Towson, Md. - The No. 6/5 Stony Brook women's lacrosse team begins the 2017 season Saturday with the first of five regular-season games against 2016 NCAA tournament teams, as the Seawolves square off with No. 19/19 Towson.

Scouting the Tigers
Towson went 16-4 in 2016 and hosted an NCAA Regional, falling to No. 7 national seed Penn in the second round at Johnny Unitas Stadium.

Kaitlyn Montalbano led the Tigers as a sophomore in 2016 with 36 goals and 23 assists. Natalie Sulmonte (31 goals, 51 draw controls) and Emily Gillingham (26 goals) also return for Towson. Angie Benson started all 20 games in goal in 2016 for the Tigers, who ranked fourth in the nation with 6.80 goals allowed/game.

All-Time vs. Towson
Saturday is the third all-time meeting between two programs that have history in May. Stony Brook defeated Towson in the NCAA tournament in 2013 and 2014 for its first two postseason victories.
 

Seawolves vs. the CAA
Stony Brook is 8-0 against the CAA under Coach Spallina and 9-5 in program history. The Seawolves picked up a pair of victories over the conference in 2016 with home wins over Delaware and Hofstra.

Two of Stony Brook's three NCAA tournament wins have come over the CAA automatic qualifier (Towson - 2013, 2014)

Last Time We Met
The previous meeting between the Seawolves and Tigers came in the first round of the 2014 NCAA tournament in Syracuse, New York. The Seawolves took a 9-0 lead into the half and held off a furious Tigers rally for a 10-8 victory  May 9, 2014.

Starting off on the Right Foot
The Seawolves are 5-0 in season openers under Coach Spallina. This is the second consecutive year Stony Brook will open the year on the road, but this season's opener comes 24 days before the date of the first 2016 game, an 18-4 win at Bryant Feb. 28, 2016.

Core Returns for Both Seawolves and Tigers
According to some excellent research by US Lacrosse Magazine, Stony Brook and Towson are the only preseason top-20 teams that return over 90% of their scoring from a year ago.

Tewaaraton Times Two
Courtney Murphy and Kylie Ohlmiller were both named Tewaaraton nominees in 2016. It marked the first time the Seawolves had two nominees in one season.

Start Me Up
The Seawolves return 10 starters from last year's 17-4 squad. Defenders Alyssa Fleming and Maegan Meritz are the only players who started in 10 or more games that graduated.

Murphy Rewriting Record Book
Courtney Murphy enters 2017 needing 58 goals to pass Gail Cummings for the NCAA's career goals record. Cummings scored 289 goals for Temple from 1985-88. Murphy is the active career leader in goals with 232, a margin of 66 over Notre Dame's Courtney Fortunato.

Murphy enters Saturday tied with Sheehan Stanwick and Katie Rowan for 19th in NCAA history with 232 goals.

U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!
Kylie Ohlmiller qualified for the 2017 US National Training Team in October and played as part of the Team USA Spring Premiere in January. Ohlmiller led Team USA with five goals in two games.

One-Two Punch
Kylie Ohlmiller leads all active Division I players with 4.32 points/game, while Courtney Murphy is second (4.19).

50/50
Courtney Murphy (100) and Dorrien Van Dyke (53) are the only returning duo in the nation to each score 50 goals in 2016.

New York State of Mind
All but three of the 30 players on the Seawolves roster hail from Long Island, with senior Sam Jaffe (Naples, Fla.) and freshmen Mairi Brooks (Hackettstown, N.J.) and Sydney Gagnon (Dunbarton, N.H.) the only exceptions.

Next Up: Bryant
The Seawolves will have a two-week break before their home opener against Bryant, Saturday, Feb. 18 at noon at LaValle Stadium.