Women’s Lacrosse: Second Half Haunts Towson In Loss

By: Jordan Cope, Associate Sports Editor

No. 17 Towson is riding a two-game losing streak after falling to No. 16 Pennsylvania 7-4 Saturday at Johnny Unitas Stadium and No. 2 Florida 15-7 Monday in Gainesville at Dizney Stadium.

Saturday, the Tigers (6-2) fell to the Quakers (6-1) 7-4. 

“Credit to Penn,” Head Coach Sonia LaMonica said. “They were riding hard, they were doubling and tripling the ball hard and we weren’t doing it together as a team and keeping our head up and moving the ball fast enough.” 

Towson got out to a fast 1-0 start thanks to a goal from senior midfielder Brenna Hamm.

The Tigers extended their lead to 2-0 when sophomore midfielder Kaitlyn Montalbano scored her 16th goal of the season on a free position shot at 16:56.

Following Montalbano’s goal, sophomore attacker Jenna Kerr and junior midfielder Samantha Brookhart each netted a goal to give Towson a 4-0 lead.

However, Pennsylvania got on the board with less than two minutes remaining in the half when sophomore midfielder Alex Condon buried a shot past freshman goalkeeper Angie Benson.

The first half ended with the Tigers leading the Quakers 4-1.

In the second half, Pennsylvania scored six unanswered goals to hand Towson its second straight loss.

“We for some reason came out pretty flat,” LaMonica said. “We failed to play together well as a team. I thought our defense did a good job, they really worked their butt off in that second half.”

But, LaMonica said, the team failed to clear the ball out and that translated into few offensive possessions.

Benson finished the game recording a career-high nine saves while Brookhart tallied one goal, one assist and two draw controls.

Monday, the Tigers fell to the Gators (9-1) 15-7.

Florida got out to a fast 4-0 start after scoring four unanswered goals less than seven minutes into the game.

Later in the half, the Gators extended their lead 6-1 after junior attacker scored her 17th goal of the season.

However, Towson responded with a 4-0 run of its own to cut Florida’s lead to 6-5 with 16 minutes left in the first half.

Both teams continued to find the back of the net, but the Gators took a 9-6 lead over the Tigers into the locker room at halftime.

Early in the second half, Burgess netted a goal for Florida while Montalbano netted a goal for Towson to make the score 10-7.

However, the Gators went on to score five unanswered goals to hand Towson its first loss of the season.

Montalbano finished the contest with a hat trick while freshman attacker Carly Tellekamp recorded two goals.

Towson will begin Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) play next weekend at home against rival Delaware at noon.

“We have got to rebound,” LaMonica said. “We have got to regroup and I have all the confidence in the world that this group will because they’re hungry, they’re determined and they’re a great group. This is a bump in the road but I think they’ll be ready to come together and put in a lot of hard work and be ready to step out and sort of turn it around for ourselves.”