TOWSON, Md. – Riding a five-goal performance by redshirt freshman Ronan Fitzpatrick, the No. 17 Towson University men's lacrosse team had a final chance with 30 seconds left to tie the game but came up just short to No. 8 Johns Hopkins 11-10 for the season opener on Tuesday afternoon.
 
Towson (0-1) was down four with two minutes to play in the third quarter to Johns Hopkins (2-0), where the Tigers rolled off three goals in less than a minute to pull within one.  Back and forth the teams went with goals as Hopkins held the lead.  Towson final possession resulted in a turnover, ending the game.
 
Key Stats:

• Stats were close to even across the board, with Johns Hopkins having a slight edge in shots 37-33 and faceoffs won 14-10.
• Ronan Fitzpatrick, playing in just his second collegiate game, scored five goals to lead all players.  Mikey Weisshaar had two goals and an assist while Chop Gallagher finished with a goal and two assists.
• In goal, Luke Downs had the defeat with 11 goals allowed despite 11 saves.  Conor Spagnolli forced two turnovers.  Matt Constantinides and Kai Lopez went 5-15 and 5-9 on faceoffs respectively.
• For Johns Hopkins, Hunter Chauvette had a hat trick, adding two ground balls and two caused turnovers.  Luke Staudt had the win in goal, having 10 saves and 10 goals allowed.

How It Happened:

• Each side committed turnovers early as the teams looked to settle in.  Chop Gallagher rolled off a defender to get free close to the cage and scored to break the deadlock 5:25 in.
• Johns Hopkins scored twice in two minutes to take the lead.  After a chaotic 65 seconds with five combined turnovers, Ronan Fitzpatrick scored on a dive across the crease to tie the game at 2-2 after one.
• The visitors scored two quick goals into the second and added to their lead, going up 6-2 with 9:56 left in the second.  Towson called a timeout to regroup, stopping the run with an Alex Vieni goal off a dodge to make it 6-3 Hopkins, the eventual halftime score.
• Rough play commenced with several turnovers to begin the second half.  After one of the unsettled plays off a clear, Dan Reilly passed off to an open Fitzpatrick for the run-up goal to pull Towson with two.  In the following minutes, Hopkins rebuilt the lead to 8-4 with two minutes to go in the third.
• Mikey Weisshaar scored on a furious rip to begin a run for Towson.  Fitzpatrick scored twice in the next 55 seconds on catch and shoot plays to pull Towson within one at 8-7 going into the fourth quarter.
• An early goal for Hopkins in the fourth set the pace as the teams would go back-and-forth the rest of the way.  Towson got back the goal on Bode Maurer getting the ball in the middle of the arc and scoring, but Hopkins scored 12 seconds later.  Again Towson scored on a low left-handed laser from Weisshaar, and again Hopkins got the goal back with 4:04 left.
• Down two in the final minute, Towson got within striking distance as Fitzpatrick scored his fifth on a wind up and score on a man-up situation.  Matt Constantinides won the faceoff for a final Towson possession, but a turnover in the final seconds ended the game as Hopkins won 12-11.

Inside the Numbers:

• Ronan Fitzpatrick is the first Towson freshman to score five goals in a game since Matt Burnam had five goals at Hampton on April 13, 2024.  It is the first 5+ goal performance for a Tiger vs. Johns Hopkins since Brendan Sunday put six goals in the net vs. the Blue Jays on Feb. 9, 2019.
• Mikey Weisshaar has scored at least one point in 25 consecutive games dating back to Mar. 25, 2023.

Next Game:

• Towson will take on another 2024 NCAA Quarterfinalist on Monday, Feb. 10 at 5 p.m., heading to Central New York to take on No. 3/2 Syracuse.