As the only head coach in the history of the Titan women’s soccer program, Mike Lupenec - the dean of Horizon League coaches - has seen the Titans rise from a first-year Division I squad to a premier power in the Horizon League. Lupenec who finished his 26th year in 2018, is the conference’s active coaching leader in overall victories with 234.
Lupenec recorded his 200th collegiate coaching victory at Detroit Mercy in a 1-0 victory over Youngstown State on Oct. 8, 2014, on Titan Field, and No. 225 in dramatic fashion as the Titans scored with just three second left in the first over time at YSU in 2017.
The Titans have reached the Horizon League Semfinals in six of the last nine seasons. Just this past season, the Titans were picked to finish eighth in the preseason poll, but on the strength of a six-game winning streak - the third longest in school history - the Titans earned a bid to the postseason and advanced to the semifinals with a win on the road at Wright State in the quarterfinals. The six-game winning streak were all shutouts - a school record - as the Titan defense went 610:00 minutes without allowing a goal.
In 2014, Detroit Mercy advanced to the Horizon League Championship game for the first time in eight years after defeating Oakland in a 1-0 overtime win in the semifinals. In addition to finishing runner-up in the Horizon League Tournament, Detroit Mercy also finished as the second-best squad in the regular season with a 5-3 conference record, while winning five overtime games overall.
Under Lupenec, the Titans have reached the Horizon League championship game five times overall (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2014). In addition to four runner-up finishes, the Titans brought home the league’s tallest trophy in 2004, defeating Youngstown State, Green Bay and Milwaukee – and giving up just one goal in the process – to move on to the NCAA Tournament. There, Detroit Mercy scored a stunning 3-2 victory over Michigan in the opening game before falling to sixth-ranked Ohio State in the second round of the tourney. The win over Michigan in 2004 remains the only NCAA Tournament win by a Titan program other than the men’s basketball team. His team finished that year with 14 victories, just one shy of the school record set in 1995 and 1996.
That 2004 title was the second league championship Lupenec’s team has delivered to University, as it also won in 1995, with a 15-5 overall record to establish a school record that was equaled a year later when the Titans also won a regular-season co-championship in 1996. Lupenec has been voted league Coach of the Year by his peers three times (2000, 2005, 2012).
Lupenec’s Titans have recorded ten winning seasons compiling a 234-227-41 overall record and a 93-71-17 in conference games. Six times (1996, 2002, 2003, 2011, 2012, 2016) in the history of the women’s soccer program, the All-Conference First Team has featured three Titans. His student-athletes have earned 82 All-Horizon League selections, including three HL Player of the Year accolades (Monica Kaltreider, 1998, Mary Parker, 2004 and 2006), a Co-Defensive Player of the Year (Alexandra Suschak, 2011) and two Defensive Player of the Year (Haley Burtraw in 2014 and Rachel DeLuca in 2016), one Offensive Player of the Year (Kaitlyn Quarrell, 2012), two Goalkeepers of the Year (Nora Abolins in 2012 and Marina Manzo in 2016 and 2018) and a Freshman of the Year (Claudia Eustaquio, 2015) on his resume. All told, 126 student-athletes have earned All-League accolades, including 42 on the All-Newcomer Team. Four players have also earned First Team All-Conference accolades all four seasons (Gwen Kilfoy, 1998-2001, Tanya Tiselj, 1999-2002, Allison Epple, 2002-05, and Mary Parker, 2003-06). Three more players have been named First Team All-Conference three different times in Monica Kaltreider (1996-98), Kaitlyn Quarrell (2011-13) and Alyssa Riley (2012-14).
Five Titans have been named CoSIDA Academic All-District with Mary Parker in 2006 earning CoSIDA Academic All-American and NSCAA/adidas College Women Scholar All-America. Alexandra Suschak was named to the 2011 NSCAA Women’s College Scholar All-America third team and in the last two years, both Tatum Zurawski and Anna Mindling were tabbed to the CoSIDA Academic All-District squad.
The 2014-15 Titans were recognized with a Team Academic Award by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America for its excellence in the classroom during the 2014-15 academic year. Out of 859 total teams to receive the award, the Titans’ brilliant 3.70 GPA was the fourth-best mark in the nation, for both men’s and women’s teams across all NCAA divisions. The Titans earned the honor for the sixth-straight year in 2018.
Lupenec was the first Horizon League coach to reach the career 100-win plateau on Sept. 3, 2003 with a 3-0 victory over Bowling Green. He is also the only current head coach at Detroit Mercy to have recorded a win in NCAA Tournament play.
When he came to Detroit Mercy in 1991, Lupenec first served as an assistant coach for the men’s soccer program for two seasons, including the 1992 campaign when he joined forces with his twin brother and former Titan men’s head coach, Morris. When the opportunity to begin a women’s program on the Division I level arose, Lupenec was there to take the challenge of building a successful program.
He was also closely involved in the planning of the new artificial surface soccer/track facility, which was completed in the fall of 2007. It was only fitting that Lupenec, who has built the Titans from the ground up, would lead his team to the field’s first-ever Titan victory as the team blanked Youngstown State 4-0 on Oct. 28, 2007.
A native of Welland, Ontario, Lupenec is a 1986 graduate of nearby Oakland University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in human resource and development. He and his twin brother played soccer for the Pioneers (as they were known then) from 1981-83, with Morris a star forward and Mike a starting defender. The 1982 Oakland team was the first in school history to make the NCAA Division II Semifinals. The following year OU posted an 18-3 record, the best in school history. Lupenec continued his soccer career after college, playing professionally in Canada with the Windsor Wheels.
Not only has he been successful coaching on the collegiate level, but also on the club level, where he has won several national championships. His Vardar U-17 squad was the first in the history of Michigan to claim both outdoor and indoor national titles.
Lupenec and his wife, Lydia, are the proud parents of three children – Alexa, Mark and Julianna. The family resides in Macomb Township.
