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Seven-goal run sends Tigers to final
COLIN STEVENS
Sports Editor
TOWSON
U MASS
After dropping their final two
games of the regular season, the Tigers
started their CAA semi-finals matchup
against the Massachusetts Minutemen
by falling behind to an early 2-0 deficit.
But the Tigers stayed focused and
controlled the rest of the game, out-
scoring the Minutemen 13-4 the rest
of the way to get the win at Johnny
Unitas Stadium to advance to the CAA
finals, 13-6.
After getting behind early, fresh-
12 man attack-
^ man Matt
Hughes said
the team didn't get worried.
“We were calm. It was early so we
knew we could put up points easy,"
he said. "No one was panicking. We
came out after a timeout and got it
together and everyone went back out
and played hard."
UMass took a timeout during a
Towson possession in the first period
while still holding a 2-0 lead. Head
coach Tony Seaman refocused the
team during the break, telling his team
to make better shot selections.
"We had to be smarter with our
shots," he said. “We were getting good
opportunities, we just weren’t making
good shots."
The Tigers came out of the break
focused, and Hughes made an indi¬
vidual effort to get to the net, gaining
a step on his defender before racing to
See UMASS, page 22
Towson midfielder Christian Pastirik (19) leaps into the arms of fellow midfielder Carl Iacona (16) after Iacona’s second goal of the game.
Iacona finished with two goals while Pastirik put in three of his own. By the end of the game, six Tigers had recorded multi-point performances.
Co-captains play as a team, win as a team
Casey Prather/ The Towerlighl
Women’s lacrosse co-captains, from left to right, Lauren McAfee,
Hilary Fratzke and Steph Taylor. Each co-captain plays midfield.
LAUREN SLAVIN
Senior Editor
Three is the magic number for the
co-captains of the women’s lacrosse
team: three midfielders, three mem¬
bers of the CAA Commissioner’s List
and three consecutive years in the
CAA Tournament.
From the stands, the three senior
co-captains seem more alike than
different. But on the field, Hillary
Fratzke, Lauren McAfee and Steph
Taylor could not be any more unique.
“All of us for the most part are pret¬
ty laid back. We work well together
and compliment each other with our
strengths and weaknesses," McAfee
said. "We all do a little something dif¬
ferent and it combines nicely."
In terms of motivation strategy,
McAfee said she holds the responsi¬
bility of getting the team excited to
play, while Taylor and Fratzke play
good cop, bad cop.
"Steph is the nice one and I’m the
not so nice one," Fratzke said.
"I’m really blunt with people, and
if something needs to get done on
the field, I don’t hesitate to tell them.
When she’ll be like ‘we’re doing really
well,’ I’ll be like ‘but we need to do
this better."
Strong leadership is evident in the
No. 2 seeded CAA team, which has
only one conference loss, against the
No. 1 seed James Madison Dukes,
whom they would take on this week¬
end if both teams were to win their
semi-final games.
"It was awesome breaking into the
top 10, but if we don’t do anything
this weekend, it isn’t going to mean
much," McAfee said.
"It’s how you finish, not how you
start.”
Mac is more of an
offensive midi, I’m
more of a defensive
midi and Hilary is
all over the place
doing everything.
She’s amazing.
STEPH TAYLOR
Senior midfielder , co-captain
When it comes to their individual
roles on the field, each Tiger has her
own strength.
"Mac is more of an offensive midi,
I’m more of a defensive midi and
Hillary is all over the place, doing
everything. She’s amazing," Taylor
said.
Fratzke was named co-captain after
missing all but three games in the
2009 season, suffering a major knee
injury against Loyola that ended her
year.
But the 2009 CAA preseason play¬
er of the year wouldn't let an injury
stop her from holding the longest
active streak in NCAA Division I his¬
tory, scoring at least one goal in 64
consecutive games. Rising to the occa¬
sion took a different kind of offseason
preparation for Fratzke.
"The difference between last offsea¬
son and the ones prior was that I was
always all about getting into physical
shape to get ready to play,” she said.
"But this year it was more of a
mental thing after not playing for a
whole year, and you kind of worry
about potentially getting hint again."
Fratzke’s co-captains said there
was little difference in how they pre¬
pared for this year's record-breaking
season.
"Once she came back it all kind of
fell into place," Taylor said.
See LAX, page 22
