VILLANOVA, Pa. – The No. 19/20 Towson University men's lacrosse team broke away with a 6-1 fourth quarter to take down Villanova 17-11 on the road on a sunny Saturday afternoon.
 
Towson (4-3) used a seven-goal outing by Joaquin Villagomez and 19 saves from Matt Nilan in the win vs. Villanova (3-4).  With the game tied 10-10 late in the third, Towson scored seven of the game's final eight goals.
 
This is Towson's third victory of the year against opponents either ranked or receiving votes in the polls.  Villanova is receiving votes in the USILA coaches poll.
 
Key Stats

• Villanova had the lead in shots 42-40, but Towson outshot the Wildcats 15-8 in the pivotal fourth quarter.
• Towson's defense earned 19 saves to help hold off the 20-12 faceoff advantage for Villanova.
• Joaquin Villagomez earned seven goals and one assist for eight points, including six of his goals and his assist in the second half.  Mikey Weisshaar added two goals, four assists and a caused turnover while Will Schoonmaker earned four goals on as many shots.
• Matt Nilan earned a career-high 19 saves in the victory, allowing 11 goals, including just three in the second half. 
• In his first game as the primary faceoff man, Myles Quandt won 11-of-23 with nine ground balls.
• For Villanova, Luke Raymond tallied three goals, two ground balls and a caused turnover.  The loss went to Denis Fargione with eight saves and 17 goals allowed.

Postgame Quotes, Head Coach Shawn Nadelen:
--"The first half was great for the fans: high-intensity and chaotic.  After halftime, we settled in and controlled possessions, capitalizing on our chances.  Matt Nilan settled in too, stopping the good opportunities Villanova had."
--"In the second half, defensively we switched to more zone to slow them down a little bit.  We got a little better in the middle of the field with our wings keeping their wings out of the mix.  Offensively, we wanted to get deeper into possessions."
--"Joaquin Villagomez was looking good in pregame, and we were hoping in transferred into the game.  I loved that he was changing up the location of his shots, it kept making the goalie guess.  He has a hard shot, and he was changing up his release and his levels."
 
How it Happened

• Towson got off to a fast start, going off a Villanova turnover to score on first possession with Will Schoonmaker scoring off a pass from Mikey Weisshaar, then off a Myles Quandt faceoff win, a drop-off pass to Joaquin Villagomez led to a goal for a 2-0 Towson start in the first 94 seconds.
• Matt Nilan made a couple of saves on Villanova shots in the following minutes, but the Wildcats got on the board with 9:55 left in the first.  After a Towson turnover in transition, Villanova scored unsettled to tie the game, then added two more on the next possessions to lead 4-2 with 6:48 left in the quarter.
• Weisshaar got Towson back in the game with a setup pass to a charging Andrew Goldt for a score, then next possession, Alex Roussel targeted a pass to Weisshaar for a heater under the crossbar.  Villanova added two goals back towards the end of the quarter to lead 6-4.
• Owen Scott got Towson started off right in the second on with a goal off the catch and shoot from Trevor Phipps.  Next possession, Goldt, on a second chance, dodged around his defender for the open look and score, tying the game at 6-6 with 12:29 to go in the first half.
• Another transition play benefitted Towson as after a save from Nilan, David Bertoline Jr. stayed on the offensive end and found Schoonmaker for the quick shot and score for a Towson lead with 9:40 to go in the quarter.  That led to a man-up situation; though Towson did not get off a shot man-up, the same possession, Villagomez hit a low straight away shot for Towson to lead 8-6.
• Villanova got a goal back and tried to equalize, with Nilan saving the straight-away chance.  Holding off a couple of Villanova shot attempts, Towson cleared as again Weisshaar peppered a pass to Villagomez for a straight away laser score low for a 9-7 Tigers advantage, 2:11 left in the second.  Villanova added one more towards the end of the half while Towson held off a last shot attempt to take a 9-8 lead into the locker room.
• Nilan held on Villanova's first possession of the second half, but after a turnover on the clear, Villanova scored unsettled to tie the game.  Towson retook the lead after drawing a holding penalty, with Ryan Schrier emerging from behind the cage to score point blank.
• Towson fended off a man-down situation, cleared and peppered with three shots, but Villanova defended.  Towson again defended man-down with a Nilan save.  The action picked up and saw several turnovers on both saves in several minutes.  Following a Villanova timeout off a failed Towson clear, the Wildcats equalized with a Colin Michener goal inside the post for a 10-10 game, 3:51 in the third.
• Weisshaar got Towson back in the lead after a low bouncer went past the keeper with 1:32 to go in the period.  Towson led 11-10 after three.
• Off a Quandt faceoff win, Towson made the 10-man ride pay with Scott finding Schoonmaker for the long range shot and score on the open net 25 seconds into the fourth.  Towson held off a long Villanova possession then added to its lead the other way, again with Weisshaar throwing a pass from behind the cage to Villagomez for the low fire and score inside the post for Towson's biggest lead of the game 13-10 with 11:11 to play.
• Villanova's faceoff wins led to a goal to stop Towson's run, but Nilan stopped a second goal attempt and Towson scored in transition with Villagomez on the move.  Towson continued the pattern, hold on defense and score the other way and Villagomez scoring.  Villagomez scored three of the final four goals, assisting the other to Schoonmaker, as the Tigers ran away with the victory 17-11.

Inside the Numbers

• Joaquin Villagomez earns new career-highs in goals with seven and points with eight.  He has earned at least three points in each of his last six games.
• Villagomez earns Towson's first seven-goal game since Bode Maurer scored seven in a CAA Tournament semifinal win vs. Drexel on May 2, 2024.
• Matt Nilan's 19 saves is the most in a game for a Towson player since Evan Long notched 20 saves in a win at Hofstra on Apr. 8, 2023.
• Mikey Weisshaar is now tied for second all-time in career goals at Towson with 127.  He also has at least one point in each of his last 46 games played.
• Will Schoonmaker has scored at least one goal in all seven games played his freshman season.
• This was the first game between Towson and Villanova since 2009.  Towson leads the all-time series 17-3.

Next Game

• Conference play begins next week for the Tigers as Towson takes on Stony Brook on Long Island on Saturday, March 21 at noon.

- TowsonTigers.com –