Towson men pull upset of No. 20 UMass
Tigers flourish on offense and defense in wire-to-wire 12-9 victory
Any win is key. The Towson men’s lacrosse team hopes Saturday’s might unlock a fruitful run.
The Tigers scored four of the game’s first five goals and never trailed en route to a wire-to-wire 12-9 upset of No. 20 Massachusetts in a pivotal Colonial Athletic Association matchup Saturday afternoon before an announced 1,026 at Johnny Unitas Stadium.
Senior attackman James Avanzato and junior midfielder Kyle Berkeley scored three goals each to fuel Towson (5-6 overall), which got off to a 2-0 start in the conference for the first time since 2019. That was the last time the program captured the CAA Tournament championship, which might be a positive omen.
“It helps a lot when it’s conference, especially against a team like UMass where historically we’ve had a lot of games where we’ve battled back and forth,” said redshirt senior goalkeeper Shane Brennan, who made a game-high 16 saves. “They’re a blue-collar team and so are we. Both teams are kind of known for that, and it showed today. It’s a step in the right direction. Just got to keep going that way.”
Minutemen coach Greg Cannella was left impressed by the Tigers’ showing.
“People can say whatever they want to say about their record, but they’re a really good team,” he said. “They proved that today. … I don’t think the score indicated what the result was. I thought they kicked the crap out of us.”
Towson’s come-from-behind 13-12 victory at Drexel on April 2 snapped a three-game losing skid, and coach Shawn Nadelen said that result provided them with some much-needed momentum against the Minutemen, who lost for the first time in six games.
“Earning that win at Drexel against a team that is very strong, I think it definitely allowed our guys to have some confidence off of that and continue to build it forward,” he said. “I’m glad the guys made it work this week, too.”
Midfielder Austin Stewart, one of 14 seniors the Tigers honored before the game, gave the team the early lead with a rocket from the left wing with 12:09 left in the first quarter. After senior midfielder Matt Weigand converted a pass from graduate student attackman Kevin Tobin to help UMass knot the score at 1 with 9:25 remaining, Towson scored three unanswered goals over a 2:38 stretch for a 4-1 advantage with 2:52 left.
After the Tigers opened the third quarter with a goal to take a 7-4 lead with 12:54 remaining, the Minutemen scored twice in an 80-second span to trim the deficit to one with 7:00 left. But Towson went on a 4-0 run over 10:13 stretch over the third and fourth frames to enjoy an 11-6 advantage with 11:11 remaining in the final quarter and essentially put the game out of reach.
The Tigers’ defense was especially strong throughout the game. For the second consecutive start, Brennan turned aside 16 shots, while fifth-year senior defenseman Koby Smith (Loyola Blakefield) limited Tobin, UMass’ top playmaker with team highs in both assists (14) and points (26), to a lone assist in the first half. The defense did not surrender a goal in stretches of 7:14 in the first quarter, 7:13 and 9:53 in the second, 7:00 in the third and 6:52 in the fourth.
Brennan said the Minutemen’s frustrations on offense were visible to him and his defensive teammates.
“You can hear the players talk to each other after a turnover or a save or a shotclock expiration,” he said. “You hear them kind of start getting after each other, and that’s kind of momentum for us. Them talking to each other, we kind of feed off of that, and that gives us energy.”
UMass junior goalie Matt Knote also played well, making nine stops in the first half. But he made just three more in the second as the Tigers took care with their shot selection.
“He was seeing the ball early,” Avanzato, who added two assists for a game-best five points, said of Knote. “Like most of the games with Shane, goalies are hot, and you just need to keep trusting the scout that we had all week and keep shooting to spots.”
Besides Knote, the Minutemen (6-4, 1-1) were paced by junior midfielder Matt Tobin’s one goal and three assists and Kevin Tobin’s two goals and one assist. But Cannella pointed out that his extra-man unit went scoreless in five chances (Towson converted 2-of-4 opportunities) and that the offense struggled against the Tigers’ size and aggression on defense.
