Bruised and battered, Towson University comes into the national men’s DII semifinals having escaped the closest of the four quarterfinals.

The Tigers held off Rowan 44-41 in the last round, and the game was every bit as close as the score indicates.

But now facing Wisconsin-Whitewater in this weekend’s semis in Greenville, SC, the Towson coaching staff has changed nothing.

“We are creatures of habit,” said co-Head Coach Don Stone. “We have structured our practice the same way for the last five years. We have a very structured game plan, and while we will make adjustments based on who we are playing, we try to stay true to who we are and what we do well.”

That means they want to play in the opposition half, and they want to use the forwards to set up their pace out wide. When they have had trouble doing that, usually the conditions have made it difficult. 

But conditions should be perfect for rugby at Furman University, and then Towson can use their hugely experienced pack - four 5th-year seniors led by Nick Dipietro at No. 8 - to power ahead, and their speedy outside backs, led by John Schuberth at inside center and fast wings Tim Shields and Greg Drebelis to finish the scoring.

Towson’s attack and defense, however, runs through Eric Sweeney. The scrumhalf has been a Goff Rugby Rugby Player of the Week, and continually produces excellent play and leadership. He also partners nicely with flyhalf Vince Fransegilia.

Towson is experienced, hard-nosed, athletic, and ready to make it happen this year.

“We have spent the entire season preparing for this weekend,” said Stone. “We have spent the entire season honing our approach and building our depth in terms of our roster.  We have an A side rotation that runs 25 deep. In back-to-back games, having quality depth is crucial. We are depending on our senior leadership to stand tall this weekend.”