Towson and Drexel Survive and Advance to the CAA Men’s Lacrosse Championship Game
Ben Kane
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TOWSON, Md. (May, 1, 2025) – No.1 Towson and No. 3 Drexel survived and advanced to the CAA Men’s Lacrosse Championship game with wins on Thursday night at Unitas Stadium. The Tigers defeated No. 4 Hofstra 11-10 with a late overtime goal, while the Dragons posted a 14-6 win over No. 2 Fairfield.
The pair will meet on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. for the league title and an automatic spot in the NCAA Tournament.
Drexel 14, Fairfield 6
Sophomore goalkeeper Brendan Donnelly made 13 saves and held Fairfield to its lowest goal total of the season to lead No. 3 Drexel past the No. 2 Stags, 14-6. The Dragons head to the championship game for the first time since 2021 in the first season under head coach Steven Boyle.
Witt Crawford had six points with five goals and an assist for Drexel, while Connor Hooley and Max Semple both put three into the back of Fairfield’s goal.
Six players scored for the Stags with both Luke Okupski and Jake Gilbert having multi-point games with a goal and an assist each.
Drexel won the caused-turnover battle 23-18, while Fairfield outshot the Dragons 38-31 and won the faceoff battle 14-10.
The Dragons stretched out to an early three-goal lead with Hooley scoring two of the tallies in the first seven minutes. Boyle’s side entered the second quarter with a 5-3 lead and excelled both offensively and on the defensive end limiting Fairfield to one goal even with the Stags holding an 8-7 shot advantage.
Drexel wasn’t fazed by the Stags’ quick goal, as Crawford responded within the space of a minute before Hooley rifled two past Owen Hirsch. Holding an 8-3 lead at the break, the Dragons picked up right where they left off, with Max Semple’s pair of tallies extending Drexel’s advantage to 10-3.
Hooley and Liam Kammar found the back of the cage less than three minutes into the start of the third helping their team cruise to victory through the remaining 10 minutes.
Towson 11, Hofstra 10 (OT)
Bode Maurer proved to be the overtime hero off the back of an eight-point performance from Mikey Weisshaar as Towson defeated Hofstra 11-10.
With the game tied at 10-10 in overtime, Maurer delivered the game-winning tally off a feed from Josh Webber with 1:43 left in the extra session to send Towson to the title game for the third time in the last four years.
Weisshaar led the Tigers from the front-line netting five goals and assisting on three, while Ronan Fitzpatrick had four points with two goals and two assists. Luke Downs had nine saves in net for Towson.
Shea Kennedy was a force in the cage for the Pride, blocking 19 Tiger attempts, marking a new career-high for the redshirt freshman. Drew Bogardus had four goals while Trevor Natalie also netted a hat trick for Hofstra.
Scoring within the first 30 seconds through Weisshaar, Madsen answered right back within a minute for Hofstra. The Tigers sprinted out to a two-goal lead immediately after, closing out the first with a 4-3 lead. Weisshaar’s dominant run continued, roofing a third to have a first-half hat trick. However the score remained at a 5-5 deadlock at the half.
Hofstra came out of the break firing, going on a 4-1 run with Natalie and Bogardus each scoring two. Weisshaar continued to put on a show, assisting two straight for the Tigers to claw his team within one heading into the final 15.
Towson’s attempts to score immediately at the start of the fourth were thwarted by two saves from Kennedy. However, the All-CAA second team selection couldn’t keep the Tigers quiet for long, as Mauerer rifled one past Kennedy to knot the game at nine. Weisshaar put his team ahead shortly after snipping one into the top right corner for his eighth point of the game.
After Maurer netted to earn Towson a 10-9 advantage, Bogardus equalized with 2:28 on the clock to send it to overtime.
Both teams were unsuccessful in their first attempts of the extra frame until Maurer scored from deep to seal a spot in the CAA Championship once again for the Tigers.
2025 CAA Men’s Lacrosse Championship
Johnny Unitas Stadium – Towson, Md.
Thursday, May 1, 2025
4:02 p.m.: #1 Towson vs. #4 Hofstra
7:02 p.m.: #2 Fairfield vs. #3 Drexel
Saturday, May 3, 2025
3:32 p.m.: No. 1 Towson vs No.3 Drexel