“I think it has a lot to do with their personnel,” Cannella said before rattling off the jersey numbers of Smith, redshirt junior defensemen Garrett Zungailia (Calvert Hall), and junior short-stick defensive midfielders Reece Potter and Brandon Hund. “Those guys were excellent today, all of them covering guys, playing off the ball, getting the ball off the ground.”
Loyola Maryland 18, Navy 7: Aidan Olmstead totaled seven points on three goals and four assists to spearhead an impressive offensive display as Loyola routed Navy on an overcast afternoon in Annapolis.
Midfielder Evan James scored four goals, while attackman Kevin Lindley and midfielder Adam Poitras added three apiece for the Greyhounds, who have won 10 of the past 12 meetings with the Mids.
No. 9 Ohio State 12, Johns Hopkins 10: The host Buckeyes (8-3, 2-1 Big Ten) outscored the Blue Jays 4-1 in the fourth quarter to win. Jackson Reid had a game-high five goals for Ohio State. Garrett Degnon led Hopkins with a hat trick. The Blue Jays (5-7, 1-2) led 9-8 going into the fourth quarter. Hopkins hosts Penn State on Saturday at 6 p.m.
UMBC 16, Albany 7: The host Retrievers (3-5, 1-2 America East) ended a three-game slide and set season highs for goals scored. The Great Danes fell to 4-6, 2-2. UMBC was led by Brian Tregoning with three goals and three assists and Mike Doughty (Glenelg) with two goals and four assists. The Retrievers travel to UMass-Lowell on Saturday at noon.
LIU 14, Mount St. Mary’s 10: The visiting Sharks (6-5, 3-1 Northeast Conference) broke a 10-10 tie with a 4-0 run in the fourth quarter. The Mount (4-8, 1-3) was led by Kyle DeCrispino (Mount St. Joseph), Brendan Lantieri, Jared McMahon and Noah Daniels each with two goals. Mount St. Mary’s has lost its past two games and travels to Wagner on Saturday at noon.
Division I women
Towson 16, Drexel 15, OT: For the second time this week, the Tigers (5-7, 2-1 Colonial Athletic Association) won in overtime beating visiting Drexel, 16-15, Saturday. Towson upset No. 22 Johns Hopkins, 11-10 in overtime, on Wednesday.
The Tigers led 15-14 when Lucy Schneidereith (Towson) knotted the score for the Dragons (7-6, 2-1) with 4:08 left in regulation. Towson’s Kerri Liucci scored the game-winner unassisted with 5:12 left in overtime. The Tigers were led by Kerri Thornton with four goals and sister Kaitlin Thornton had three goals. Karson Harris had a game-high five goals for Drexel.
No. 6 Loyola Maryland 22, Colgate 9: Livy Rosenzweig had four goals and an assist and became the Patriot League’s all-time women’s lacrosse scorer with 381 career points, passing Navy’s Kelly Larkin total of 376 from 2017 to 2020. Her point total is 12th in NCAA history. The host Greyhounds (11-1, 4-0) went on a 13-2 run that spanned both halves to beat the Raiders (2-11, 1-4).
No. 24 Navy 16, Boston University 6: Reagan Roelofs scored a game-high five goals and Leelee Denton had a hat trick to lead the host Mids (11-2, 5-0 Patriot League) over the Terriers (1-12, 0-6). The victory was the fourth straight. Navy increased its 3-2 lead with a 7-0 run in the first half. The Mids travel to Holy Cross on Saturday at noon.
Mount St. Mary’s 13, LIU 9: Zoe Hurlburt (Fallston) and Erin Anderson (Westminster) scored five goals each to lead the visiting Mountaineers (9-4, 3-1 Northeast Conference) past the Sharks (2-11, 1-3). Mount St. Mary’s took a 9-6 lead in the first half. The Mount will host St. Francis (Pa.) on Wednesday at 3 p.m.
Vermont 16, UMBC 8: The host Catamounts (9-3, 2-2 America East) used an 8-0 run in the third quarter to pull away from the Retrievers (7-6, 1-2). Kolby Weedon (Catonsville) had four goals for UMBC. The Retrievers host Albany on Saturday at noon.