NEWARK, DE -- Towson University took advantage of an illegal stick penalty against the University of Delaware midway through the third quarter, scoring three goals in span of just over two minutes and holding off the Blue Hens down the stretch for a 10-9 Colonial Athletic Association men’s lacrosse victory Wednesday night at Rullo Stadium.

No. 17 ranked Delaware got a season-high four goals from Jordan Hall and Curtis Dickson (at right) and Adam Zuder-Havens each scored twice, but the Blue Hens (6-5, 1-2 CAA) could never overcome the pivotal disallowed goal and dropped their third straight game and fourth in the last five outings.

No. 14 Towson, which entered the game atop the CAA standings, remained there as Randall Cooper scored four goals, Jonathan Engelke netted two goals and dished out two assists, and Bobby Griebe contributed three assists as the Tigers (7-3, 4-0 CAA) won for the fifth time in the last six games.

Vincent Giordano added a goal and an assist, NCAA faceoff leader Alex Smith won 15 of 23 draws, and Tommy Scherr was sharp in goal with a season-high 17 saves for the Blue Hens. Delaware, which lost for only the third time in the last 18 home games at Rullo, will continue CAA action Saturday at Villanova.

After Towson built a 4-1 lead in the opening quarter, the Hens rallied back to tie the score at 4-4 with 2:15 left in the opening half behind two goals by Hall and one by Zuder-Havens. But Towson responded with two goals of its own, both by Kyle Batton, over the final 1:48 of the stanza to go into intermission up 6-4.

Delaware appeared to have cut the lead to 6-5 when senior defenseman Rob Smith raced the length of the field and scored with 7:10 left in the third quarter. But the officials checked Smith’s stick and found it to be illegal, nullifying the goal and placing him in the penalty box for three minutes.

The Tigers took advantage of the man-up situation, scoring three straight goals over a span of 2:22, including two scored by Cooper, to take a 9-4 lead with 4:24 remaining in the stanza. The Hens had entered the game as the nation’s No. 2 ranked team in killing penalties, allowing just seven goals in 61 man-down situations, a success rate of 88.5 percent, all season.

The Blue Hens answered with a furious rally before finally falling short. Hall and Zuder-Havens ended the third quarter with unassisted goals just over two minutes apart to narrow the gap to 9-6. When Giordano scored just 2:06 into the final stanza and Dickson tallied his second goal with 8:32 left, it cut the Towson gap to 9-8.

Engelke scored what proved to be the game-winner with 4:40 left to play on a feed from Griebe to increase the lead to 10-8. Delaware cut the gap to a single goal once more when Hall scored with 49 seconds left, but the Hens wouldn’t score again.

Hall, who notched his fifth career hat trick, extended his point-scoring streak to 24 games but senior Dan Deckelbaum, the team’s leading scorer with 16 goals and six assists on the season, was held scoreless for the night, ending his streak of 19 straight games with at least one point.

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