No. 6 Towson Ends Elon WLAX’s CAA Winning Streak

ELON, N.C. – Elon University women’s lacrosse struggled against the Towson defense Friday night, April 13, in a 10-4 loss to the sixth-ranked Tigers at Rudd Field. The loss snaps Elon’s streak of five regular-season wins in a row against CAA opponents going back to last season, which was the longest active streak in the CAA.

FINAL STATS

THE RUNDOWN
Towson (11-2, 3-0 CAA) opened the day with a pair of goals from Gabby Cha and Emily Gillingham before Abby Godfreycould get the Phoenix (2-9, 1-1 CAA) on the board six minutes in. Though Towson pushed its lead to 4-1 with goals from Kaitlyn Montalbano and Natalie Sulmonte, Maeve Cowley picked up her second point of the day with a goal to again cut the Tiger lead in half with 10:09 to go in the first half. But down the stretch in the first, Towson pulled away with three goals in the final 3:59 to make it 6-2 at the break.

Out of halftime, Sulmonte added her third of the day just 30 seconds into the frame to make it 7-2 Tigers. Trying to mount a comeback, Melissa Birdsell and Stephanie Asher scored two of the game’s next three goals to bring Elon back within 8-4, but the Towson defense didn’t allow another goal in the final 18 minutes on the way to the 10-4 win.

HIGHLIGHTS
Asher, Birdsell, Cowley and Godfrey each tallied once Friday. Both Asher and Cowley finished with two points with a goal and an assist. In the cage, Tori Cipollone had the best game of her career with 13 saves. Asher also had a game-best six draw controls while Birdsell, Jacie Cooper and Alexis Zadjura had two draw controls. Zadjura and Kelsey Dupere collected two ground balls.

NOTES
-Elon dominated in the draw circle, winning every contested draw control in the first half and overall won the draw battle 12-6.
-Both teams had one goal called off due to illegal sticks.
-Tori Cipollone has made 23 saves over the course of the last two games. Against Towson, Cipollone had a career-best 13 saves after making 10 stops at Hofstra last Friday, April 6.
-Elon closed the night with 27 turnovers. It marks the most in a game in program history, topping the 22 at North Carolina on March 1, 2015.

UP NEXT
The Phoenix will continue CAA action Sunday, April 15, with a 1 p.m. contest against No. 4 James Madison at Rudd Field. The Dukes enter the game 12-1 on the year and 3-0 in the CAA after beating William & Mary Friday night in Williamsburg, Va.