As college friends with competitive personalities befitting their roles as Division I athletes, there’s a healthy one-upmanship that flows naturally between Towson men’s lacrosse juniors Joaquin Villagomez and Mikey Weisshaar, who, in addition to being teammates, are also roommates.
“[Weisshaar] knows how to cook three meals,” Villagomez said. “Eggs, ground beef and ground beef with eggs.”
“[Villagomez] is a big PC guy. I think he’s recorded over 150 days on Fortnite,” Weisshaar responded. “He’s pretty good.”
Both hail from Anne Arundel County. Villagomez played for multiple state championship teams at Severna Park High School, while Weisshaar competed in the MIAA A Conference at Archbishop Spalding High School. The pair’s playful verbal jabs are reflective of a close on-field bond that manifests as potent offensive chemistry for the Tigers.
“As we’ve grown together, we’ve built a level of chemistry that isn’t there automatically,” Villagomez, an attackman, said of his midfield teammate. “We kind of know what’s going on before it happens. With all the reps we’ve had and the practices together, we work together in the right way and do what’s best for the offense.”
Coming off a 2024 season in which the program captured the Coastal Athletic Association championship, Towson will look to the duo to lead the offense in 2025, as the Tigers hope to repeat as CAA champs and make a statement run in the NCAA Tournament.
The Tigers will have to do so without graduated standout attackman Nick DeMaio, who recorded 32 goals and 50 assists as CAA Offensive Player of the Year in 2024.
For Villagomez and Weisshaar, chemistry comes with complementary abilities and skill sets. Villagomez, at 6-foot-6 and 215 pounds, is a physically imposing force with a high-velocity shot who amassed 33 goals and 12 assists in 2024. Weisshaar, by contrast, is a speedster at 5-foot-9 and 170 pounds with lightning-quick hands and an explosive first step that troubled opposing defenses last year en route to 42 goals and 19 assists.
“Joaq is a great guy,” Weisshaar said. “I think we complement each other really well, having a speed guy and then also having a big guy like Joaq causes problems for defenses. He’s able to get heavy and draw doubles, I’m able to use my feet and draw doubles, which is huge for our offense.”
In Villagomez and Weisshaar, Towson head coach Shawn Nadelen sees two players who are not only skilled impact players on the field but evolving leaders who are building more versatility to their games through exceptional individual work ethics that exemplify of Towson’s ACT mantra — Accountability, Competitiveness, Toughness.
“They’re two years into our program, two years into the college lacrosse landscape, understanding what it takes to be successful, having a good amount of time on the field the past couple years, having some success, facing some adversity,” Nadelen said. “Teams have a lot of film on them now, and they’ve had success doing certain things, so teams are going to prepare for that. How do we evolve? How do we continue to work at making their game better and evolving their game? And they’re doing that. They want to grow and add more to their repertoire and be more diverse, which just makes them tougher matchups and more dangerous in our system.”
As Nadelen mentioned, both players, though successful, have battled adversity at varying stages of their collegiate careers.
Weisshaar wasn’t immediately an offensive force upon entry to the Tigers program, battling an injury during the fall of his freshman year in 2022. By the start of the 2023 season, he hadn’t yet found his groove, and he struggled early in the season.
“I remember a game down in Richmond, he had some nice opportunities to score, didn’t score, and we ended up losing that game,” Nadelen said. “The onus he puts on himself to be productive for the team, he took that hard. He knew he could do better, and he wants to, and we’ve seen him develop from that.”
Weisshaar, whose older brother Sam also played for the Tigers, had the support of his then-senior brother during his freshman year. His ascent since 2023 includes a first-team All-America nod from Inside Lacrosse last season.
Both the good and the bad of his freshman season have made Weisshaar appreciate his experience that much more.
“I wouldn’t trade [playing with Sam] for the world,” Weisshaar said. “The recovery process [from injury] was a grind. Looking back on that, you can’t take any of it for granted. I’m truly blessed to be able to play.”
Villagomez has had an inverse arc. He broke on to the scene as a freshman, scoring five goals in a win against St. Mary’s to earn CAA Offensive Rookie of the Week honors after his opening game. He started the Tigers’ next 31 games, leading up to last season’s 15-6 CAA championship win against Delaware.
Though the Tigers won that game, Villagomez suffered a fractured ankle that required surgery. His rehab process has him on track to be able to play for the Tigers in 2025.
“I broke my ankle in the CAA championship last year, but that was the greatest moment I’ve experienced,” Villagomez said. “Seeing the joy on the faces of my teammates, seeing them cash in what we’ve been working for all year, that was probably the greatest moment I’ve had at Towson. … This is my first big injury that required surgery. It’s definitely building mental strength. It’s not easy. No injury is easy. But I just put in as much as I can every day, do the right things, take care of myself, and I’ve just got to hope for the best. I do everything I can on my end, and God will take care of the rest.”
A second consecutive CAA championship is a logical next step for a Towson program pursuing a new era of success.
“It’s a great feeling to be, how we kind of say, restoring the roar,” said Weisshaar, who is majoring in mass communications and advertising. “Towson’s been really successful in the past, and it’s really cool to be a part of it all.”
Villagomez said the character-building inherent in the Towson lacrosse program — not goals of championships — will power the players’ individual and collective success.
“The mentality that Towson lacrosse has taught me, that’s something that unfortunately not everyone is able to get in life, but I wish they could, because the lessons and the character the coaches have built here is unmatched,” Villagomez said. “We do everything we can in the moment, and then we trust the process that if we go 100 percent and do the right things, the rest will take care of itself.”
Photo Credit: John Bowers