TOWSON, Md. – Junior goalkeeper Rob Wheeler (Friends School/Baltimore, Md.) made a career-high 17 saves, including nine in the first half, as second-seeded Towson University (7-9) held third-seeded Drexel University (7-8) scoreless for over 52 minutes to advance to the Colonial Athletic Association Championship Game with a 10-2 semi-final victory at Johnny Unitas Stadium on Wednesday evening.

With the victory, the Tigers will advance to the CAA Championship Game on Saturday night and will host fourth-seeded Villanova University at Unitas Stadium at 7:30 p.m.

"Rob Wheeler was perhaps the best goalkeeper in the United States of America, if not the world, tonight," Towson Coach Tony Seaman said. "He saw every shot and was unbelievable. I thought all of our kids played well tonight," Seaman added. "But, Rob was simply incredible."

After a slow start in the first quarter, the Tigers jumped out to a 2-0 lead when senior attackman Bill McCutcheon (Chatham H.S./Chatham, N.J.) and sophomore attackman Tim Stratton (Manheim Township H.S./Lititz, Pa.) scored consecutive goals in a 39-second span. The Tigers added goals from junior midfielders Brock Armour (Victoria, British Columbia, Canada) and Pat Britton (Seneca Valley H.S./Germantown, Md.) in the second quarter to give Towson a 4-0 advantage at the intermission.

Led by four goals from junior midfielder Will Harrington (Friends School/Baltimore, Md.), the Tigers upped their lead to 9-0 in the third quarter. Harrington scored four of the Tigers' five goals in the stanza while Britton contributed his second goal of the game, converting a Stratton feed with 5:29 remaining.

The Dragons broke their 52 minute, 15 second scoring drought with 7:45 remaining in the fourth quarter as sophomore attackman Kevin Stockel (John Jay H.S./North Salem, N.Y.) scored off a feed from freshman attackman Kyle Bergman (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) to narrow the margin to 9-1. With 3:45 remaining, junior attackman Colin Ambler (Abington H.S./Abington, Pa.) scored off a pass from junior Greg Casey (La Salle H.S./Glenside, Pa.). But, the Tigers secured the victory just 32 seconds later when Stratton tallied an unassisted goal.

Wheeler, who had 10 saves in the Tigers' 7-4 victory over Drexel on March 28, recorded the highest single-game save total for a Towson goalkeeper since Reed Sothoron posted 18 saves against Virginia during the 2004 season.

"I got a lot of help from my defense early and that really got me a lot of confidence," Wheeler said. "Once I got going, I felt unstoppable. If the defense can keep those shots outside early, I feel like I can have this type of game any day. All of the guys in front of me were simply tremendous tonight," Wheeler added. "I sat down this week and thought if this team wants to make a playoff run, it needs to start with a hot goalie."

Meanwhile, Harrington posted his third four-goal game of the season to lead the Tiger offense, which outshot Drexel by a 33-32 margin. Stratton added two goals and an assist while Britton contributed a pair of goals. Freshman goalkeeper Mark Manos (Salesianum H.S./West Chester, Pa.) made 11 saves in a losing effort for the Dragons, who had a three-game win streak snapped.

The CAA Championship Game will be broadcast in the Baltimore area on WTMD-FM 89.7 with Spiro Morekas and Greg LaCour providing the play-by-play. The winner of Saturday's game will receive an automatic berth into the NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship.

Score by Period       1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
Drexel..............  0  0  0  2 -  2
Towson..............  2  2  5  1 - 10
 
Attendance: 899
 
Drexel SCORING:
GOALS: Ambler, Colin 1; Stockel, Kevin 1.
ASSISTS: Bergman, Kyle 1; Casey, Greg 1.
 
Towson SCORING:
GOALS: Harrington, Will 4; Stratton, Tim 2; Britton, Pat 2;
       McCutcheon, Bill 1; Armour, Brock 1.
ASSISTS: Armour, Brock 1; McCutcheon, Bill 1; Stratton, Tim 1.
 
SHOTS BY PERIOD       1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
Drexel..............  3 11  5 13 - 32
Towson.............. 14  7  9  3 - 33
 
GROUND BALLS BY PRD   1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
Drexel..............  4  8  7 10 - 29
Towson..............  9  8 10 13 - 40
 
FACE-OFFS BY PRD       1     2     3     4     Total
----------------------------------------------------
Drexel..............  1-3   2-3   3-6   2-3  -  8-15
Towson..............  2-3   1-3   3-6   1-3  -  7-15
 
CLEARS BY PERIOD       1     2     3     4     Total
----------------------------------------------------
Drexel..............  3-6   4-4   2-4   6-8  - 15-22
Towson..............  4-5   6-11  5-6   6-8  - 21-30
 
EXTRA-MAN OPPS         1     2     3     4     Total
----------------------------------------------------
Drexel..............  0-0   0-0   0-1   0-1  -  0-2
Towson..............  0-0   0-0   1-3   0-2  -  1-5
 
SAVES BY PERIOD       1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
Drexel..............  5  2  2  2 - 11
Towson..............  2  7  4  4 - 17
 
TURNOVERS BY PRD      1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
Drexel..............  4  4  5  5 - 18
Towson..............  3  7  4  8 - 22
 
Penalties - Drexel 5/4:30; Towson 2/2:00.

2009-04-30