Winning on the road

By: Tyler Beard, Assistant Sports Editor

No. 12 Towson defeated the Hofstra Pride 8-7 Saturday and clinched the home-field advantage for the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Tournament. 

“The game was two tough teams going at it and these two teams pushed each other,” Head Coach Shawn Nadelen said. “I was happy our guys were able to come out on top.”

The win gave the Tigers (12-2, 4-1 CAA) the regular season CAA title and makes them the No. 1 seed for the tournament.

Towson battled with Hofstra (9-5, 3-2 CAA) the whole game, as neither team held more than a two-goal lead.

Hofstra opened up matchup with a goal early in the first quarter and junior attackman Joe Seider responded with man-up score to tie it at 1-1.

The Tigers found a rhythm in third quarter after Seider scored his third goal of the game and senior midfielder Ben McCarty found the back of the net less than a minute later. The two goals gave the team a 6-4 lead in the middle of the third quarter.

Hofstra’s offense followed though and went on a 3-0 run, which put the team up 7-6 near the end of the third quarter.

Both teams battled in the fourth quarter and McCarty tied the game at 7-7 with his second goal. The Tigers took the momentum from there and junior midfielder Mike Lynch broke the tie in a game-winning goal with four minutes left in the game.

Seider led the team with three goals and finished the regular season with a team-high 28 goals. Junior attackman Ryan Drenner also scored a goal and led the Tigers with 43 points in the regular season.

Redshirt senior goalie Tyler White finished the game with nine saves and finished the regular season third in the nation with a 7.18 goals-against average.

“I don’t feel too much pressure out there because I know my teammates have my back and I try to have theirs,” White said about his performance. “We trust each other and are just a very tight-knit group.”

Towson draws the No. 4 seeded Drexel Dragons in the first round of the CAA tournament. Towson defeated Drexel 11-7 earlier in the season at Johnny Unitas Stadium.

“We’re excited and we did things this season that awarded us this opportunity,” Nadelen said.
“We’re completely focused on our next opponent. We need to play a better game than this in order to win and once we do that, we’ll worry about the next one.”

The Tigers matchup against the Dragons on Thursday at 4 p.m. The winner will face either Fairfield or Hofstra in the CAA Championship on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Drexel finished the season with a 6-8 record but enter the game against Towson on a two-game winning streak after defeating CAA opponents Delaware and University of Massachusetts.

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