BALTIMORE – The No. 17 Towson University men's lacrosse team and No. 16/15 Johns Hopkins had a strong battle in the opening game for the Black and Gold with the score tied with less than six minutes left, but the Blue Jays got the final two goals as the Tigers fell 13-11.
 
Towson (0-1) had a 7-4 lead early in the second quarter and outshot its opponent 52-41 in the game, but Johns Hopkins (2-0) scored nine of the game's final 13 goals to win the game late.
 
Key Stats

• Faceoffs were even at 14-14 as Towson had a slight ground ball edge 32-31.  Johns Hopkins had 13 saves to Towson's 10.
• Mikey Weisshaar notched four goals on ten shots, adding two ground balls.  Kai Lopez had two goals off faceoff wins, going 13-for-23 on draws with seven ground balls.  Matt Burnam notched a goal and an assist.
• In goal, the loss went to Matt Nilan with 10 saves and 13 goals allowed.  James Azbill caused two turnovers and grabbed two ground balls.
• For Johns Hopkins, Jimmy Ayers scored four goals while Charlie Iler had two goals, the final two of the game, and an assist.  Dash Lamitie had the win in goal, saving 13 shots and allowing 11 goals.

How it Happened

• Towson's defense got a triple team on a Johns Hopkins attack on the first possession, but a ground ball came to Jimmy Ayers, who scooped it up and fired hard for the score.  Towson defended on a man-down, but a Matt Burnam shot on the doorstep was saved the other way.  After Towson stopped another man-down penalty but lost the ball on a turnover, leading to another Hopkins goal for a 2-0 lead, 9:33 left in the first.
• A faceoff violation gave Towson the ball, as Mikey Weisshaar drew a short stick on a screen and scored straight away, then Kai Lopez added another off a faceoff win to tie the game at 2-2 with 8:42 left in the first.
• Hopkins went back ahead about a minute later on another extra-man opportunity to lead 3-2.  After some back-and-forth play, Owen Scott got off his defender who dropped his stick, passed to Ryan Schrier who scored while being pushed on the goal circle.  Score was 3-3 at 2:32 in the first, the eventual end of quarter score.
• After Hopkins scored on the opening faceoff on the second, Towson scored three goals in a span of 81 seconds: Lopez scoring off the faceoff for his second, Alex Roussel wrapping around the cage and finding Weisshaar for the catch and shoot then Trevor Phipps scoring his first from 15 meters out to give Towson a 6-4 advantage 1:44 into the second.
• A couple of replays lengthened the second quarter and led to a disallowed goal on Hopkins jumping into the crease.  On the restart, Elijah Smith went coast-to-coast, fired and scored his first career goal for a 7-4 Towson lead, nine minutes to go in the first half.
• Towson had a couple of shots hit the post as the Tigers tried to build the lead.  Hopkins got two goals back past the four-minute mark in the then tied the game off a fourth Ayers goal with 2:28 to go in the half.  Towson peppered the goal in the final minute but could not score and went into the halftime tied at 7-7.
• Schrier earned the faceoff ground ball after a hard hit from Hopkins.  It paid off as the ball came around to Weisshaar for the straight away goal to give Towson back the lead.  Hopkins got the goal back quickly.  Towson tried to retake the lead on a man-up, but another shot blocked stopped the Towson possession and Hopkins had a chance man-up.  Towson defended on the first attempt, but after turning the ball over, Hopkins converted on the next chance from Parker Sorenson.
• James Azbill forced a turnover as Towson cleared, with Weisshaar again coming through with a laser goal.  Again Hopkins quickly responded and retook the lead 30 seconds later.  The Blue Jays were up 10-9 with 8:41 to go in the third.
• After several minutes of back-and-forth play, a second chance attempt for Matt Burham turned into a score as Towson tied it up with 2:18 left in the third.  Towards the end of the half, Will Schoonmaker scored a between-the-legs shot low and score from Burham to give Towson back the lead 11-10.  Hopkins tied it up in the closing seconds of the quarter as the third ended at 11-11.
• The pace was high-octane to begin the fourth quarter as Towson had a chance off a Johns Hopkins turnover, but missed wide.  Each side would called on offsides on the next possession, and each team defended as the teams traded shots.
• Towson had a one-minute man-up chance on a Johns Hopkins cross-check, but a Joaquin Villagomez shot has saved and Hopkins cleared.  The other way, Nilan saved a close range shot to send Towson back to offense.
• After over nine minutes of scoreless play through the fourth, Hopkins scored towards the end of the shot clock on a Charlie Iler close range shot to retake the lead 12-11 with 5:35 left.
• Towson won the next faceoff but turned the ball over a minute later.  Iler scored again to add to the Hopkins lead with 3:41 to go.  Towson had a couple of late possessions but Hopkins held and took the 13-11 win.

Inside the Numbers

• This game was tied after each the first (3-3), second (7-7) and third (11-11) quarters.
• This is the 18^th time in Mikey Weisshaar's career where he has scored at least three goals.  He now has 111 career goals at Towson, standing fifth all-time in Towson history, and 162 career points, now 10th in Towson history.
• Kai Lopez, who had two goals today, had one goal all of last season in 17 games played.

Next Meet

• Towson has the home opener at Johnny Unitas® Stadium on Saturday, Feb. 14 at noon vs. Navy.
• Tickets are available here: https://www.gofevo.com/group/tumlax26