The Towson Tigers, formerly the ''Towson College Knights'', are the athletics teams of Towson University. All of the major athletic teams compete in the

Colonial Athletic Association The Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I whose full members are located in East Coast states from Massachusetts to South Carolina. Most of its members are public universi ...

with 19 Division I athletic teams (13 in women's sports, 6 in men's sports). Gymnastics competes in the EAGL conference, having rejoined the league in the Spring of 2012. Since joining the CAA in 2001–02, the Tigers have won 16 league championships; the Tigers have won titles in football, baseball, men's lacrosse, women's lacrosse, men's soccer, men's golf, women's swimming and diving, and volleyball. In addition, the women's gymnastics program has captured six ECAC Championships over the last eight years (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010). During an athletics history that traces its roots to the 1920s, Towson has sent teams and individual student-athletes to NCAA post-season competition in baseball, basketball, football, golf, gymnastics, lacrosse, soccer, swimming, track & field and volleyball. In May 2011, the department broke ground on the SECU Arena, a new 5000-seat, state-of-the-art arena for basketball, volleyball and gymnastics. The arena was completed in May 2013 and opened in June 2013.

Varsity teams

Towson University sponsors teams in six men's and thirteen women's NCAA sanctioned sports: * * = The gymnastics team competes in the Eastern College Athletic Conference. Changes since 2000 to the men's programs include the elimination of several varsity sports in the 2003–04 school year: indoor track, outdoor track, cross country, tennis. Changes to the women's programs include the additions of golf in 2007. Men's soccer was eliminated in 2013.

Football

The Tigers won the 2011 CAA Championship with a 7–1 conference record. Towson became the first team in NCAA history to compete in the playoffs at all three levels of competition in football (DI, DII and DIII). Following the 2011 season, Head Coach Rob Ambrose won the Eddie Robinson Award as the top college football coach in Division I

Football Championship Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athleti ...

(formerly Division I-AA), and Towson freshmen running back Terrance West won the inaugural Jerry Rice Award as the most outstanding freshman player in Division I Football Championship Subdivision.

Basketball

Lacrosse

Towson's men's lacrosse team is a nationally known program, regularly appearing in the NCAA tournament with two NCAA finals appearances to their credit. In 1974, the Tigers finished with a 14–1 record and won the Division II national title with an 18–17 overtime win over Hobart. The team also reached the finals of the 1991 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship, and reached the semifinals of the

2001 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship The 2001 NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship game was played at Rutgers Stadium in front of 21,268 fans. A Princeton goal with 41 seconds remaining in the first overtime period lifted second-seeded Tigers (14-1) to a 10-9 victory against top-seeded ...

. The Tigers maintain an annual rivalry with the Loyola Greyhounds (see

Loyola–Towson lacrosse rivalry The Loyola–Towson lacrosse rivalry is an intercollegiate lacrosse rivalry between Baltimore's Loyola Greyhounds of the Patriot League and Towson Tigers of the Colonial Athletic Association. The teams first met in 1959 and competed at the NCAA D ...

Notable non-varsity sports

Rugby

Founded in 1975, Towson University men's rugby club plays college rugby in Division 1AA in the MARC against local rivals from Maryland, DC, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. Towson rugby has been led by head coach Tony De Cesare, with assistance coach Tim Cahill. In 2012, Towson reached the Division 2 national playoffs, defeating Boston University in the round of 16 and Colgate in the quarterfinals, before losing to Salisbury in the semifinals. Towson finished the 2012 season with a 14–5 record, ranked #5 in the nation in Division 2, with flyhalf Christian Lowe named to the All Division 2 team. In the 2013 season, Towson again reached the Division 2 national playoffs. Towson defeated Illinois State 34–19 in the round of 16, and defeated UNC-Wilmington 30–5 in the quarterfinals, before once again falling to rival Salisbury 23–10 in the semifinals.Rugby Mag, DII College Playoff Bracket Updated, May 11, 2013, http://www.rugbymag.com/men's-dii-college-/7779-dii-college-playoff-bracket-set.html

CAA Championship teams

Men's

*Baseball: 2013 *Football: 2011, 2012 *Golf: 2010 *Lacrosse: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2019 *Soccer: 2006 *Swimming & Diving: 2021

Women's

*Basketball: 2018-19 *Lacrosse: 2005, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016 *Swimming and Diving: 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015 *Track & Field (outdoor): 2017 *Volleyball: 2004, 2019, 2020, 2021

Notable athletes

Football

* Sean Landeta * Dave Meggett * Jermon Bushrod * Terrance West * Jordan Dangerfield * Tye Smith

Baseball

Chris Nabholz Christopher William Nabholz (born January 5, 1967) is a former starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Montreal Expos (1990–1993), Cleveland Indians (1994), Boston Red Sox (1994) and Chicago Cubs (1995). He batted and threw ...

* Casper Wells

Basketball

* Tamir Goodman * Gary Neal *

Jerrelle Benimon Jerrelle Benimon (born August 1, 1991) is an American former professional basketball player. In college, he was the 2012–13 Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Year as a redshirt junior after leading the Towson Tigers to the greatest si ...

Men's soccer

* Phil Greatwich *

Machel Millwood Machel Millwood (born 28 June 1979 in Trelawny Parish) is a Jamaican soccer player who most recently played for Crystal Palace Baltimore in the USSF Second Division and the Syracuse Silver Knights of the Major Indoor Soccer League. Millwood is ...

Nigel Marples Nigel Marples (born November 3, 1985) is a Canadian football player and coach. Career College Marples attended North Delta High School and played college soccer at Towson University, where he was a four-year starter and two year captain. Durin ...

Gymnastics

* Kacy Catanzaro *

Julija Kovaliova Julija Kovaliova (born 20 December 1980) is a Lithuanian gymnast. She competed at the 2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the ...

References

External links

* {{Maryland Sports