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Slow, meticulous and sometimes ugly to start, Towson held tightly to a 2-0 lead through the first quarter against Sacred Heart Saturday.
The methodical approach turned into a fast-paced offensive onslaught late in the second quarter that carried into the second half as the Tigers defeated the Pioneers, 16-8, at Johnny Unitas Stadium.
The victory kept Towson undefeated in the CAA.
Junior midfielder Will Harrington registered his first career hat trick, finishing with four goals on the game.
“When they went on the run, we knew we had to work that much harder to get through it. ” Harrington, who now has 11 goals on the season, said. “Coach [Tony] Seaman said before the game that we had to come in with energy to get through this and that’s what we did in order to finish and get the win.”
Harrington’s first score skimmed the turf into the back of the net to give Towson a two-goal lead that quickly evaporated into a single-score deficit. Harrington’s next tally tied the game on a pass from Brock Armour during an extra-man opportunity with less than five minutes left in the half. Sophomore Tim Stratton scored a minute later to give Towson the lead and Harrington followed quickly with his third of the day from 12 yards out. Senior Randall Cooper finished the rally with an easy finish from a foot outside the crease after receiving a feed from Justin Schneider.
“When you put the ball between the pipes, it makes all of the difference,” Seaman said. “Take the last five minutes of the Drexel game and the whole game today and that’s the best offense we’ve played all season. It was nice to finally be able to put somebody away.”
Towson opened the second half with three goals in 28 seconds, quarterbacked by face-off specialist Mitchell Rosensweig. After Pat Britton scored his third extra-man goal of the season to begin the half, Rosensweig reached the back of the net on an unassisted sore and then won the ensuing face-off before feeding Cooper to give Towson a 10-4 lead.
Harrington and Britton continued to pad the advantage through the end of the third quarter, along with diving behind the back goal by Schneider that rolled past Sacred Heart goalkeeper Zack Frank’s right foot.
Towson goalkeeper Rob Wheeler rebounded from allowing 14 goals against No. 6 UMBC on the road last week to stifle the Pioneers, giving way to younger backups to provide experience for sophomore Travis Love and freshman Andrew Wascavage. Wheeler made seven saves and allowed six goals in his 48 minutes.
“When we were able to keep the shooters outside, it let me see the ball better. We didn’t do that against UMBC, but we did it today,” Wheeler said. “When we can do that, I see the ball and we make the stops. It was a great overall work with the defense”
Towson’s next game is Wednesday against Villanova on the road.
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