With the men's lacrosse season opener just two days away, DetroitTitans.com final position preview will be at attack.  The 2011 season starts on Saturday at No. 17 Delaware.

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DETROIT -- The Titan attack is young with just one upperclassmen returning, but Detroit will have a few newcomers looking to make an impact, and if all goes well, Detroit will showcase a very balanced scoring front.

“It is going to be some work to replace the guys we don't have this year, but we have a number of solid players on the team who can score,” said head coach Matt Holtz. “I think we will be very balanced and not leaning on that one scorer like we did at times last year.”

The Titans will be without the services of sophomores Joel Matthews and Tyler Staruch, who will both take a year off to focus on academics. The two Titans combined for 50 goals and 69 points last year, with Matthews earning second team All-MAAC accolades.

The lone upperclassman on the unit is junior Scott Harris (Saline, MI/Saline). Harris enjoyed a breakthrough sophomore campaign ending the year with 12 goals and a team-high 14 assists for 26 points, a huge improvement over his freshman numbers of three goals and one assist.

Sophomore Chris Nemes (Novi, MI/Detroit Catholic Central) is back, but will mostly likely see more time in the midfield. Nemes tallied 10 goals and five assists as a rookie, with a pair of two-goal games against Robert Morris and Siena. 

“Harris is someone who we are going to look to lead us with his experience,” said Holtz. “He has to step up in that leadership role and after seeing the improvements he made last year, I am confident that he will. Nemes is a big north-south guy who can run through some kids with his size at midfield.”

A host of newcomers will be given the chance to step in and provide a scoring punch, with that group headed by redshirt freshman Wes Steen (Columbus, OH/Olentangy Liberty). Steen missed all of his true rookie season due to injury, but looks to be back after notching six goals in the Titans' preseason scrimmage.

“We thought Wes was going to be out third attackmen last year as a freshman,” Holtz said. “He is just solid all the way around and he knows how to find the back of the cage. There is nothing that sticks out about his game, but he just knows how to play and how to find the back of the net.”

Freshmen Shayne Adams (St. Catharines, ON/Denis Morris), Alex Maini (Lynbrook, NY/Lynbrook), Tom Masterson (London, ON/St. Thomas Aquinas CCS) and Alex Wilson (Boca Raton, FL/ Saint Andrews) will all be in the mix for playing time, along with sophomore Erek Bender (Fraser, MI/De La Salle), who will provide depth at both attack and midfield.

Adams is another Canadian product who enjoyed a stellar senior year in high school as well as over the summer in the Ontario Junior Box Lacrosse League, where he finished with 32 goals and 43 assists. Masterson also played summer lacrosse in Ontario ending with 16 goals and 40 assists and has been a proven playmaker in his prep days, while Maini comes to Detroit as one of the top attackmen from Long Island.

“I think that our freshman have a good chance of coming up big for us,” said Holtz. “Maini and Masterson are good players and Adams has the ability to give us three goals in a game so we might be young, but we should have a good four or five man rotation depending on the day and the team we are playing.”