NCAA men's tournament
Towson expects success, sets ‘standards very high'
Earning three consecutive CAA crowns, Tigers ready to compete in postseason
Towson's 4-2 win over Fairfield in Saturday's Colonial Athletic Association men's lacrosse tournament final capped a run of three CAA championships and subsequent NCAA postseason appearances in coach Shawn Nadelen's first four years.
The trend falls just short of the program's streak of three consecutive CAA tournament crowns from 2003 to 2005 under former coach Tony Seaman.
Nadelen said Saturday's victory is a reminder of what the Tigers (14-2) are capable of.
“It's the direction we want to go, and it's the direction we expect to be in and the success we expect to have,” he said Tuesday morning. “We set our standards very high, and we expect to be competing for the CAA championship — regular season and postseason — every year, and anything short of that is not acceptable for us as a program.”
Nadelen would have preferred more from the offense, but Towson's ability to win despite scoring just four goals showed the team's resilience.
“I don't want to say that we're going to rely on that every time,” he said with a chuckle. “It helps our team understand that we can be successful playing in high-scoring games and we can be successful playing in low-scoring games. It just really comes down to being as efficient as possible and maximizing our opportunities.”
“It helps us understand that it's part of the process,” he said. “You're in the NCAA tournament, and you've got a game to play. Fortunately, we have another home game to play, and the guys are excited to be able to host that game. And they know how to handle that, how to practice yesterday and today and then made sure that they're ready to go for faceoff on Wednesday. I think being able to do that last year definitely gives us a little bit of familiarity, but we've got to make sure that we step out on the field ready to go.”
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