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Towson searching for answers, and wins
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TOWSON (Map, News) - Towson coach Tony Seaman still is searching for answers for his men’s lacrosse team’s struggles.
“It’s so frustrating,” he said. “When you are losing you can’t give things away. If they earn them fine, but boy, when they don’t earn them and you give them to them, it just can’t happen.”
Seaman has to find a way to get his team back on track today at noon when the Tigers host defending Colonial Athletic Association champion Delaware in front of a national television audience on ESPNU.
The Tigers (2-6, 1-1) started the season with high expectations, ranked as high as 14th in some polls. But the Tigers stumbled out of the gate with a 13-8 loss to 20th-ranked Loyola and lost four of their next five. Towson appeared to turn things around with a 9-8 league win at Robert Morris last week, but played its worst game of the season against UMBC on Tuesday.
The 12th-ranked Retrievers forced the Tigers into countless mistakes, including 19 turnovers, eight missed clears, a scoreless streak lasting more than 31 minutes and a season-low six goals in a game not nearly as close as the score indicated.
But as hard as it was to take positives away from the defeat, there were several bright spots.
Senior attacker Jonathan Engelke and senior midfielder Brian Vetter each had a goal and an assist and senior goalie Billy Sadtler made a career-high 13 saves.
Sadtler appears to have secured the goaltending job full-time from classmate Matt Antol, playing all 60 minutes against UMBC, despite posting a 46.9 save percentage and an 11.75 goals-against average.
“I am feeling pretty good and feel like I have seen the ball as well as I have been since I got here,” Sadtler said. “The first couple games I was putting a lot of pressure on myself, but I am feeling a lot more relaxed, a lot more confident now.”
The Tigers must play one of their best games of the season if they are going to come away with a win over Delaware (7-3, 1-0), which advanced to the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament last spring. Delaware split a pair of games with Towson last year, but beat the Tigers when it mattered, coming away with a 10-7 win at Unitas Stadium in the CAA championship game.
The Blue Hens are led by sophomore attacker Curtis Dickinson who leads the conference with 41 points on 31 goals and 10 assists. Senior attacker Cam Howard leads the league with 18 assists and freshman midfielder Anthony Ruiz leads the CAA in ground balls per game (5.2) and has won 56.6 percent of his faceoffs.
“It’s frustrating to keep losing,” Sadtler said. “It’s tough playing this sport against good competition every week, you have to stay mentally sharp and physically sharp for 60 minutes straight. It’s not like we aren’t working hard — we are working our butts off.”
dcarey@baltimoreexaminer.com
Comments from Examiner Readers
5:25 AM MST on Mon., May. 26, 2008 re: "Jays look to deliver Orange crush"
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Examiner Reader said:
You'd think that the Examiner and the Baltimore Sun could at least do an article on the most successful Division 111 lacrosse program in the nation after Salisbury won their 8th National Championship! Jim Berkman is only the coach with the most wins in NCAA history at any divisional level.
12 agree | 11 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Berkley Summerlin (leader of the Temple team that the Terps were to stuff) is a native of Baltimore. Perhaps an article about her would be interesting! Maybe better than articles about a 25 yr old Canadian playing lax at Md.
9 agree | 8 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
What's the update???
12 agree | 10 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
jesse you rock
104 agree | 69 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Good Luck to Cindy. Her players are lucky to have her. She is a classic. She was sorely missed this year by a lot of Maryland people. I only wish her the best.
166 agree | 174 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Next time do some research and get the atttendance numbers right! Monday's NCAA Men's Division I thriller between Johns Hopkins and Duke set a new attendance record for the championship game, with 48,443 fans enjoying the action at M&T Bank Stadium. That breaks the mark of 47,062 set last year at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. This year is the fourth year in row in which single-session attendance for the title game exceeded 40,000. The 2007 men's championships -- the Division I semifinals and finals plus the Division II and Division III finals -- also set a record, with 123,225 in attendance. That tops the 120,614 who watched the tournament in Philadelphia in 2006.
465 agree | 182 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Zimmerman is a class act. Best of luck to him and UMBC Lacrosse! Signed: An Air Force Academy Lacrosse Fan.
264 agree | 215 disagree
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Stephen Meister said:
Last year the Baltimore group derided the NCAA selection committees "Ivy League" selections. This year, the Baltimore crowd showed they didn't belong in the mix. Cornell had to stall the last 3 minutes at Brown, escaping with a victory and feeling badly beaten up. When Cornell met Towson the competition from the Baltimore boys was a joke. Albany took a beating from Binghamton, then Albany showed Loyolla to be a laughing stock. UMBC had to take Brown into overtime, but they hammered Maryland in the playoffs. Parity is here, baby, and the MLL is spreading the word. Baltimore better be wary, they may go the way of Tower Records as the rest of the country discovers this fabulous game.
309 agree | 255 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Josh Portis is a student of the game. Ralph has him throwing to 2 team most of the time. Steffy has 1st team which help his percentages. I say give Portis more reps with 1st team and watch his percentage sky rocket. He is a great passer as well as a serious threat with his feet. (playmaker)
275 agree | 273 disagree
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