In the second and final installment of TowsonTigers.com's preview of the upcoming 2015 men's lacrosse season, we focus on Towson's defensive midfield, long-stick midfield, close defense, goalies and faceoff specialists.

Defensive Midfield

This could be the deepest position group for the Tigers this season.
 
Towson returns Pat Conroy, Dan Livingston, Jack Adams and Tyler Young at short-stick defensive midfield and adds freshman Adam Ceribelli.
 
Conroy moved from long-stick middie to short stick as a sophomore and is a consistent player on the ball. Livingston, Adams and Young all turned in quality minutes in 2014 and will be counted on this season.
 
Nadelen calls Ceribelli a good competitor who, while still learning the system and his role in it, can nevertheless push for time.

Long-Stick Midfield

Sophomore Tyler Mayes has had a terrific fall and is a much-improved player after a summer and fall of work. Nadelen finds his tenacity and competitiveness impressive and thinks he could have a really good sophomore campaign.
 
Transfer Joey Pfister should push for time right away. He is impressive at the top and is a high motor guy. While at Jacksonville, he earned a place on the 2014 Atlantic Sun all-tournament team and the 2013 MAAC All-Rookie team, causing 11 turnovers as a freshman.
 
Close Defense

The Tigers return a trio of experienced players at close defense in senior JoJo Ostrander and juniors Mike Lowe and Nick Gorman. While an injury sidelined Gorman in the fall, the Maryland native moved into a starting role towards the middle of 2014 and led the Tigers with 40 ground balls while his 12 caused turnovers were second on the team.
 
Ostrander earned preseason All-American honors from Inside Lacrosse this year, and is a mainstay on the Tiger defense. A three-year starter, Ostrander was a first team All-CAA pick in 2014 and often marked the opposition's best shooter. He tallied his first career goal last season.
 
Junior Andrew Cordes worked hard over the summer on his conditioning and has proven he can get on the field and do good things this fall. He should push for time. Freshman Brett Hall is another player who did an impressive job in the fall doing whatever was asked of him.

Goalkeeping

Redshirt junior Tyler White returns after his first year as the Tigers' starting keeper.
 
"Tyler had a good fall," noted Nadelen. "He came back with a leadership mentality and looks confident and poised in the net."
 
In 2014, White made 144 saves and posted a save percentage of .502 and a goals-against average (GAA) of 9.63. He earned CAA Player of the Week honors backstopping the Tigers to a 6-5 win over No. 11 UMass, making 16 saves and holding the Minutemen scoreless over the final 19:52 despite four EMO chances for UMass. The New York native made a career-high 18 saves at No. 14 Johns Hopkins.
 
Sophomore Matt Hoy was sidelined by an injury in the fall but has gotten back into the mix. Freshman Josh Miller started every fall scrimmage for Towson. He continues to grow and develop his skills, he is competitive, and he wants to push for the starting role.
 
Face-Offs

The new rules set by the NCAA should help the Tigers' face-off personnel. Nadelen acknowledges this is an area where Towson has struggled and says the primary spot can still be won in the preseason scrimmages.
 
Junior Conor Pequigney returned late in the fall after injury and has looked good. Sophomore Alec Burckley and freshman Steven Stillwell are front runners as well. Burckley had the best face-off percentage on the team in 2014 and posted his best game of the year at the "X" at No. 9 Loyola, going 10-for-13 (.769) with six ground balls.


-TowsonTigers.com-