DETROIT -- Another trip to the MAAC Tournament and finishing as the No. 2 seed was among the highlights for the Detroit Titans men's lacrosse team in 2012.

“It is an interesting year to look back on,” said head coach Matt Holtz. “We were picked to win the MAAC and we didn't, but just looking at where we are as a fourth-year program, we have exceeded our expectations of where we thought we would be.”
UDM recorded a program record six wins for the second-straight year and finished tied for second in the league, after being the MAAC Preseason favorite. Detroit could have had more wins with some lucky breaks as four of its losses were by five goals or less, including a pair of one-goal setbacks. In MAAC play, where the red, white and blue were 3-3, the Titans fell in two closely contested match-up with an 8-6 score at Manhattan and an 8-7 outcome at VMI.

The Titans were again among the nation's leaders in defense, finishing first with 10.47 caused turnovers per game. It was the second-straight year that they led the nation in that category and the third time in the last three years that Detroit was in the top three.

UDM finished in the top 10 in saves per game (11.73), 12th in ground balls (32.27) and 13th in man-down defense (.738).

“We like to play a certain style and what we really need to improve on is turnovers and keeping the ball,” said Holtz. “We do a good job taking the ball away as we try to limit our opponent's opportunities, but we need to be smarter with the ball and take care of it ourselves.”

Detroit ended the year with three players earning All-MAAC honors, but even more impressive was the league-high 15 Titans that made the MAAC All-Academic Team. Junior Jordan Houtby (St. Catharines, ON/Holy Cross) was tabbed the MAAC Long Stick Midfielder Of The Year for the second-straight season after another stellar defensive effort. He topped the MAAC and was second in the country again in caused turnovers, posting 2.53 per game. In his career, Houtby has totaled 123 caused turnovers and 216 ground balls.

“He had another great year,” said Holtz. “Teams have really started to game plan for him, so we find ourselves creating a game plan for him.”

The two other Titans earning conference honors were sophomore Shayne Adams (St. Catharines, ON/Denis Morris) and junior Jamie Hebden (Farmington Hills, MI/Brother Rice). Adams was named the team's Offensive Player of the Year and Second Team All-MAAC after he led the team in goals for the second-straight season finishing with 33. His 37 points was second and he also ranked third in the conference and 24th in the country with 2.2 goals per game. That was all done after coming back from a torn ACL suffered late in his freshman year.

“Shayne has proven that he is a big time goal scorer who is going to get 30-40 goals a year,” added Holtz.

Hebden was also Second Team All-MAAC and was selected the team's Defensive Player of the Year as he contributed tremendously on and off the field. His leadership is always evident and that is one of the reasons he was named a team captain prior to the start of the year. He helped a Titan defense lead the nation in caused turnovers tallying 21 for second on the squad as well as placing third with 38 ground balls. Individually, he was 35th in the nation with 1.32 caused turnovers per game.

“Jamie is our leader and showed his heart by playing a bit injured in the second half of the year,” said Holtz. “He missed the last few games with a leg injury, but he was really playing hurt and giving it his all when he was out there.”

Junior A.J. Levell (Columbus, OH/Dublin Scioto) had another great year in net and was named the Titans Team MVP. He made 152 saves – third in the MAAC – and picked up a career-high 43 ground balls – second on the team. He ended the season 13th in Division I with 10.86 saves per game and 20th in saves percentage (.541), while recording double digit saves in 10 of his 14 games. He was also named to the All-MAAC Tournament Team for the second-straight year.

“A.J. has really improved in his three years and he made some outstanding saves for us,” said Holtz. “He needs to work on making the easier saves more consistently, but he has come up big for us when we need him.”

Sophomore Joel Matthews (St. Catharines, ON/Holy Cross) returned to the team and led the Titans with 39 points, while finishing second with 24 goals and tied for second at 15 assists. One of his best games came in a road win at Canisius as he set a school record with eight points with seven goals and handing out an assist as Detroit rung up 17 goals against the Golden Griffins.

