Minnegan Stadium hasn't been kind to Towson State's lacrosse team.
Before yesterday's game with the University of Delaware, the seventh-ranked Tigers had dropped their last five home games, the most recent, 13-12, last weekend to cross-town rival Loyola.
But last night, the Tigers looked right at home at Minnegan, routing the 16th-ranked Blue Hens, 12-5, before 1,590.
"This is a good win for us because they're a heck of a squad and we've got [a] nice rivalry going with Delaware," said Tigers coach Carl Runk. Towson leads the series, 21-10. "I personally feel that our goalie [Brian Whalen] played an outstanding game. He kept us in the ballgame, and any time Delaware was in the position where they would be a threat, he turned it off."
Whalen, a sophomore from Holmes, N.Y., was happy he could help his team win, but was really glad his team had the opportunity to show the home crowd that the Tigers can play consistent lacrosse for four quarters.
"We knew we were a better team than them. It was a just a matter of coming out tonight and beating them," said Whalen, who finished with 16 saves. "I guess everyone thought, coming into the fourth quarter, that we would fall apart again, but we stood strong and we took it to them."
The Tigers (5-2), who were coming off Wednesday's 22-7 win at Bucknell, scored first on sophomore midfielder Tim Langton's goal on a feed from junior Tim Lucky. The Blue Hens (5-3) answered with three straight unassisted goals, two by Brad Glowaki and one by Tom Stamos.
Langton added his second goal on an assist from junior attackman David Quinn, cutting the lead to one with 2:19 left in the first quarter.
Towson tied the score a little more than two minutes into the second quarter when Steve Carcaterra scored on a feed from Stewart Crotty.
Towson State continued to control possession, and the Tigers got off seven straight shots during one span but couldn't put any past freshman goalkeeper Brian Cooper (15 saves).
Towson State got three unassisted goals in the final 2:22 of the first half. Freshman attackman Dudley Dixon scored the go-ahead goal, and Quinn and junior midfielder Al Tyler also scored.
Delaware, which had won four of its five, got a late goal that cut the halftime lead to 6-4.
Sophomore midfielder and faceoff specialist Mark Goers, who came into the game having won 87 of 112 draws (.780), opened the third-quarter scoring for the Tigers.
Langton fed Quinn for the second of his three goals, and Bob Doherty followed with an unassisted goal for a 9-4 lead with 5:07 left in the third.