Alena Schwarz/ The Towerlight

Because of a huge second half surge, the Tigers (2-2) defended their home turf by defeating the Howard University Bison 3-1 Wednesday.

Trailing 1-0 with 20 minutes left in the game, the Tigers showed drive by scoring two goals in a span of less than two minutes.

“We finally broke the dam,” Head Coach Frank Olszewski said of Towson’s first goal. “Scoring a goal in any game is a big emotional lift. Our hope was that we would get one in and the rest would follow.”

And that’s exactly what happened.

In the 71st minute of the game, defenseman Josh Danza headed a corner from senior midfielder Phil Martinelli to tie the game at one. That corner was just one of 13 for the Tigers. The Bison recorded none.

“Corner kicks are always a huge point in the game,” junior midfielder Christian Hofer said. “They’re always a huge chance. All set pieces are. We got a goal from that today and we’re happy about that.”

Just moments later, at 71:46, Hofer put the ball in the net to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead.

Towson would eventually secure the win in the 83rd minute when sophomore midfielder C.J. Corey shot a rocket from 27 yards out that beat the keeper.

The Tigers put on a clinic offensively, outshooting the Bison 23-2, with 12 of those shots being on target. After the first half, Towson was outshooting Howard 13-1.

“The offense was great today,” Hofer said. “We got a lot of chances. I think the more we play together, the more we get in a rhythm and the more chances we get. That’s a good trend and I hope we can keep this up.”

Despite only having two shots, both of which on goal, the Bison got on the board first in the 22nd minute of the game after some miscommunication among freshman goalkeeper Felix Petermann and the defenders.

After some frustrating missed shots and missed opportunities in the first half, Towson came out with a new sense of urgency in the second.

“Sometimes the game is about being technically proficient, sometimes it’s about being tactically proficient,” Olszewski said. “This one was all about emotion. We had to come and find it in our heart.”

Late in the second half, junior Olakunle ‘Kay’ Banjo and some other teammates got involved in a small altercation with some of the Howard’s players.

No one was ejected, but this is an issue that the team understands should not happen, no matter how high the emotions are, Olszewski said.

“We have to talk to him [Banjo] about it,”he said. “He has a target on him. If you have a target and they know that they can get to you that way then the target will get even greater. It will become a bulls eye.”

Towson will have a week off before it hosts Loyola on Sept. 11 at 4 p.m.