The Towson Tigers head to Baltimore, Maryland to take on the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays this Saturday at 4 pm for what should be one of the most competitive games this season.
The Tigers are coming off of last weekend’s win against High Point, and the Blue Jays are also ecstatic after their victory last Sunday against future Big Ten rival, Ohio State.
Homewood field is ready to welcome the Tigers, who had a great game last weekend. Towson’s head coach, Shawn Nadelen is hopeful that this last game will set a positive tone for the Tigers matchup this weekend. 2013 was a great year for the Tigers, and they are only hoping to increase their edge during 2014. Last season, goalkeeper Andrew Wascavage was one of the team’s strongest leaders and top performers. As the team tries to compensate for the loss of such a talented goalkeeper, and hoping to stay strong with junior goalkeeper Tyler White, they are showing two youngsters in goal: freshman Matt Hoy and sophomore Ryan Adler. Both Hoy and Adler are strong in the goal, and they are strong competitors for the desired spot in the starting lineup.
Towson is confident in all of their players abilities, but there are a certain few that stand out and consistently lead the team to victory. Senior John Fennessy and junior JoJo Ostrander return to the Tigers defense and are ready to take charge of the defensive line. Even though there are a few returning upperclassmen, Towson is hoping to build upon the hopeful skills of freshman midfielders, Tyler Mays and Tyler Young. Young is a fast player, with a solid skill level, which will certainly make him an asset to the Tigers midfield.
The Blue Jay’s 2014 roster is looking extremely fierce this season. Last weekend’s home game against Ohio State was an opportunity for the returning starters to show off their improvements, and for the Blue Jays to get back in the swing of high-level, competitive game play. Brandon Benn, a senior attacker took the MVP spot last weekend. Benn had the game-winning goal in overtime against Ohio State, and that really helped the overall morale of the team.
Hopkins prides themselves on their strong attack line of Benn, Stanwick, and Brown as the trio each have the highest scoring abilities on the roster. Even though the Blue Jays lost six of their leading starters, they are hoping that a few of their 17 freshman will help compensate for the loss. Nick Fields is one of those freshmen that the team is hoping will earn his spot and become a dynamic defenseman over his career at Hopkins.
Johns Hopkins has a reputation for cutting-edge lacrosse. They finished out the 2013 season with a 9-5 record, and Coach Pietramala picked up his 170th career win last May. Hopkins was also one of the prominent teams featured in the MLL draft with four of their players being drafted to MLL teams. Senior midfielder Rob Guida will be heading to the Ohio Machines, Jack Reilly and Phil Castranova will go to the Boston Cannons, and the Chesapeake Bayhawks selected Brandon Benn.
Both teams have weaknesses that the other can feed off, but overall I think this game will be an exciting one. Benn is going to be a huge threat to the Tigers, and he has only improved his skill from game to game. However, Towson has Wascavage in goal and he is ready to compete. It will be exciting to see which team comes out with the W on Saturday.
