Sports | 3/30/08

Media Credit: Kris Marsh Senior attacker Ali Alati, right, moves past Delaware sophomore Emily Schaknowski during a 15-10 victory over the Blue Hens Sunday afternoon at Johnny Unitas Stadium. Alati matched a career high with three goals Sunday, two of them in the first half. [Click to enlarge]

Looking to bounce back from a 15-10 loss at the hands of the third-ranked Maryland Terrapins Wednesday night, the Tigers came out blazing and drubbed the Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens (6-3, 0-1) by a score of 15-10 in the teams' CAA conference opener. The quick striking attack of the Tigers (7-3, 1-0) was on display again, as the Tigers were able to jump in front by a 4-0 score in the first nine minutes of play. Juniors Hillary Fratzke and Meggie McNamara and senior Ali Alati each scored three goals to lead the Towson attack. "It was really important," Doherty said. "The CAA is tough competition and Delaware is one of the tougher teams. It was good that we came out strong both offensively and defensively. We did a good job of not only coming out strong, but playing a complete game."

The Tigers got the scoring started courtesy of Alati, who took a Britt Woodfield pass and scored on somewhat of a broken play, giving the Tigers a 1-0 lead 2:15 in. Woodfield capped an early 4-0 run with her 14th goal of the season 10 seconds later and forced Delaware to take a timeout with 21:09 remaining in the first half. Up 7-3 with just over 90 seconds remaining in the first, Delaware's Casey McCrudden's goal finished the scoring for the half with Towson ahead, 7-4.

Leading 7-5 early in the second half, the Tigers' recharged offense capitalized again, scoring three goals in a span of 1:38, including two goals from sophomore Jacie Kendall to take a 10-5 advantage with 22:03 remaining in the game.

Then, after McCrudden's fourth goal of the game and 20th of the season pulled Delaware to within a 13-9 score, Alati and sophomore Nikki Marcinik scored nine seconds apart to stretch the Towson advantage to 15-9 and seal the victory.

"It feels awesome," Alati said of the win. "We played great at Maryland, but today our defense was all over the field. Today was all about defense."

Towson outshot Delaware 32-28 and had 20 groundballs to Delaware's 19. Tigers senior goalkeeper Mandy Corry had 12 saves and her first career assist in the victory.

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