Towson, UMass Advance to Men's Lacrosse Championship Finals

4/30/2015 6:45:28 PM

Kelly McCarthy

FAIRFIELD, Conn. (April 30, 2015) – The 2015 Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Men’s Lacrosse Championship opened with a pair of exciting semifinal match-ups. At the end of the day, third-seeded Towson University and fourth-seeded University of Massachusetts were victorious, earning a spot in Saturday’s final. Saturday's championship game will be broadcast live on the American Sports Network (ASN) at 1:00 p.m. For television clearance information, CAASports.com/tvinfo.

#3 TOWSON 11, #2 DREXEL 8 | BOX SCORE | HIGHLIGHTS

Third-seeded Towson University topped second-seeded Drexel University, 11-8, in the first semifinal of the 2015 Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Men’s Lacrosse Championship at Rafferty Stadium. Ryan Drenner had a five-point day for the Tigers, tallying four assists and a goal, while four other Tigers had multi-goal efforts.

Drexel (7-8) opened the game with a pair of goals by Cole Shafer and Michael Kay but Towson (10-5) countered with three unanswered tallies for the 3-2 lead by the end of the first quarter. Just 47 seconds into the second quarter, Towson’s Joe Seider made it a two-goal game. The Dragons stormed back with goals from Ryan Belka and Shafer to tie things up. The two teams exchanged goals but Seider put Towson up, 6-5, with 2:21 left.

Shafer tied the game 6-6 at the 7:02 mark in the third quarter but Towson’s Justin Mabus tallied the go-ahead goal with five seconds left in the frame. The Tigers pushed out to a three-goal lead at the 10:21 mark in the fourth quarter on a goal by Max Siskind. The Dragons answered 12 seconds later on a strike by Robert Frazee. The Tigers were able to fight off the Dragons the rest of the way for the 11-8 win.

For Towson, Siskind, Seider, Mabus, and Ben McCarty each struck twice. For Drexel, Shafer finished with four goals while Belka finished with a goal and two assists.

Towson’s Tyler White, the 2015 CAA Defensive Player of the Year, had eight saves, including four in the third quarter, while Jimmy Joe Granito had nine saves for Drexel.

#1 FAIRFIELD 8, #4 UMASS 9 | BOX SCORE | HIGHLIGHTS

Fourth-seeded University of Massachusetts upset top-seeded Fairfield University, 9-8, in the second semifinal of the 2015 Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Men’s Lacrosse Championship at Rafferty Stadium. The Minutemen received a hat trick from sophomore Brendan Hegarty.

Fairfield’s Drew Federico got the scoring started in the first quarter with an unassisted tally at 11:38. The 19th-ranked Stags (9-6) struck again two minutes later this time on a goal by Tristan Sperry. UMass got on the board in the second quarter on a goal by Nick Mariano to make it 2-1. The Stags’ TJ Neubauer returned the lead to two goals with an unassisted strike at 10:36 but UMass got it back when Mariano connected with Peter Lindley with five minutes left. The score would stand at 3-2 at half time.

UMass (5-9) tied it up, 3-3, just 2:12 into the second half on a nifty goal by Hegarty. The Minutemen took their first lead of the night at 10:29 as Dan Muller scored from 12 yards out. The lead was short-lived as Neubauer netted the equalizer a minute later. Andrew Sokol countered by bouncing one in at 6:37 to put the Minutemen back on top and Hegarty extended the lead to 6-4 with 2:24 left in the third quarter.

The Minutemen wasted no time scoring in the fourth as Muller scored his second of the game to make it 7-4. Fairfield’s scoring drought ended at the 11:46 mark as Sperry found rookie Joe Rodrigues for the tally. UMass followed with back-to-back goals from Sokol and Hegarty to open up a 9-5 advantage with 5:35 left to play.

Fairfield did not back down as Sperry cut the deficit to three goals by putting home a pass from sophomore Jake Knostman with 2:08 left. Sperry struck again at 1:23, rifling a shot in from the left side, to make the score 9-7. With just 58.2 ticks left on the clock Federico found the back of the net while falling to the ground to make it a one-goal game. UMass fended off the Stags to come away with the upset.

For Fairfield, Sperry finished with three goals and an assist while Federico and Neubauer each had a pair of goals. UMass’ Zach Oliveri and Fairfield’s Tyler Behring each made eight saves on the night.