NCAA Rewind: Quite the Return to Form for Towson

Before USA Lacrosse Magazine looks ahead to what’s to come in 2025 — look out for our NCAA Way-Too-Early Top 25 rankings later this summer — our team of staff and contributors decided it was worth taking a last look at the 2024 college lacrosse season.

To do that, we’re taking a journey through 30 of the top teams in men’s and women’s lacrosse to see what went right, what went wrong and how we should feel about the season.

TOWSON

USA Lacrosse preseason/final ranking: unranked/No. 14
2024 record: 13-4 (7-0 CAA)

What went right: The Tigers’ experience — some of it burnished during a COVID-era downturn in fortunes — paid off handsomely with a perfect run through the CAA. Veterans like attackman Nick DeMaio (32 goals, 50 assists) and defenseman Colby Barsz (22 caused turnovers) attracted some All-America attention. 

Sophomore Mikey Weisshaar emerged as a bona fide star, collecting 42 goals and 19 assists and staking a place among the nation’s best midfielders. Bode Maurer (36 G, 6 A) and Joaquin Villagomez (33 G, 12 A) had strong years to give Towson four 30-goal scorers, and Chop Gallagher (23 G, 22 A), Josh Webber (20 G, 14 A) and Alex Roussel (19 G, 12 A) were exceptional as well. 

Matt Constantinides (.573) ensured faceoffs weren’t a problem for Towson, which also benefited from some injury luck. Its 10 regular starters missed a combined two starts all season.

What went wrong: The Tigers got on the wrong end of an old-school Syracuse run in the Dome, giving up nine consecutive goals to start the second half in what became a 20-15 loss in the first round of the NCAA tournament. 

Besides that, not much — and even that night, Towson held a 9-8 halftime lead against the tournament’s No. 4 seed.

Season highlight: Even with Villagomez getting hurt early in the CAA final, Towson clobbered Delaware 15-6 on May 4 to earn its first NCAA tournament berth since 2019. It was a breathtaking demolition of a usually buttoned-up opponent, and Towson had more caused turnovers (13) than shots on goals allowed (12).

Verdict: Towson reclaimed its place at the top of the CAA, a perch the Tigers enjoyed five times in a seven-season span from 2013-19 before struggling in recent years. The problems of those seasons — especially on the offensive side — were solved, putting Towson in fine shape to remain a force in its conference and a potential postseason regular for years to come. 

In that sense, few teams enjoyed as vibrant a spring as the Tigers.