Tigers bounce back to edge Retrievers
Towson holds on despite scoring just twice in second half at UMBC
The Towson men’s lacrosse team suffered through a second lethargic half in as many games. Fortunately for the Tigers, that ineffectiveness did not hurt them this time.
Despite scoring just twice in the second half, No. 13 Towson had built enough of a lead to outlast host UMBC, 8-6, before an announced 691 at UMBC Stadium in Catonsville on Saturday.
The win helped the Tigers improve to 3-1 and rebound from Wednesday night’s 11-7 loss to No. 11 Loyola Maryland. But they still face some questions about their recent performances.
A two-goal first half doomed Towson against the Greyhounds. On Saturday, the team slogged through a similar result, but managed to win.
“I think the big thing right now for us is consistency,” Tigers coach Shawn Nadelen said. “We’re proving that we can do some good things and get some rhythm going on offense and defense and be dialed in. We’ve also proven that we can make a lot of mental mistakes like missing ground balls and missing opportunities, just mental lapses, and I think that leads to that one good half/one bad half thing.”
Towson, which played its third game in eight days, appeared in control after racing to a 6-2 advantage at halftime. But senior attackman Ryan Drenner agreed the team must find a way to put together a 60-minute game.
“We always have to start a game and finish it all the way through,” said Drenner (Westminster). “I think having three games in [eight] days probably goes a little to that. But it makes us stronger.”
Drenner and sophomore attackman Jon Mazza sparked that first-half run, scoring two goals each. Unlike the showing against Loyola, the offense was able to find its shooting touch early.
“The first quarter is what really determines how we’re going to go,” Drenner said, referring to the team’s four-goal period against UMBC. “I think against Loyola, we weren’t clicking on all cylinders. We were trying to do too much. Today, it was our goal to be more patient with the ball and to try to do a little bit less with the ball in our sticks.”
The offense appeared affected by the partial absence of senior attackman Joe Seider. The Hereford graduate is dealing with what Towson Sports Network analyst Hunter Lochte called a lowerbody injury and was pulled from the game early in the first quarter.
But after the Retrievers narrowed the deficit to 6-4 on a goal from freshman attackman Mitch Howell with 7:13 left in the third quarter, Seider returned and scored to give Towson a 7-4 lead with 1:14 remaining and end a 16:53 scoring drought.
The Tigers played the entire game without senior short-stick defensive midfielder Jack Adams, who had played the previous two games with a black sleeve around his right calf. The team filled the Hereford graduate’s absence by shifting senior midfielder Tyler Young (Arundel) to defense and promoting to the first midfield Tyler Konen, who had assists on two of the team’s first three goals.
Junior goalkeeper Josh Miller, who made seven saves, credited his defense with cutting off UMBC’s strategy of trying to feed its crease finishers.
For the Retrievers (1-4) , junior midfielder Max Haldeman scored twice, and senior attackman Max Maxwell added a goal and an assist. But first-year coach Ryan Moran said an offense that blistered Mercer for 15 goals Feb. 25 took too long to gain traction against Towson’s defense.
“I just think we started out really slow offensively,” he said. “We didn’t get any rhythm in the entire first half.” Towson 4 1 2 1 1 3 Goals: T—Drenner 3, Mazza 2, Bolewicki, Kinnear, Seider; UMBC— Haldeman 2, Brewster, Howell, Maxwell, McIntyre. Assists: T—Konen 2; UMBC—Anderson, Frawley, Maxwell. Saves: T—Miller 7; UMBC— Souder 6.