Dragons' Season Comes to an End in CAA Title Game, 16-14

Saturday, May 4

Amherst, Mass.

1 p.m.

Drexel University

7-8Overall

#12 Towson (Finals)

11-4Overall

Drexel

Towson

Dragons' Season Comes to an End in CAA Title Game, 16-14

5/4/2019 2:46:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score

AMHERST, Mass. – No. 12 Towson (11-4) scored five-straight goals to break a 7-7 tie late in the second quarter to defeat Drexel (7-8) in the Colonial Athletic Association Championship game by a final of 16-14. The Tigers won the conference championship for the fourth time in the last five years.

The Dragons trailed by seven goals but scored the last five to make it a game. The comeback came up just short as the Dragons bid for their second CAA Championship disappeared.

For their play in the tournament, Drexel's Jimmeh Koita, Collin Mailman and Matthew Varian were named to the CAA All-Tournament Team.

Reid Bowering and Ryan Genord each had three goals and an assist for Drexel in the title matchup. Bowering finished the season with 47 goals, one shy of the Drexel single-season record set by Ben McIntosh in 2014. Genord acted as a first-half spark plug as he notched two goals in the opening 30 minutes and another to begin the second half.

At the X, Koita won 23-of-33 faceoffs and had 18 groundballs in the loss.

But turnovers killed the Dragons on Saturday as the squad coughed it up 19 times including 10 in the first half and six in the third quarter.

With a five-goal deficit at halftime, the Tigers led seven at the end of the third quarter. Towson's Luke Fromert added a dagger with one second on the clock as he avoided a crease violation, giving TU took a 16-9 edge heading into the fourth quarter.

Drexel attempted a late rally as the Dragons scored the final five goals of the game, all in the fourth quarter, as Towson was not able to find the back of the net for the final 15 minutes. Bowering added the first two to get his hat trick and up to 47 on the campaign. Mailman, McLallen and Nick Fox tallied the final three, 16-14.

With 6:32 to go in the second quarter, Towson's Grant Maloof scored a man-up goal after a Drexel penalty to give Towson the lead at 8-7. It ended up putting the Tigers ahead for good. Towson scored the next four goal after Maloof's score to take a 12-7 lead at intermission. A total of five different Tigers scored during the run.

The Tigers were up 7-4 early in the second after a pair of Towson goals within a span of 35 seconds. However, the Dragons were able to get back in it with a three-goal rally. Matt Klinges started the run when he scored his first of the year in transition after getting a feed from George Grippo in the middle of the field. The Dragons' man-up unit cut the lead to just one when Bowering found Chris McLallen who fired a shot past Towson goalie Tyler Canto. Ryan Genord ended the run with a running left-handed shot from about 11 yards away, evening the score at 7-7. It was the third tie of the first half and it appeared it would be a tight contest the rest of the way.