The quick turnaround comes with an added uptick in opponent for ‘Cuse’s biggest test of the young season.
Two weekends in a row have yielded comfortable results for the Syracuse Orange on their way to a 2-0 start to the season.
But on only two days rest, the intensity’s about to get ramped up for Gary Gait’s team when the Towson Tigers come to town for the first of SU’s many games against Top 20 opposition.
The game is a rematch of last year’s NCAA Tournament First Round matchup, played inside the JMA Dome just about nine months ago and won by the Orange, 20-15. The Tigers opened up their season last Tuesday when they dropped a one-goal decision to Johns Hopkins at home, meaning they have an extra three days rest for this meeting.
The first regular season meeting between the programs since 2000 is set for 5 PM on ACC Network Extra.
- All-time series: 14th meeting; Syracuse leads 10-3
- Last meeting: Syracuse W, 20-15, on May 12, 2024 in NCAA First Round
- Towson last season: 13-4 overall, 7-0 CAA; lost to Syracuse, 20-15, in NCAA First Round
- Towson this season: 0-1 overall, loss to Johns Hopkins on Tuesday
Towson comes into 2025 looking to ride the momentum of a program resurgence in 2024 that saw them go undefeated in conference and return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019 after four straight losing seasons from 2020-23.
The Tigers were picked by the league’s head coaches as this year’s favorite in the CAA, edging out Delaware and receiving six of the eight first-place votes. As such, they had five players chosen to the preseason All-CAA team, including the preseason CAA Player of the Year, as well as two additional honorable mention selections.
They’re a deep and experienced team all over the field, as reflected by their preseason all-conference selections:
- A: Joaquin Villagomez, Bode Maurer (honorable mention)
- M: Mikey Weisshaar
- FO: Matt Constantinides
- LSM: Sam Morin
- D: Conor Spagnolli
- GK: Luke Downs (honorable mention)
Towson’s roster begins with Mikey Weisshaar, the preseason CAA POTY coming off a super sophomore season in which he scored an incredible 42 goals and 61 points from the midfield. Thought by many to be possibly the best midfielder in the country this year, Weisshaar will pose quite the defensive conundrum for the less experienced Orange rope unit.
Around Weisshaar, the Tigers offense is loaded with talent and experience, with six of their top seven scorers returning after all scoring between 61 and 31 points last year.
At the bottom of that list is attacker Alex Roussel, who stepped up in a massive way for an injured teammate back in May when he scored seven points on four goals and three assists. The player he replaced was second-leading goal scorer Joaquin Villagomez, who also missed the team’s first game on Tuesday against Hopkins.
The rest of those returners all also had productive games against SU back in May, including attacker Bode Maurer (4P), midfielder Josh Webber (4P) and midfielder Chop Gallagher (3P). It’s an offense that remembers how to produce in the Dome, so it’s going to be a big step up for an Orange defense off to a hot start in 2025.
Redshirt freshman Ronan Fitzpatrick did not play in the tournament game last year, but started off hot this year with five big goals to lead the team against the Blue Jays.
Towson lost their top defender to the PLL after last season, but they’ve got some good ones back, led by LSM Sam Morin and close defender Conor Spagnolli. Both started hot last week with Morin scooping six GBs and Spagnolli causing two turnovers.
FOGO Matt Constantinides had a good year last year at .573 FO percentage, but he and the Tigers struggled against SU in the tourney with the Orange controlling restarts, 23-of-38 (.605). Interestingly, Johnny Mullen was the face-off star of that game, not Mason Kohn, going an outstanding 18-of-23 (.783). Mullen has been inconsistent to start this season, so we’ll see if he can come close to repeating what he did in May.
Goalie Luke Downs is back after starting all but one game last season and finishing with a .528 save percentage and a 9.40 GAA. He had a rough showing in the tourney, making nine saves which surrendering 20 goals to ‘Cuse. He got off to a decent start last week, making 11 saves with a .500 save percentage.