Photo Courtesy of Mark Campbell

TOWSON, MD -- The University of Delaware jumped out to a 6-2 first half lead, but Towson rallied with eight straight goals the rest of the way and posted a 10-7 upset win over the Blue Hens in a key Colonial Athletic Association men's lacrosse matchup Saturday at Johnny Unitas Stadium.

Bill McCutcheon scored four goals, three of them on man-up opportunities, and Jonathan Engelke accounted for seven points with three goals and four assists as the Tigers (3-6, 1-1 CAA) won for just the second time in their last seven games.

Delaware (7-4, 1-1 CAA), which was held scoreless for over 32 minutes until late in the game, lost its second straight contest and had a streak of six straight wins over CAA opponents snapped.

The Hens face another big challenge Wednesday night when they host No. 10 Drexel at Rullo Stadium in CAA action.

Beau Davis (at right) led the Blue Hens with two goals against Towson while Martin Cahill had a goal and two assists, Curtis Dickson added a goal and an assist, and Vincent Giordano dished out three assists.

Delaware goalkeeper Tom Scherr suffered the loss despite 10 saves, including the 500th of his career. Dickson, the second leading goal-scorer in the nation with 32, continued two scoring streaks as he extended his point streak to 21 games and his goal-scoring streak to 20 games. Cahill has netted at least one goal in all 11 games this season for Delaware.

Penalties hurt the Blue Hens once again as Delaware committed nine infractions for seven minutes and Towson scored on four man-up opportunities, including three by McCutcheon. Delaware entered the game as the most penalized team in the CAA with 72 for 58 minutes.

McCutcheon posted his fourth hat trick of the season while Engelke became just the sixth player in Towson history to reach 100 career goals, hitting the milestone on a goal with 9:07 left to play that increased the Tiger lead to 9-6.

"This is a disappointing one," said Delaware head coach Bob Shillinglaw, whose team captured the CAA title a year ago and advanced to the NCAA national semifinals. "We didn't do a good job in the second half on faceoffs and execution on offense and the penalties killed us.

"The penalties gave them some momentum and advantages that got them back in the game. This is Delaware-Towson and when you get them down, you have to keep them down. Credit Towson with executing in the second half and taking advantage of their man-up chances. (Goalkeeper) Billy Sadtler did a great job in goal for them. We play an aggressive style but we have to stay away from the penalties. The good news is that we are playing hard."

Things went well early for the Blue Hens as Delaware jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead on goals by J.J. Moran, Cahill, and Dickson. The Tigers didn't get on the board until the final minutes of the opening stanza when Engelke scored with 2:18 left.

After McCutcheon scored his first goal of the day on a man-up situation just 1:25 into the second quarter to cut the lead to 3-2, the Blue Hens reeled off three straight to take a 6-2 lead.

Davis scored on an unassisted man-up goal with 12:04 left in first half for a 4-2 lead and then increased the margin when he took a feed from Cahill and scored just five minutes later. Delaware's Cam Howard then scored off a feed from Giordano with 5:08 left in the half to extend the UD advantage to 6-2. However, the Hens would not score again until late in the game after the Tigers had taken control by running off eight straight goals.

Towson's rally began late in the first half when Eric Boyle scored with just 35 seconds remaining to cut the margin to 6-3 at the break.

The second half was all Towson as McCutcheon scored two goals in the first five minutes of the third quarter, including a man-up goal with 10:26 left to cut the lead to 6-5. The Tigers finally tied the game at 6-6 with 9:20 left in the third on a goal by Matt Hanzsche.

Towson completed the comeback in the final quarter as Engelke's goal just 1:22 into the stanzas gave the Tigers their first lead of the game at 7-6. McCutcheon followed with another man-up goal, this one off an Engelke feed, with 9:07 left, and Engelke netted his 100th career goal just 38 seconds later for a 9-6 advantage.

The lead swelled to 10-6 on another extra-man goal, this one by Blake Best off another Engelke assist, with 7:25 remaining. Delaware finally ended a scoring drought that lasted 32:13 when Brett Manney scored his first goal of the season with 2:55 left, but it was too late.

Delaware had been a perfect 6-0 this season when leading after the first quarter and at halftime before Towson snapped the streak Saturday.

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