With a strong defensive performance, the No. 16 Tigers open the season with an impressive 11-2 win over Mercer.
"Excited and happy to earn our first win to start the 2016 season," said Towson head coach Shawn Nadelen. "I thought our guys did a great job all week preparing for someone we didn't know a ton about...I thought from start to finish was an exciting thing to see from our squad."
Friday night marked the fewest goals allowed by Towson since 2011. The Tigers allowed just two points for the first time since a 15-2 win over St. Joseph's University.
"We want to keep teams to as few shots as possible," Nadelen said. "It's a great game plan. Defensively, I think we got a pretty veteran and strong group."
The Tigers held Mercer without a shot in the first 17 minutes of the game. The offense got things rolling with seven different goal scorers contributed to Towson's 11 goals.
Joe Seider and Spencer Parks both finished with hat tricks. Ryan Drenner finished with a goal and an assist. Freshman middfielder Zach Goodrich scored on a turnover caused by longstick middie Tyler Mayes.
Towson out-shot the Bears 38-17. The Tigers grabbed 25 groundballs and were nine-of-16 on faceoffs. Junior Alec Burckley won seven of his 11 faceoffs.
"Offensively our guys had good poise, shared the ball, as Joe (Seider) commented on, that's something that we've really transitioned back to after playing a little bit more selfish a couple of weeks ago," Nadelen said.
The Tigers improved to 3-0 all-time against Mercer, thanks to the third straight game in double digits.
Towson is now 4-1 in season openers under fifth-year head coach Shawn Nadelen. It's the first time since 2005-2007 that the Tigers have won three straight season openers.
The Tigers host Mount St. Mary's Saturday Feb. 20 at Johnny Unitas Stadium. Faceoff is at 2 p.m.
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