Shawn Nadelen

With a 7-7 overall record and a 3-2 mark in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA), Towson is locked in as the No. 3 seed in the conference tournament. The team can't catch No. 15 Drexel (10-3, 5-1) for the No. 2 seed and owns the head-to-head tiebreaker over Hofstra (7-6, 2-3) for the No. 3 spot. But that doesn't mean that the Tigers are planning on coasting in Saturday's regular-season finale against St. Joseph's at Johnny Unitas Stadium in Towson. “Any game you compete in - I don't care if it's T-ball or lacrosse - you want to win, and that's important for us as a program,” coach Shawn Nadelen said Monday.

Towson became the second team in Division I (after Lehigh) to seal its path to the NCAA tournament when it knocked off No. 9 Penn State, 11-10, for the Colonial Athletic Association tournament championship last Friday. So unlike area neighbors like No. 5 Loyola, No. 11 Maryland and Johns Hopkins, the Tigers enjoyed last weekend. “It was actually pretty nice after being away for four days,” coach Shawn Nadelen said with a chuckle Sunday night. “It allowed our guys to catch up with some of their school work, and it gave us two days of a little extra rest.

Unlike last season, Towson will not have to wait until the final weekend of the regular season to find out if it has qualified for the Colonial Athletic Association tournament. Despite Saturday's 14-11 loss to No. 15 and league rival Drexel, the Tigers clinched the No. 3 seed in the conference tournament. “Obviously, we're excited,” coach Shawn Nadelen said Monday afternoon. “We've played decently within the CAA this year, and we've earned enough wins to qualify us for postseason play.

The six-goal explosion by redshirt freshman midfielder Ben McCarty that powered Towson's 11-8 upset of No. 15 Drexel in Wednesday's Colonial Athletic Association tournament semifinal must have shocked the Dragons, who probably did not expect McCarty to match his season total in goals in one contest. Even McCarty's coach, Shawn Nadelen, said he did not envision that performance. “I can't say I anticipated that,” Nadelen said with a chuckle Thursday morning. “I'm excited for him to do that.

Shawn Nadelen wasn't happy about Towson's 12-6 loss to No. 5 Johns Hopkins Saturday night, but he reserved a good portion of his anger for the behavior of some of the players representing his alma mater. The Tigers coach was visibly enraged after Blue Jays senior defenseman Chris Lightner was flagged with 2:43 left in the fourth quarter for an illegal body check that was a non-releasable, one-minute penalty. During a timeout, Nadelen and Johns Hopkins coach Dave Pietramala exchanged some words, and Nadelen said after the contest that he was irked by the way several of Pietramala's players were reacting to Lightner's hit. “I was very upset they were celebrating a very potentially lethal hit,” said Nadelen, a former defenseman who played for Pietramala in 2001, his senior year.

Towson accomplished its preseason objective of qualifying for the Colonial Athletic Association tournament. But as the No. 4 seed, the Tigers get the unenviable assignment of trying to upend top-seeded Massachusetts in Wednesday's semifinal round in Amherst, Mass. The Minutemen are the only remaining unbeaten team in Division I, going 13-0 overall and 6-0 in the conference. They routed Towson, 14-3, in Amherst on April 7. The odds would not appear to be in the Tigers' favor, but coach Shawn Nadelen predicted that the players would not be intimidated by the task before them.

The six-goal explosion by redshirt freshman midfielder Ben McCarty that powered Towson's 11-8 upset of No. 15 Drexel in Wednesday's Colonial Athletic Association tournament semifinal must have shocked the Dragons, who probably did not expect McCarty to match his season total in goals in one contest. Even McCarty's coach, Shawn Nadelen, said he did not envision that performance. “I can't say I anticipated that,” Nadelen said with a chuckle Thursday morning. “I'm excited for him to do that.

One of the reasons why Towson struggled to average 7.9 goals per game last season was the team's inability to force opposing goalkeepers to make saves. The offense scored just 102 times off 430 shots last spring, succeeding just 23. 7 percent of the time. The Tigers may be putting that memory in the rearview mirror after scoring 12 goals on 27 shots in a two-goal win against Jacksonville in both teams' season openers last Saturday. Converting 44.4 percent of the shots was a relief for coach Shawn Nadelen.

With three more games left on the Colonial Athletic Association slate and tied with No. 11 Penn State for third in the league with identical 2-1 records, Towson is in a fairly comfortable position with regards to qualifying for the conference tournament. But with the aforementioned Nittany Lions visiting Johnny Unitas Stadium Saturday night, coach Shawn Nadelen said the weight of the team's postseason future is noticeable. “This is playoff lacrosse for Towson,” he said Monday.

Shawn Nadelen channeled his inner Tony Stewart. In the aftermath of Towson's 12-6 loss to No. 4 Johns Hopkins on Friday evening, the Tigers coach borrowed a theme expressed by Stewart - the three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion who said last year that he would “run over my mother to win a championship” - when asked about coaching against Dave Pietramala, who coached Nadelen in his senior year with the Blue Jays. “It's a game. It could've been my grandmother out there.

