As pleased as Towson coach Tony Seaman was with his team's offensive fireworks in Saturday's 18-13 loss to No. 2 Virginia, he was even more frustrated by the Tigers' troubles on the defensive end.

No. 15 Towson never led against the Cavaliers, and every time the Tigers caught up, Virginia pulled away again. Four times, Towson tied the score, and each time the Cavaliers regained the lead.

Seaman was especially irked by the play of seniors Billy Sadtler and Matt Antol in the net. Sadtler played brilliantly in the first half, turning away nine shots. But he gave up the first four goals of Virginia's 5-0 run to begin the third quarter, and Sadtler and Antol rotated in and out throughout the remainder of the contest.

"I didn’t see a goalie in there for Towson," Seaman said. "I don’t know who was in there. It was like a ghost."

Sadtler, who stood a few feet away from Seaman and heard his coach's comments, seemed equally distraught over his performance.

"I needed to make a couple saves and I didn’t," Sadtler said. "I just tried to watch the ball and make a save. I wasn’t able to do that in the second half."

Sadtler was unimpressed when it was pointed out that he was the first Tigers goalkeeper this season to start both halves of the same game. "It definitely made me feel good, but then I didn’t get the job done," he said. "Now I’m sure he’s [Seaman] second-guessing his decision."

Other notes:

* Virginia was tied with Towson, 7-7, at the half, but a visitor to the Cavaliers locker room might have inferred that the team was losing by 10 goals. "Everybody was sort of hanging their heads in the locker room at halftime and you felt like it was a disaster in there," coach Dom Starsia said with a smile. "I said, ‘Fellas, it’s tied here at the half. We can go out and play better. Put a little smile on your face. Let’s get to work here.’"

* The Tigers' highest output of the season impressed Starsia and some of the Virginia players. Towson scored seven goals on 13 shots in the first half and 13 goals on 36 shots for the game. Two players -- senior attackman Jonathan Engelke and junior attackman Bill McCutcheon -- recorded hat tricks , and two more -- senior midfielder Adam Hagelin and sophomore midfielder Eric Boyle -- posted two goals apiece. "They work a very good team offense," Cavaliers senior attackman Ben Rubeor said. "I was very impressed by how well they passed the ball. They have guys that can challenge you enough on the dodge that you have to double them and they made some great feeds, especially to the inside. And those inside guys are really good at handling the ball and putting it away."