TOWSON, Md. – Senior attackman Sean Maguire scored three goals in the final 23 minutes as the Tigers (1-0) rallied from an 8-6 third quarter deficit to pull out a 12-10 win over Jacksonville University (0-1) at D.B. Milne Field on Saturday afternoon.
With the victory, the Tigers presented Coach Shawn Nadelen with a win in his coaching debut.
Midway through the third quarter, the Tigers were trailing the Dolphins by a two-goal margin. However, Maguire’s goal with 7:17 left in the third period ignited a five-goal run that gave the Tigers an 11-8 advantage with 8:23 remaining in the game.
After Maguire trimmed the deficit to 8-7, senior Carl Iacona scored the game-tying goal with 3:53 left in the third quarter off a pass from freshman Justin Mabus, his second assist of the game. With 13:46 remaining in the game, sophomore Thomas DeNapoli scored an unassisted goal to give the Tigers a 9-8 advantage.
When freshman Robby Zoppo added an unassisted goal with 9:32 left, the Tigers upped their lead to 10-8. Maguire tallied his second goal of the game off a pass from Mabus with 8:23 left, giving the Tigers an 11-8 advantage.
Junior midfielder Cameron Mann took a pass from Donovan Lang with 6:48 left in the game to end the Tigers’ scoring spurt and pull the Dolphins to within 11-9. With 4:12 remaining, sophomore defenseman Warren Kalkstein of the Tigers was called for a slashing penalty and Jacksonville had a man advantage. Moments later, junior T.J. Kenary scored off a pass from Max Gurowski to score an extra man goal with 3:54 remaining, pulling Jacksonville to within 11-10.
But, Kalkstein atoned for his penalty by winning the ensuing faceoff. Sophomore Andrew Hodgson picked up the ground ball and fed it to junior Dan Kramer. Kramer passed it to Maguire, who scored only nine seconds after the Dolphins’ goal, giving the Tigers a 12-10 lead with 3:45 left to play.
In the final minutes, the Dolphins managed only one shot, which junior goalkeeper Andrew Wascavage saved. The Tigers were able to run out the clock and win their season opener for the first time since 2007.
Maguire, who recorded the first "hat trick" of his college career, led the Tigers with a career-high three goals and one assist. DeNapoli added three goals for Towson while Zoppo scored the first two goals of his college career. Kramer had a goal and an assist and junior Matt Hughes also scored a goal with an assist.
Wascavage made eight saves for the Tiger defense as Towson forced 11 turnovers.
A third-year program, Jacksonville was led by Ari Waffle, who had three goals and an assist.
The Tigers, who played their season opener on the earliest date ever, return to action next Friday evening when they visit No. 2 Johns Hopkins for a 5 p.m. start.