Suggesting offense didn’t come easy for Towson the last two seasons is something of an understatement. It does not appear the trend is going to continue in 2022.

The Tigers scored 12 goals in their opening loss to Johns Hopkins on Friday, then rolled past Mount St. Mary’s 13-8 on Tuesday behind attackmen James Avanzato (three goals and two assists) and Nick DeMaio (three goals) and midfielder Kyle Berkeley (one goal, four assists).

It’s encouraging stuff for a team that managed just seven goals a game in the truncated 2020 season and ranked 45th nationally with 9.5 goals per game last season.

“I look at that as if we’re even smarter and a little bit more disciplined, can that number grow to 15, 16, even more?” coach Shawn Nadelen said. “That’s obviously an exciting piece of where we are, but where can we really be? We’ve emphasized transition play and looking to push to create more opportunities in that regard. We get a little out of sorts at times, but you’re going to live with that with the transition game.”

Transition stood out in both of Towson’s games in the last week. The Tigers scored six goals in the third quarter against Hopkins when the Blue Jays got haphazard, and they forced Mount St. Mary’s into 19 turnovers — eight on failed clears.

A revamped offense has cashed in. Both Berkeley and DeMaio transferred in from Maryland, and freshman Bode Maurer earned a starting job on attack. That allowed the Tigers to flip Andrew Milani to the midfield, where he has four goals and two assists.

“Moving Andrew Milani to midfield is a better fit for him, and he’s really getting comfortable there working with [Ryan] Swain,” Avanzato said. “Kyle playing better is taking pressure off Ryan and Andrew. And Nick has fit in great.”

The College Park-to-Towson pipeline already was working for the Tigers thanks to Avanzato, a senior who played in three games at Maryland in 2019. Last season, he had team-highs in assists (22) and points (40) for the Tigers.

DeMaio played in five games for Maryland last season and arrived at Towson with three years of eligibility. The 6-foot-4, 220-pound Berkeley has been a hidden-in-plain-sight find after playing in just three games at Maryland since debuting in 2018. He already has a four-goal game and a four-assist game for the Tigers.

“I think Kyle’s been really a strong presence for us the past two games — strong in two different ways,” Nadelen said. “He’s a strong, physical kid, but just his voice on the sideline has been encouraging, and his presence and the attention he draws out and the plays he makes are exciting.”

A year ago, Towson evenly split its 10 games decided by two goals or less, shot 26.8 percent as a team and closed out a 6-8 season by just missing out on the CAA tournament.

Two games is not a large sample size, but 31.3-percent shooting coupled with an eagerness to push the pace, which will be tested Saturday as Virginia (2-0) visits Johnny Unitas Stadium, hints the offensive improvement is real and could have some staying power deep into the spring.

“We’re starting to figure out who we are as an offense,” Avanzato said. “It’s just going to continue to grow. It’s early in the season, the first two games, but I think we could make this the norm for us.”

NUMBERS OF NOTE

0-14

Jacksonville was 0-14 against ACC schools prior to its 14-12 defeat of Duke on Sunday. The Dolphins had absorbed 11 of those losses against Duke and had never scored more than 10 goals against the Blue Devils prior to Sunday’s upset.

20

Maryland has scored at least 20 goals in its first two games of a season for the first time in program history. The Terrapins, who visit Syracuse on Sunday, opened with a 21-13 defeat of High Point and then pounded Loyola 20-8.

150

Victories for Denver coach Bill Tierney with the Pioneers after Saturday’s 13-9 defeat of Air Force. Coupled with his 238 victories at Princeton, he joins John Danowski (192 at Hofstra, 216 at Duke) as the only coaches with 150 triumphs at two Division I schools. Mike Pressler is three victories at Bryant away from joining that group; he won 153 games at Duke.

714

Days between games for Harvard, Princeton and Yale when they take the field Saturday on the opening day of Ivy League play. Each team last played on March 7, 2020, before the pandemic wiped out the rest of that season and the 2021 season. Also returning from competitive hiatuses nearly as long on Saturday are Cornell (713 days) and Hampton (710 days).