Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 4/16/17
From Press Release
A day devoted to celebrating the career of retiring head coach Bob Shillinglaw ended on a tough note for the University of Delaware men’s lacrosse squad as the Blue Hens held a share of the lead early in the final quarter before falling to No. 16 Towson 10-6 in a Colonial Athletic Association men’s lacrosse showdown Saturday night at Delaware Stadium.
Delaware had knotted the game at 5-5 on a goal by Joe Eisele (St. Augustine Prep) with 6:22 left in the third quarter and the score stayed tied until 1:33 into the final stanza when a goal by Jon Mazza started a 5-0 Towson run that put the game away.
The Hens (7-6, 0-3 CAA), who lost their third straight game, got two goals each from freshman Charlie Kitchen (St. Augustine Prep) and Eisele and freshman goalkeeper Matt DeLuca posted 12 saves in goal.
Towson (7-3, 3-0 CAA), which won its third straight game got two goals and two assists from Brian Bolewicki while Joe Seider and Mike Lynch also scored twice. The Tigers committed just seven turnovers and faceoff specialist Alex Woodall won 12 of 19 attempts.
The day was a festive one as the University celebrated Shillinglaw’s career with an alumni golf outing in the morning, a celebration ceremony involving several hundred guests in the Bob Carpenter Center at midday, a pre-game ceremony on the field in which UD Director of Athletics Chrissi Rawak presented Shillinglaw with a framed jersey with the number 39, and a pre-game video. At halftime, Delaware honored the 2007 NCAA Final Four team that gathered for its 10-year reunion.
Shillinglaw will retire following the 2017 season, his 39th at the helm of the Blue Hens and his 42nd overall as a college head coach. He ranks No. 4 on the active NCAA Division I coaching win list with 334 victories and his 651 games coached is by far the most any coach in the history of the game at any level.
“Towson made shots and they got more possessions than us and that was the difference,” said Shillinglaw following the game. “They did a great job of making it difficult for us to clear and the next thing you know we are back on defense. We played too much defense and gave them too many opportunities. It wasn’t a lack of effort from our guys. Guys were battling for every groundball, playing hard, and you certainly saw the intensity that comes in a Delaware-Towson game. Our guys are working hard and we know we have to win our last two games to make the playoffs. Our guys are great, I think they would have cut their right arms off to make this a win. I love these guys and its a family.”
Delaware got goals from Hirschmann, Kitchen, and Andrew Romagnoli in the first half to take a 3-2 lead midway through the second quarter but Towson scored the final three goals of the half to take a 5-3 advantage into intermission.
The Hens tied things up by scoring the only two goals of the third stanza, a man-up goal by Kitchen with 11:17 left and Eisele’s game-tying tally with 6:32 remaining. Towson would then reel off five straight goals to take control before Eisele netted his second goal with 2:04 left to play.
