the second-straight win for Towson against UMBC while scoring 17 goals.
• Mikey Weisshaar has scored at least one point in his last 28 games while Chop Gallagher has a 23-game point scoring streak.
• Through the first four games, Ronan Fitzpatrick has netted 13 goals.
• Kai Lopez's 13 ground balls are the most in a game for a Towson freshman since Matt Constantinides had 16 ground balls at Drexel on Apr. 2, 2022.

Next Game:

• Towson will play its first-ever game in the state of Texas next weekend as the Tigers take on No. 18/19 Virginia on Saturday, Mar. 8 at 1:30 p.m. ET (12:30 p.m. CT) in Houston.