Towson appears to have avoided a significant setback regarding sophomore faceoff specialist Alec Burckley.
Burckley suffered an unspecified injury in the first half of the No. 12 Tigers' eventual 8-7 win at then-No. 20 Fairfield on Saturday. Although he took two more draws in the third quarter and had won 8 of 12, coach Shawn Nadelen elected to pull Burckley later in the period.
"It wasn't the most optimal [time], especially with Alec being really dialed into that game," Nadelen said Wednesday. "They have some pretty good faceoff guys, and Alec was up for the task. … I felt bad for Alec getting injured after he was having a strong game. It hurt our team a little bit with possession time in the second half, but I thought the guys rallied around what needed to happen and kept pushing forward."
Nadelen said Burckley has returned to practice for Towson (9-3 overall and 3-0 in the Colonial Athletic Association), and although he has been limited, Burckley appears to be getting closer to play in Saturday's noon game against Hofstra (4-8, 1-2) at Johnny Unitas Stadium.
"He's not back up to full, live reps yet," Nadelen said. "We expect him to play, but if things don't go exactly as planned, he might not [play]. But I'd say the percentages are leaning more toward him playing."
Freshman Steven Stillwell replaced Burckley against the Stags (7-5, 2-1), going 2 of 5. Stillwell, junior longpole Pat Conroy (41.7 percent, 20 of 48) and junior Jed Yousefi (50 percent, 3 of 6) will be ready if Burckley isn't available against the Pride, but Nadelen said he is confident in Stillwell's ability.
"I've got faith in him," Nadelen said. "I wouldn't play a guy if I didn't feel confident in his ability to perform for us. We're confident in him. We're obviously working him in a few more reps with the top faceoff wing group just to get familiar with everybody there.
"All of our faceoff guys know that with every game, they've got to be ready. We've got four of them that we can use, and each of them drill as much as the other, and we prepare them all the same way."