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DETROIT (10/24/2012) -- Titan goalkeeper Nora Abolins became the school's all-time leader in career shutouts and the University of Detroit Mercy women's soccer team clinched at least a share of the Horizon League regular season title with a 2-0 win over Youngstown State on Wednesday afternoon. The game was the regular season finale for UDM and the fourth straight win for the team.

Abolins recorded four saves posting her ninth shutout of the season and 24th of her career. With the shutout, Abolins now ranks first all-time in UDM women's soccer in career shutouts and also tied the all-time single-season mark in school history. She now has a 0.52 goals against average on the season, allowing just eight goals in 15 games. She has not allowed a goal over the last 363:22 since the final minutes in the game at Valparaiso back on Oct. 6.

“I think it's awesome,” said Abolins on holding the new career mark. “We worked really hard and I can't take all the credit because I have an amazing back line and we work really hard together. They listen to me so it makes my job really easy most of the time. I just do my job and when the ball comes at me, I get in the way.”

Also with the victory, Detroit (9-6-1, 5-2 Horizon League) clinched at least a share of the Horizon League regular season title and will now wait for the result of the Cleveland State (6-10, 2-4 HL) at Milwaukee (5-8-1, 4-2 HL) game this Friday (8 p.m. EST) to determine if the Horizon League Championship will be at Milwaukee or Detroit. Both Milwaukee and Detroit have already earned a bye into the Horizon League Semifinals that will be played on Friday, Nov. 2, at the No. 1 seed. A win for Milwaukee means the Panthers will host as the No. 1 seed, but a tie or loss will give Detroit the top seed placing the semifinal and final rounds of the tournament at Titan Field.

“I'm proud of what these girls have accomplished,” said UDM head coach Mike Lupenec. “We work hard at practice every morning and these girls never complain. They come in fit and do the things necessary to be champions and I'm proud of what they have accomplished so far, but there is a different goal in mind now and that is to win a Horizon League Championship and get to the NCAA Tournament.”

The Titans scored two second-half goals to upend the upset-minded Penguins. Kaitlyn Quarrell scored her fourth goal of the season on an excellent individual effort as she took the ball 25 yards from her own goal and went the length of the field for the first goal of the game at 46:54. She ran faster than everyone else down the field and then beat the Youngstown State goalkeeper. She now shares the team lead in goals (4) with Abby McCollum, Haley Burtraw, and Nina Carter and is tied with McCollum for the team lead with 11 points.

Freshman Heather Brown posted her first collegiate goal in the 61st minute as she took a pass from McCollum and placed it nicely in the top right corner of the net from the top of the 18-yard box to round out the scoring for the red, white and blue.

With 2012 being the 20th year of women's soccer at Detroit, the Titans have never won a regular season title outright, but did win a share of the top spot in 1996 in just the fourth year of the program. Detroit went on to the championship final that season, but fell 3-1 to Butler.

UDM also finishes the regular season with a 7-2 home record posting seven home victories for just the second time in team history, with the last in 1995 when Detroit was 7-0. That season's team went on to finish as the conference champions with a 4-0 win in the final over Milwaukee in what was then the Midwestern Collegiate Conference (now the HL).

Detroit will next play in the Horizon League Semifinals for the third-straight season on Friday, Nov. 2, with the opponent and location to be determined after remaining league games are completed on Saturday night. Stay tuned to DetroitTitans.com for all the updates and information on the Horizon League Championship.