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Mike Preston: Towson men’s lacrosse routs Delaware, 15-6, to win CAA title, end NCAA Tournament drought | COMMENTARY

mike preston, baltimore sun
·3 min read

No. 15 Towson men’s lacrosse turned in perhaps its best overall performance of the season Saturday, dominating No. 19 Delaware, 15-6, to win the Coastal Athletic Association Tournament title.

The win before an announced 1,157 at Johnny Unitas Stadium guarantees the Tigers (13-3) a spot in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019. The selection committee will announce the entire field Sunday night.

It’s the ninth straight win for Towson, which captured its ninth CAA Tournament title and first since 2019. Delaware (9-5) was the No. 2 seed and the two-time defending champion. The teams played April 26, in Newark, Delaware, and the Tigers won, 11-10, to capture the conference regular-season championship.

But Saturday’s game wasn’t even close. Towson had a 9-3 lead at the half and went ahead 14-4 after three quarters. The Blue Hens could only score one goal in first 16 minutes of the second half while Towson scored four straight in the last four minutes of the third quarter to blow open the game.

Junior attackman Bode Maurer led the Tigers with four goals while attackman Chop Gallagher and midfielder Mikey Weisshaar (Archbishop Spalding) each had three. Senior midfielder Nick DeMaio (Maryland) had six assists.

Towson jumped out to a 3-0 lead with 5:07 left in the first quarter as the Tigers outshot the Blue Hens, 14-9, and won four of six faceoffs. But the most telling issue in the opening frame was Delaware’s inability to clear the ball, as it failed on four of 10 attempts.

Gallagher, on an assist from DeMaio, scored with 7:49 left to put the Tigers up 1-0, and then Bode Maurer scored a goal while cutting across the crease on an assist from DeMaio 17 seconds later.

Maurer beat short-stick midfielder Reed Kurtz for a goal from behind the goal about two minutes later, this time on a quick turnaround post-up move. Delaware freshman attackman John McCurry finally scored for the Blue Hens with 3:26 remaining, but Tigers attackman Alex Vieni closed out the scoring in the period with a low bouncer with 12 seconds remaining.

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Delaware midfielder Cam Acchione scored from on top of the crease to cut Towson’s lead to 4-2 in the first two minutes of the second quarter, but Towson answered with two straight goals, including one off a fast break by midfielder Alex Roussel with 5:47 left in the half.

The Tigers scored the last three goals of the second quarter. Gallagher scored on a run from the back of the goal with 3:59 remaining, and midfielder Josh Webber converted on an extra-man opportunity a minute later.

Weisshaar, working a give-and-go with Maurer, scored with five seconds left to push the Tigers’ lead to 9-3 at the half. Towson outshot Delaware, 29-14, in the first two quarters and the Blue Hens’ clearing woes continued as they finished with only eight of 17 conversions.

Towson also took advantage of Delaware’s inability to cover the Tigers with their short-stick midfielders, particularly Maurer, who had three goals in the half.

This story will be updated.

NCAA men’s lacrosse selection show

Sunday, 9:30 p.m.

TV: ESPN2