TOWSON, Md. — Alex Woodall had already decided last summer he needed to work his way into better shape for his final year as Towson’s faceoff man.

It’s part of why he found himself playing indoor lacrosse in Annapolis early one morning with some of his old coaches from seventh grade — and how he received a blunt message.

“One of them looks at me and says, ‘Why are you so fat?’” Woodall recalled this week. “I was like ‘What do you mean? I’m working on it.’ And he said, ‘I can help you.’”

And help Woodall they did. The senior has dropped 25 pounds since last summer, slimming down to 215 pounds and becoming an even greater force for the Tigers, who opened their season with a 17-8 rout of Johns Hopkins last weekend.

Woodall won 21 of 28 faceoffs against the Blue Jays, collecting 17 ground balls along the way. He also had a goal and two assists after managing just one point (a goal) in 15 games all of last season.

“He dominated the X,” attackman Brendan Sunday said. “It’s just hard for a team to come back when they don’t have the ball. He’s a great run-stopper. Whenever Hopkins made a positive play, he was right there making another positive play for us. That really helped propel us.”

Woodall was a pivotal piece of Towson’s final four team in 2017, winning 58.9 percent of his draws after transferring from High Point. Woodall acknowledged he didn’t put the work in he needed to improve after collecting an honorable mention All-America nod as a sophomore.

He improved to 60.9 percent, but also committed five extra turnovers over the previous year.

“I wasn’t able to produce anything much of a threat on the field,” Woodall said. “The faceoffs I was winning just didn’t mean too much. Overall, I wasn’t that healthy of a person. I was a lot more overweight than I should’ve ever been.”

With the help of former Towson lacrosse players Brian and Matt Vetter, Woodall adopted the low-carbohydrate Keto diet. The Vetters, co-founders of Tessemae’s, an organic salad dressing and condiment company, pointed out books Woodall could read about the diet and offered ideas on what he could buy when he went shopping for groceries.

Towson coach Shawn Nadelen works directly with the Tigers’ faceoff men, and he recalls his first discussion about Woodall’s new direction coming in late July. It wasn’t long before he recognized a change.

“He really just flipped the switch,” Nadelen said. “I know a lot of people use that term, but for him, that’s what he did. He made a conscious commitment and effort to follow a strict eating plan and working out. Just a very healthy lifestyle, and he’s continued to do that now that he’s back in school, and that’s tough.”

It made an impression on teammates, too. Woodall knows skinny doesn’t necessarily equate to success as a faceoff man, but it can help create transition — something Towson wasn’t particularly known for over the last few years.

Woodall helped send a message Saturday the Tigers will look to push the pace more, and not just because of the new rules package. After Hopkins took a 1-0 lead, Woodall won a draw and fed it to Sunday for a goal. In the fourth quarter, he had a clean win and fed Sunday for a goal that came just three seconds after a Hopkins score.

It was a payoff months in the making for Woodall.

“We all could kind of tell when he came in,” Sunday said. “He passed the run test right away, and in years past he hasn’t. We all knew he’s for real, he’s all about this and he’s committed to doing this process.”

There’s also some fulfillment for Nadelen, who had tried to nudge Woodall toward a more serious approach to the sport over the last two years, with sporadic success. He saw a player who, while an asset, could be better. The opener provided a hint of what the Tigers could enjoy throughout the spring.

“Alex was a kid everybody saw had the tools, had the ability, had the personality, had the drive, but he just wasn’t fully committed into it,” Nadelen said. “When you see that coming into fruition, it’s very exciting for him as a young man. [And] it’s very exciting for us to benefit from that, not just from faceoffs wins but leadership and experience.

“In the past, we had to work harder as a staff — and people around him — to motivate him more. Now we don’t. Now he is motivating others.”

In the process, Woodall helped Towson produce one of the more eye-opening performances of the young season. After getting ahead of himself in the past, Woodall was content this week to look no further than Friday’s trip to Mount St. Mary’s.

At the same time, he sees a higher potential ceiling for himself than earlier in his career, an epiphany that came after learning less could lead to more.

“It’s changed my whole attitude once I saw the right path,” Woodall said. “Before, I was kind of going with the flow — ‘I know I’m a talented player, and hopefully it works out for the best.’ I found a new attitude where I have a goal to be the best at my position. I write that down almost every day. My attitude has changed to work harder and harder and so I can have the best senior season I can and hopefully continue to play after college.”