Towson tops Monmouth, Punches Ticket to the CAA Final

By: D’Mari Dreher-Smith, Sports Editor and Symone Hargrove, Staff Writer

The Towson Tigers are heading back to the Coastal Athletic Association title game after a dynamic 14-7 win against the Monmouth Hawks in the semifinal. 

Towson’s Kai Lopez grabbed the opening faceoff for the Tigers, allowing Joaquin Villagomez to score a multiple chance goal, 1-0. Both teams would trade possessions and saves until the Hawks found the back of the net with 7:33 left on the clock, 1-1.

A Mikey Weisshaar counter attack would put the Tigers back in the lead. After a Monmouth faceoff win, Joe’ll Spagnuolo forced a turnover and a groundball to get the ball back in Towson’s hands. Within six seconds, Villagomez would score after an assist from Joe Meidling, 3-1, with 6:01 left in the period.

The first period would end after a series of turnovers and mistakes from either team.

“I think the entire year we’ve known that it was really about us, and if we play to our standard and our potential, we can beat anybody in the country,” said Matt Nilan. “We knew where we needed to improve. And it felt like today we took another great step.”

The second period started the way the first ended. After an early shot clock violation from Towson, Villagomez would set up an Alex Roussel goal with 12:30 left in the period.

The Tigers would briefly struggle on offense. A faceoff won by the Hawks would give them a multiple chance goal, 4-2. The Tigers would try to find the back of the net, but continued to turn over the ball and produce nothing on goal, with high and wide shots plaguing them.

The Hawks would capitalize on the brief drought, scoring again off another Tigers shot clock violation, 4-3.

Coming out of a timeout, Weisshaar would pass across the defense to Villagomez for a goal off the right post. The period would end after Ronan Fitzpatrick came from behind the net for an unassisted goal, 6-3.

The Hawks started the second half with urgency after being down the whole game.They would have multiple shots on target, but none lucky enough to hit the back of the net at first. 

The Tigers would make their presence known in the second half, Weisshaar finding Villagomez in the crease, stretching the lead for the Tigers. But Monmouth quickly scored on the next possession, making it 7-4 with 12:32 to go in the third. 

As Monmouth continued to try and claw back, turnovers would punish them. Towson would score again, this time Roussel scoring behind his back with an assist by Andrew Goldt, 8-4.

On the other end, Towson defense held as Elijah Smith forced a turnover. Penalties would halt any Monmouth offense as Towson drew a one minute man-up penalty. Roussel would take advantage of the mistake with an assist from Weisshaar, making it 9-4 with 7:45 left in the third period. The goal would give Roussel his eighth hat trick of the season.  

Towson continued to gain momentum as Fitzpatrick would score an unassisted goal while Monmouth began to double team to try and stop the bleeding, making it 10-4 with 4:32 on the clock.

The Tigers drew another man-up opportunity, as Will Schoonmaker scored from the whistle.  The Tigers would notch a 4-0 run, stretching it to 11-4 with 2:49 left in the third.

Owen Scott would score with an assist by Will Schoonmaker to start the fourth period, 12-4. 

Towson continued to struggle with face-offs, giving Monmouth another opportunity to score in which they took advantage, ending a 5-0 Towson run. Towson’s face off percentage was at a low of 35%, a deviation from their normal dominance. 

The Tigers gave Monmouth no opportunity to gain momentum with a goal by Meidling, Weisshaar grabbing another assist, pushing it to 13-5 with 11:43 left in the game.  

Monmouth scored back to back goals after a face off win and a man-up opportunity. Towson was still on top, with the score being 13-7 and 6:56 left on the clock. 

As Smith forced another turnover against Monmouth, Fitzpatrick earned a hat trick of his own, his last goal bringing the score to 14-7.

Monmouth pressed with shots on goal but Nilan stood strong with two saves.  

“We just have to continue to be who we are. You know, these guys talked about it, competing to our standard, and that’s giving our absolute best every time that we’re on the field,” said head coach Shawn Nadelen.

Towson will take on the 3-seed Stony Brook Seawolves on Saturday, May 2 at 3:30 p.m. at Johnny Unitas stadium in their third consecutive CAA title appearance.