Click Here for Video of Victory Celebration (Courtesy TU Towerlight)
TOWSON, MD -- The University of Delaware men’s lacrosse team got another big defensive effort Saturday night and the result was a 10-7 victory over host Towson University as the Blue Hens captured their first ever Colonial Athletic Association championship.

Goalkeeper Tommy Scherr (at right) matched a season-high with 17 saves and No. 17 ranked Delaware (11-5) held top seed and 14th ranked Towson scoreless in the second half until the final minute of play on the way to claiming the CAA championship game victory before 1,075 fans at Johnny Unitas Stadium.

The victory, Delaware’s fifth straight, gave the Hens the CAA’s automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament. The 16-team NCAA Tournament field will be announced Sunday night, May 6 at 9 a.m. on ESPNU. Delaware also made trips to the NCAA Tournament in 1984, 1999, and the most recently in 2005 when the squad earned an at-large bid.

Delaware, which became the first No. 3 seed ever to win the CAA Tournament, captured its 21st conference title in school history but its first since winning the America East conference title in 1999. The CAA championship was the first for the lacrosse team and the first ever for the UD men’s athletics program since joining the league prior to the 2001-02 season. Delaware was making its third straight trip to the CAA title game but had dropped decisions to Towson in 2005 and to Hofstra last year.

“This is such an awesome feeling,” said Hall, who scored three goals and dished out an assist to extend his consecutive point-scoring streak to 27 straight games. “It’s nice to be part of the celebration instead of watching it.”

“I’m so excited for this team, our lacrosse program, and the University of Delaware,” said Delaware head coach Bob Shillinglaw. “Our goals this season were to win the CAA title and advance to the NCAA Tournament and for us to accomplish both those goals is incredible. We are excited to represent Delaware at the NCAA Tournament and our seniors now have the chance to go and compete for the second time in their career. We have had a lot of injuries this season but we are getting healthy and have really built some momentum.”

Delaware seniors Adam Zuder-Havens and Jordan Hall each scored three goals and dished out one assist and CAA Player of the Year Alex Smith won 14 of 21 faceoffs and scooped up 10 groundballs. Smith, the NCAA career lead for faceoff wins, also broke his own school record for faceoffs wins in a season with 274 and upped his career groundball total to 533, just eight shy of the UD and NCAA record of 541 by Steve Shaw in 1983-86.

Zuder-Havens, Hall, and Scherr all were named to the CAA All-Tournament team while Smith was named the tournament Most Outstanding Player. The Blue Hens, who extended their road win streak to four games - the team’s longest since 1998-99, also got two goals from J.J. Moran.

The Blue Hens overcame a 6-4 halftime deficit by outscoring Towson 4-0 in the third quarter to take an 8-6 lead into the final stanza and Hall scored just 66 seconds into the fourth quarter to push the lead to three goals. When Vincent Giordano scored for the Hens with 2:07 left to play, it upped the lead to 10-6 and increased Delaware’s streak to six straight goals. Towson did not score in the second half until Timmy Andre tallied an unassisted goal with just 48 seconds remaining.

Towson scored the game’s first two goals in the first five minutes but the Hens came back with three straight goals, going up 3-2 when Zuder-Havens scored his second goal with 6:31 left in the stanza. But Towson tied the game at 3-3 on a goal by Randall Cooper with 28 seconds left and Jonathan Engelke and Kyle Batton scored the first two goals of the second quarter for a 5-3 lead. Zuder-Havens completed his hat trick with a goal with 3:20 left, but Towson went into the half up 6-4 when Griebe scored with just 11 seconds left.

The third quarter belonged to the Hens as Delaware outscored Towson 4-0. Moran scored consecutive goals for the Hens to tie the score at 6-6 with 7:00 left in the stanza and Curtis Dickson put the Hens up for good at 7-6 with 4:38 left. The Hens made it 8-6 just six seconds later when Smith won the faceoff and dished off to Hall, whose shot sailed into the net past Towson goalkeeper Matt Antol.

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