Seaman, Towson try to remain positive
A 1-4 start has the potential to tear a team apart, but the Tigers are resolute that brighter days are ahead.
All four losses have come at the hands of opponents ranked in The Sun's top 20 (Virginia, Maryland, Denver and Loyola). Only seven of the 45 players on the roster are seniors and two freshmen have started four of five games on attack. So the program sort of expected growing pains, coach Tony Seaman says.
"We've tried to be matter-of-fact about where we were at the beginning of the year and where we needed to develop and what kind of experience we were hoping to get out of that," he said earlier today. "If you compete against a Maryland and you compete against a Virginia, then it doesn't surprise you a lot when other teams walk on the field against you athletically. We're playing good teams, and we've got good teams coming up."
Seaman acknowledged that one of challenges associated with his job is keeping optimism high and frustration low among the players.
"That's the other thing you're always worried about," he said. "Certainly, losing breeds [pessimism], but I felt coming out of the Maryland game [a 9-7 loss], we weren't at all. We felt we played pretty well and with a couple breaks, we had a chance to win that game. But we never had a chance to win that game Saturday [against Virginia] with the way we played."
Towson's upcoming contest against Robert Morris will be only the school's second game at the friendly confines of Johnny Unitas Stadium before the team embarks on its second three-game road trip of the season.
"We played a couple of really, really good teams," Seaman said. "Hopefully, we grow on that. Let's see how we do this week against Robert Morris and Bucknell [on March 24] and Drexel [on March 28]. It puts us back in our league, in our world so to speak. Let's see how we come out of it and if we've grown and if we're ready to compete against those people."
Comments
A well coached team with plenty of tradition in a sport where tradition seems to ooze from everything. Towson will be competitive and we'll just have to see how good they can be.
Posted by: LTMAT | March 17, 2009 10:05 AM
Really hope this team steps up and grows from these first hand full of games.
With tradition- comes pressure to win and they haven't been doing that this season and last.
Posted by: tufan | March 17, 2009 5:24 PM
I am appalled that Tony Seaman would call Bucknell, Drexel and Robert Morris "back in our league, our world". What is that?? I played at Towson in the early 90's when we had great runs at the NCAA and were beating Maryland, Hopkins, Loyola, Navy, UMBC with frequency.....now he's lucky to be in a game with an over-rated Maryland squad and gets whipped by UVA. Seaman has got to go. He has turned this program into one of mediocrity. Hopkins got rid of him and they started winning championships, we've got him and we're lucky if we lose by single digits.....do the math. There is also something wrong with their recruiting that 2 freshman are starting on attack. What about the guys that are 1, 2, 3 years older and more experienced?? This is a terrible job of recruiting for many years if your freshman are better than your seniors. Hopefully they can turn it around, but Seaman is not the answer.
Posted by: Dave | March 17, 2009 9:31 PM
This is Carl Runk all over again. Playing defensive offense. Playing not to lose. Seaman needs to go . There are plenty of young, talented coaches out there to choose from. Go Towson!
Posted by: Arizona Lax | March 18, 2009 1:37 AM
Hey Dave,
I have followed Loyola as a local fan for years, be careful when you start throwing out you beat them with frequency in the early '90s.
1990 Loyola 17 TSU 12
1991 Loyola 14 TSU 12
1992 TSU 8 Loyola 7 (OT)
1993 Loyola 12 TSU 8
1994 Loyola 13 TSU 12
1995 Loyola 16 TSU 8
1996 TSU 12 Loyola 11
TSU 16 Loyola 11
1997 Loyola 20 TSU 9
1998 Loyola 12 TSU 8
1999 Loyola 16 TSU 14
2000 Loyola 13 TSU 8
I wouldn't call 3 - 9 against them beating them with frequency.
Posted by: Craig | March 18, 2009 2:00 PM