Wednesday's 11-8 upset of No. 15 Drexel in a Colonial Athletic Association tournament semifinal put Towson one game away from achieving a pair of preseason objectives. If the Tigers (9-7) can knock off No. 9 Penn State (12-3) Friday in University Park, Pa., they will capture their first conference tournament title since 2005 and seize the automatic qualifier for their first appearance in the NCAA tournament since 2007. It is a scenario that has motivated the coaches and players this season.

Cory Dobyns has sat out Towson's past two contests, and the sophomore attackman's status could remain the same for Saturday night's regular-season finale against St. Joseph's at Johnny Unitas Stadium in Towson. Tigers coach Shawn Nadelen said Dobyns remains a game-time decision as he continues to deal with an unspecified injury suffered in a 9-5 victory over Massachusetts on April 6. The team has already clinched the No. 3 seed in the upcoming Colonial Athletic Association tournament and could elect to rest Dobyns for another weekend, but Nadelen said if Dobyns is available, he will play.

With a 7-7 overall record and a 3-2 mark in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA), Towson is locked in as the No. 3 seed in the conference tournament. The team can't catch No. 15 Drexel (10-3, 5-1) for the No. 2 seed and owns the head-to-head tiebreaker over Hofstra (7-6, 2-3) for the No. 3 spot. But that doesn't mean that the Tigers are planning on coasting in Saturday's regular-season finale against St. Joseph's at Johnny Unitas Stadium in Towson. “Any game you compete in - I don't care if it's T-ball or lacrosse - you want to win, and that's important for us as a program,” coach Shawn Nadelen said Monday.

Unlike last season, Towson will not have to wait until the final weekend of the regular season to find out if it has qualified for the Colonial Athletic Association tournament. Despite Saturday's 14-11 loss to No. 15 and league rival Drexel, the Tigers clinched the No. 3 seed in the conference tournament. “Obviously, we're excited,” coach Shawn Nadelen said Monday afternoon. “We've played decently within the CAA this year, and we've earned enough wins to qualify us for postseason play.

Towson sophomore attackman Cory Dobyns sat out the Saturday's 10-8 loss to No. 12 Penn State, and a timetable for his return is unclear. Coach Shawn Nadelen said Dobyns, who ranks second on the Tigers (7-6 overall and 3-1 in the Colonial Athletic Association) in goals with 18 and third in points with 20, suffered an injury in a 9-5 victory over Massachusetts on April 6. Nadelen said he has not heard anything indicating that Dobyns sustained a season-ending injury, but he also said he is not certain whether Dobyns will play in Saturday's road contest against No. 20 Drexel (9-3, 4-1)

As notable as Towson's 9-5 victory over Massachusetts last Saturday was for junior attackman Devin Grimaldi's first career hat trick and first four-point display, the win also showcased the ability of JoJo Ostrander. The 6-foot, 175-pound sophomore defenseman limited Minutemen senior attackman Will Manny to just one goal on four shots and zero assists. Manny, a Tewaaraton Award finalist last season, may not be at full strength after sitting out five games because of a broken thumb, but Ostrander's performance earned the praise of Tigers coach Shawn Nadelen.

The absence of goalkeeper Travis Love from Towson's season-opening 12-10 win at Jacksonville Feb. 11 startled many fans and observers, who had assumed that the two-year starter would man the net again for the Tigers. Turns out that there was good reason for the fifth-year senior's absence: he was serving a one-game suspension for violating what coach Shawn Nadelen called a team policy. “He broke a team rule,” Nadelen said. “That's the reason why he didn't make the trip and why he didn't play.

Despite the presence of junior Andrew Wascavage and sophomore Jake Graves, Travis Love has cemented his place as Towson's starting goalkeeper. Love, a fifth-year senior who started in 2010 and 2011, has gone 10-15 as the starter, and coach Shawn Nadelen said the Westminster native and Winters Mill graduate has performed well enough in the offseason to deserve to start in the cage when the Tigers open the season at Jacksonville on Feb. 11. ...

Halfway through its Colonial Athletic Association schedule, Towson is 3-0 in the league and tied with No. 12 Penn State for first place in the conference. As euphoric as the team's rebound from an 0-3 start may seem, coach Shawn Nadelen said the players aren't giving into the temptation of assuming that they have locked up a berth in the four-team CAA tournament. “Being 3-0 definitely helps our chances, but I think the CAA is still wide open,” he said Monday evening. “There are a lot of games left and we're only halfway through our conference play.

Towson's 7-6 upset of then-No. 19 and Colonial Athletic Association rival Hofstra last Saturday night extended the team's winning streak to three, but it also exemplified the squad's ability to emerge with close victories. This season, the Tigers (6-5 overall and 2-0 in the CAA), are 4-1 in contests decided by a single goal. They have beaten Mercer, Navy, Delaware and now the Pride by one goal and suffered their only one-goal loss in a 10-9 overtime setback to Marist. Coach Shawn Nadelen said the team's perseverance is a unique mixture of luck and resiliency.