STONY BROOK, N.Y. – Down 6-2 early in the second quarter, the No. 17/20 Towson University men's lacrosse team countered with a 9-1 run en route to a 13-10 victory at Stony Brook in the squad's Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) opener.
 
Towson (5-3, 1-0 CAA) outscored Stony Brook (4-4, 1-1 CAA) 8-4 in the second half, helping force 12 Stony Brook turnovers in that span.  Towson also outshot Stony Brook 23-14 in the final 30 minutes in the comeback.
 
Key Stats

• Towson outshot Stony Brook 40-32 in the game and had 14 turnovers to Stony Brook's 18, helping to negate Stony Brook's 16-10 faceoff advantage.
• Alex Roussel led the way for Towson with four goals and one assist, all coming in the games opening 39 minutes.  Trevor Phipps earned his first career hat trick, including two fourth quarter goals, while Owen Scott tallied up a goal and three assists.
• Matt Nilan earned the win in cage with 11 saves and 10 goals allowed, also causing a turnover.  Joell Spagnuolo caused two turnovers on defense.
• Austin Welch won 6-of-12 faceoffs while Myles Quandt was 4-for-14.
• For Stony Brook, Collin Williamson finished with two goals and three assists while faceoff specialist Robbie Smith was 16-for-25 with 12 ground balls.  Tommy Wilk had the loss in goal with 12 saves and 12 ground balls in 58:59 of play.

How it Happened

• Play started back and forth as each offense settled in.  Towson struck first after Matthew Wolfington forced a turnover and cleared.  Nick Chan took the pass and dropped off to Joaquin Villagomez for the goal.  Stony Brook got its first goal on its next possession a minute later, then added goals on its next two possessions.
• Towson broke Stony Brook's run with 4:49 left in the first as Owen Scott passed across the goal mouth to Alex Roussel for the catch and shoot goal.  Stony Brook got the goal back on a man-up chance and led 4-2 after one quarter.
• Stony Brook took advantage of a couple of unsettled situations on offense, scoring on close range goals from Justin Bonacci and Brian Bradley, inducing Towson to take a timeout.  Towson's defense forced a shot clock violation, where the other way, Roussel scored on a low shot to pull Towson within three at 6-3 with 9:13 left in the second.
• Towson's defense started to make stops, with David Bertoline Jr. forcing a turnover behind cage and Matt Nilan saving a shot from the faceoff man.  Trevor Phipps added a goal after running from the substitution box to the cage for the high-to-low shot goal.  Stony Brook held on a couple of Towson chances, but with nine seconds left in the half, Mikey Weisshaar passed around traffic to find Roussel for the goal.  Towson trailed 6-5 at the half.
• Early into the third, Towson had several offensive chances, tiring out the Stony Brook defense with two caused turnovers on the ride.  Alex Vieni earned the low shot goal to tie the game at 6-6 5:36 into the third.  Towson continued to pressure, earning a man-up situation and scoring on a Roussel laser to the top right corner to push the Tigers ahead 7-6 with 6:06 left in the quarter.
• Stony Brook equalized just over a minute later with a Tanner Williams goal inside the right post.  Towson got the goal back with Villagomez and would take a penalty into the fourth quarter, leading 8-7.
• Towson's offense continued to work into the fourth quarter as Phipps drilled the corner during a man-up, then Owen Scott added a goal shortly thereafter on a dive around the crease.  Towson led 10-7 with 13:30 left to play.
• The other side, Towson's defense clamped down, forcing a shot clock violation then James Azbill knocked down a pass on the end line to stop another Stony Brook possession.  Mikey Weisshaar added insurance with a goal the other way, then Joe'll Spagnuolo blocked a shot off his leg to stop another Seawolf chance.  Towson led 11-7 with less than eight minutes left.
• Stony Brook notched three goals in less than 50 seconds off close range goals and faceoff wins.  Stony Brook won another faceoff, but the Towson wings forced him to the corner and got the turnover.  Weisshaar got the ball and got one-on-one with the keeper and scored a big insurance goal.  Towson led 12-10 with 4:12 left.
• Nilan intercepted a pass from behind the cage to again stop another Stony Brook chance.  Towson started to play keep away and drain the clock, adding a late goal for Phipps to win 13-10.

Inside the Numbers

• With the win, Towson has 19 consecutive CAA regular season wins, the longest current streak in DI men's lacrosse.
• This is the first time in six games between Towson and Stony Brook that was not decided by one goal.
• Alex Roussel has notched a least a hat trick in four of his last five games.
• Mikey Weisshaar, with two goals and an assist, has scored at least one point in each of his last 47 games.

Next Game

• Towson will be back home for the first time in over a month when the Tigers take on Drexel on Saturday, March 28 at 3 p.m.  Tickets for the game are available here: https://www.gofevo.com/group/tumlax26.