Tigers roar, saddle Midshipmen with 1st loss
DeMaio, Weisshaar total 15 points to lead Towson attack
Navy men’s lacrosse had everything go its way in two straight blowout wins to start the season. The Midshipmen dominated every facet in routing Mount St. Mary’s and Hofstra in back-to-back home games.
Coach Joe Amplo wondered aloud before Saturday’s first road game of the season how the Midshipmen would react the first time they got punched in the mouth.
Amplo got the answer to that question fairly quickly, and it was not the response he had hoped to see.
Towson jumped all over Navy from the first whistle and the visitors basically folded on both ends of the field.
Graduate student attackman Nick DeMaio established a career high with nine points to lead an offensive onslaught as the Tigers dominated from start to finish in routing the Midshipmen 17-5 on a windy, frigid day at Johnny Unitas Stadium.
“I just told the players that now they have to sit for a week with the fact they didn’t punch back,” Amplo said. “I give Towson a ton of credit.
“Towson played the way we want to play. They looked the way we should. Those kids came ready to play hard and physical, and we didn’t respond.”
Sophomore midfielder Mikey Weisshaar scored a career-high four goals and assisted on two others, while senior midfielder Chop Gallagher totaled three goals and an assist for Towson (2-1), which raced out to a 7-1 lead and never looked back. Junior attackman Bode Maurer contributed two goals for the Tigers, who posted easily their most lopsided victory in the 15-game series.
Towson coach Shawn Nadelen considered Navy a comparable opponent and was pleased his squad set the tone from the outset.
“I’m excited to see our guys step on the field ready to go and play well today,” he said. “I told them in the locker room that I thought that was one of the more complete games that Towson lacrosse has had in quite a few years.
“I think we came out with a lot of energy and focus and the guys played pretty strong lacrosse.”
Sophomore attackman Henry Tolker scored two goals to lead Navy (2-1), which was sloppy on offense throughout. The Midshipmen took too many ill-advised shots and committed too many unforced turnovers.
Navy came into the contest ranked fourth nationally with an average of 17.5 goals per game. The offense looked nothing like it did the first two Saturdays of the season, with the Mids settling for low-percentage shots and showing poor ball and player movement.
“We weren’t sharp handling the ball and didn’t dodge hard,” Amplo said. “We couldn’t win a matchup on either end of the field, offensively or defensively.”
It wasn’t a good sign early that DeMaio dodged past Navy close defenseman Nick Lacalzi to score the game’s first goal and that Weisshaar subsequently beat All-American long-sticker Jackson Bonitz for the second.
As the point total indicates, Licalzi never got Demaio under control, while Weisshaar scored another goal by beating Bonitz one-onone. The Midshipmen had been allowing an average of seven goals and gave up that amount less than 19 minutes into the game.
“We didn’t win one matchup,” Amplo said. “[Weisshaar] gets a goal on our best defenseman right away, and I think that spooked our guys a bit.
“Nick Licalzi, another senior, doesn’t win his matchup with [Demaio]. Those are two big mental plays. When two senior [defenders] that you’re leaning on don’t show that they’re playing hard and physical right away, that’s a sign.”
Nadelen agreed that Weisshaar beating Bonitz twice to score goals “definitely sends a message.”
“I think it showed that our guys were in that attack mindset,” Nadelen said. “I think our offense overall played very unselfishly. We played to what we expected to see out of Navy’s defense.”
Gallagher got into the act by scoring several off-ball goals, finding open space and burying hard, accurate crank shots. Weisshaar, DeMaio and Gallagher accounted for 12 points as Towson took a commanding 11-3 halftime lead.
Amplo said Towson didn’t do anything schematically to pick apart the Navy defense. The Tigers simply dodged hard, moved the ball quickly and finished open shots.
“The prerequisites for our team — toughness, hardnosed on the ground balls, playing together — those things didn’t exist today,” Amplo said. “We have to get back to the fundamentals of who we are. We will harp on that, and if we can be better in those things then we have a chance to look like a better team than we did today.”
Weisshaar, an Archbishop Spalding graduate and Arnold resident, credited the Towson scout team for giving the offense a great look during the week.
“It all started with our scout guys ,” he said. “We had a gameplan going in and they did a really good job preparing us for what we had to do.”
All in all, it was an impressive early-season win and a big confidence boost for Towson, which travels to Philadelphia on Friday to face Saint Joseph’s before hosting another in-state rival in UMBC on March 2.
“I thought it was a good team win,” Weisshaar said. “We were flying around from start to finish. We just have to keep going forward with that confidence.”
Navy must regroup in a hurry and get ready to host No. 13 Penn State (1-1) on Saturday in Annapolis.
“The positive is that it’s February 17,” Amplo said. “We’re not going to hit the panic button, but I want these guys to feel that hurt, that sting.
“They didn’t show up today and got pushed around the field by Towson.”
Navy (2-1) 1-2-1-1=5
Towson (2-1) 5-6-4-2=17
GOALS: N — Tolker 2, Jarosz, Haley, Landolphi. T — Weisshaar 4, Demaio 4, Gallagher 3, Maurer 2, Spagnolli, Roussel, Ducommun, Constantinides. ASSISTS:
N — Swanson, Hewitt, Schiffenahuse.
T — Demaio 5, Weisshaar 2, Gallagher, Villagomez, Webber. SHOTS: N—38. T—41. SAVES: N — Daly 10. T — Downs 11. FACEOFFS: N—12.T—14. GROUND BALLS: N—23.T—34.