In his final year at Towson, redshirt senior goalkeeper Tyler White became the all-time winningest goalkeeper in the Colonial Athletic Association era with 36 victories, ranked in the top 15 in both goals-against average and save percentage, and backstopped his team to a berth in the NCAA tournament quarterfinals.
But when the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) published its All-American list on May 28, White – who led Division I in goals-against average (6.89) and ranked 13th in save percentage (.556) – was not among the five goalies included on the first, second, third or honorable-mention teams.
The omission of White – who ranked fourth in the nation in 2015 in goals-against average (7.57) and ninth in save percentage (.567) and shared third-team honors with Bryant junior Gunnar Waldt (St. Paul's) at the time – was puzzling to Tigers coach Shawn Nadelen.
"You've got a guy who was the goalie for a defense that was No. 1 in country, was ranked 13th in save percentage, and was ranked No. 1 in goals against," Nadelen said. "I would have thought that compared to the other guys on that list, that would have garnered maybe some attention, especially since he was a third-team All-American the year before and his goals-against [in 2016] was even better. I know the defense was stronger in front of him, but somebody's got to stop the ball. Somebody's got to make the save, and that was him.
"We had 16 wins and made it to the quarterfinals and held a team to two goals in the [CAA] championship game. That's a pretty nice body of work, and then we went out to Denver against one of the best offenses in the country and held them to nine goals in dramatic fashion. I'm very surprised that some other goalies were able to make All-American and that he didn't even get an honorable mention. That's shocking to me."
Nadelen watched White make five saves while surrendering seven goals in the USILA's North-South Division I/II All-Star Game at Cabrini the day before the All-American list was publicized, but said he had not discussed the snub with the goalkeeper.
"I saw him at the North-South game on Friday night, and he played there with [attackman] Spencer Parks and [defenseman] Mike Lowe, and he looked good there," Nadelen said. "That was Friday night, and the list came out Saturday morning. I didn't want to bring it up."