Senior Scott Harris (Saline, MI/Saline) and sophomore Alex Maini (Lynbrook, NY/Lynbrook) were two other Titan offensive leaders. Maini had a sensational sophomore campaign earning All-MAAC Tournament honors and posting career highs in points (35), goals (20) and assists (15). He had nine multi-goal games, including two goals in each of the last five games on the year.

Harris finished his Titan career as the Titans all-time leading scorer tallying 93 points on 50 goals and a school record 43 assists. In 2012, he was fourth on the team with 26 points and 18 goals.

“Alex is a guy who continues to get batter and is just a gamer,” said Holtz. “Scott was a valuable member of our team and someone that will be hard to replace.”
Sophomore Scott Drummond (Birmingham, MI/Seaholm) was a two-time MAAC Newcomer of the Week and ended the season with 11 goals and 19 points. Senior Tim Lehto (Farmington, MI/North Farmington) notched eight goals and 12 points, while sophomore Tom Masterson (London, ON/St. Thomas Aquinas) totaled 10 points, tying for eight on the team with eight assists.

At defense, senior Jason McDonald (Bayport, NY/Bayport-Blue Point) ended his career the way he began it - on the field - as he started all 15 games and will go down as the only Titan to start the first 57 games in program history. He was a team captain and ended the season with 15 caused turnovers and 25 ground balls, along with his first three collegiate goals.

“Jason was a leader,” said Holtz. “He was a consistent player for us and one that we will need to replace as we move ahead.”

Junior John Dwyer (Novi, MI/Detroit Catholic Central) was a steady member of the defense as he came up with 14 caused turnovers and 27 ground balls, career highs in both categories, while senior Jon Bemben (Hartland, MI/Hartland) had a career-best 20 GB's.

The Titans used two faceoff men on the year with juniors Brandon Davenport (Grosse Pointe Woods, MI/GP North) and Tyler Corcoran (South Lyon, MI/South Lyon). Davenport led the team with 78 wins and picked up career win No. 300 late in the season. He won at least 50% of his faceoffs in seven of his 14 games. Corcoran tallied a career-high 67 victories, and came up big down the stretch winning 30 of his last 50 in the last four games.

UDM once again played a challenging schedule with two ranked programs (No. 19 Delaware & No. 6 North Carolina) and seven road contests in its first eight games. In that early span, Detroit won three road games – after coming into the year with one true road victory in its program history – including back-to-back at Quinnipiac (13-10) and at Canisius (17-12). The 17 goals in the regular season game with Canisius was a Titan record for a conference game.

One of the big games on the year came early as Detroit hosted Michigan in front of a sold-out crowd at Ultimate Soccer Arenas in Pontiac. With 1,800 fans in the stands – and most of them wearing Titan red – the Titans outscored Michigan 5-2 in the third to break a 5-5 tie at the half. Maini had three-straight goals for Detroit and Adams finished the period with two markers in the final 2:21 as UDM went on to win 13-9.
Another big win came as Matthews beat the Marist defense on a behind-the-back shot in overtime for an 8-7 Titan win. A 5-0 Titan run in the second half - started with three goals by Adams - erased a three-goal deficit and UDM went on to down Jacksonville, 8-7.

As the season came to an end, so did the career of the Titans first four-year senior class in Bemben, Harris, Lehto, McDonald, Brad Janer (Novi, MI/Detroit Catholic Central), Ty Maruyama (Lakewood, CO/Green Mountain), Adam Nolan (Ann Arbor, MI/Pioneer), John Nowicki (Clinton Twp., MI/De La Salle Collegiate), Adam Parrottino (Troy, MI/De La Salle Collegiate) and Danny Preston (Hempstead, NY/Hempstead). All 10 of those players came to the program to help build a legacy and left knowing that the Titans competed for a MAAC Championship in their last two years.

“They were a special class and we will miss them,” said Holtz. “They all took a chance coming here to start a new program and it was really emotional to see their careers come to an end.”