Gameday Central

DETROIT (10/6/2014) -- The University of Detroit men's soccer team is preparing for two home matches this week at Titan Field. Detroit will host IPFW on Tuesday for a 4 p.m. non-conference matchup before entertaining Horizon League foe Green Bay in a 1 p.m. showdown Saturday at Titan Field.

The Titans are 2-1 in the Horizon League after the first two weeks of the conference season. Detroit has played in consecutive overtime contests, dropping a 2-1 double-overtime match against rival Oakland last Wednesday before rebounding with a 2-1 overtime win Saturday at UIC.

Last Week's Recap
Detroit hosted Oakland for the first game of the newly-formed Metro Series and earned a 1-0 lead in the second half off Matt Harkema's goal in the 66th minute. After receiving a pass from Adam Clauss, Harkema beat Oakland goalkeeper Wes Mink to the ball and angled a shot past a defender and into a wide open goal. The goal was Harkema's second of the season.

Oakland was not deterred at Titan Field, however, scoring the equalizer in the 85th minute. The game would eventually go into a second overtime. Midway through the second overtime, Oakland was awarded a free kick just outside of the box. Matt Dudley hit a perfect shot into the top corner of the goal to give the Golden Grizzlies the victory in the first game of the Metro Series.

On Saturday, UIC took a 1-0 lead in the 33rd minute and had the same lead at halftime. In the second half, Jason Leslie scored on a header off Spiro Pliakos' free kick to even the game 1-1 in the 68th minute. It was Leslie's second goal of the season. The game would extend to another overtime for Detroit and the Titans this time had the momentum, recording four shots and one corner kick in the first half of the overtime period.

UDM would end the game 5:07 into the first overtime on a shot by sophomore defender Tyler Moorman. It was Detroit's second victory in overtime this season. The Titans also earned a 2-1 victory in its season-opener at Western Michigan. Moorman's goal was his first of the season and second of his career. Pliakos was credited with the assist, his second of the contest.

National/Conference Rankings
Freshman forward Spiro Pliakos is tied for eighth in the nation with six assists. In the conference, he trails only Wright State's Eric Lynch.

Goalkeeper Nathan Steinwascher is tied for 19th in the country with 48 saves, while ranking first in the Horizon League in the same category. Steinwascher is also first in the league in saves per game (4.8), which ranks him 29th among Division I goalkeepers.

Scouting IPFW
The Mastodons went 1-15-1 during the 2013 season, but are 3-5-3 this season. The teams that the Mastodons have tied this season are familiar foes. IPFW has tied Western Michigan, Northern Kentucky and Green Bay this season. IPFW is also 1-1-1 away from Fort Wayne and dropped a 1-0 match to Western Illinois in its last outing on Oct. 4.

Austin West leads the Mastodons in goals (four), points (eight) and shots (25). Jacob Murphy (one goal, three assists) and Tom Corey (two goals, one assist) are tied for second on the team with five points each. Raphael Kotzock and Cody Schweitzer have split time in net this season for IPFW. Kotzock has started six games and has a 0.98 GAA and 79.4 save percentage to lead the team.

Mike Harper is in his eighth season as the head coach of the IPFW men's soccer squad.

Scouting Green Bay
The Phoenix are 3-4-3 and 0-1-1 in Horizon League play entering this week. Green Bay visits Wisconsin on Tuesday before traveling to Detroit for Saturday's matchup. Green Bay is 1-2-2 away from home this season and dropped a 2-0 match to Oakland at home on Oct. 4.

Audi Jepsen leads the Horizon League and is among the nation's leaders in goals (nine) and points (21). Faycal Oulahbib (three goals, seven points) and Lawrence Talery (four assists, six points) are second and third on the team in points, respectively. Goalkeeper Dani Alvarado has a 1.09 GAA and 77.5 save percentage this season for Green Bay. He has started eight of the 11 games for the Phoenix.

Marc Baumbach was named the interim coach for Green Bay prior to the 2014 season. He has five years of head coaching experience overall.

All-Time Series
The Titans are 9-2-2 all-time against IPFW. Detroit earned a victory in its last outing against the Mastodons, earning a 3-1 win last season in Fort Wayne. Adam Bedell scored two goals and assisted on the third goal last season for UDM. Jason Leslie scored the game-winning goal for Detroit, which out-shot IPFW 20-13 in the match.

Detroit leads the all-time series with Green Bay 10-8-5. The Titans fell 2-0 to the Phoenix last season in Green Bay. UDM won its last meeting between the two programs in Detroit, posting a 2-1 victory on Sept. 14, 2012 at Titan Field. Matt Harkema scored the game-winning goal in that game, his second career tally.

Honors for Steinwascher
Goalkeeper Nathan Steinwascher was selected as the Outstanding Defensive Player at the UNLV Nike Invitational after helping lead the Titans to the tournament win. Steinwascher recorded his first shutout of the season in Sunday's 0-0 tie against UNLV. Steinwascher also made seven saves in Detroit's 2-1 victory over Cal State Fullerton in the opener of the tournament on Friday. Steinwascher faced 32 shots overall on the weekend and finished the event with 11 saves in net. Additionally, he was named the Horizon League Co-Defensive Player of the Week on Monday, Sept. 15.

Steinwascher was also named Horizon League Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 29 after helping lead UDM to a 2-1 win vs. Wright State. Steinwascher made three saves in the game and helped limit a potent WSU offense that entered league play second in shots and goals.

For the season, Steinwascher is tied for second in the Horizon League in saves (34) and saves per game (4.25). He is fourth in the league in goals against average (1.21) and save percentage (77.3), and is fifth in shutouts with two. 

Strong Start for Pliakos
Even though he missed the first game of the season, freshman Spiro Pliakos has quickly been a force in the Titan lineup. The 5-foot-8 midfielder has been a pest to opposing defenses and earned All-Tournament honors at both the Dayton Flyer Classic and UNLV Nike Invitational earlier this season.

Pliakos currently leads the squad with six assists, eight points and 16 shots in nine games. He also scored the game-winning goal, which was his first college goal, in a 2-1 victory over Cal State Fullerton in Las Vegas. All six of Pliakos' assists have come in the past five games.

UNLV Invitational All-Tournament Team
Nathan Steinwascher, Spiro Pliakos, Aidan Kuhls and Jason Leslie were all named to the UNLV Nike Invitational All-Tournament Team. The Titans won the tournament after earning a 2-1 win over Cal State Fullerton and tying host UNLV.

First Collegiate Goals
Five Titans have scored their first collegiate goals this season. Sophomore midfielders Adam Clauss and Matt DeVries each scored their first collegiate goals in Detroit's season-opening victory at Western Michigan. DeVries scored the game's first goal in the second half against the Broncos, while Clauss scored the game-winning tally in overtime. Clauss, who missed his freshman season because of an injury, was also playing in his first career game for the Titans.

Freshman midfielder Spiro Pliakos added his first collegiate goal in UDM's win over Cal State Fullerton. His tally in the 81st minute also proved to be the game-winning goal. Sophomore midfielder Tommy Bowman also found the back of the net for his first goal at UDM, scoring in the 45th minute, just seven seconds before halftime, at Buffalo.

Freshman forward Don Nakashima is the fifth Titan to record his first career goal this season. Nakashima scored the game-winning goal in Detroit's 2-1 victory in its league-opener against Wright State on Sept. 27.

Home Games
Admission into all Titan men's and women's soccer games for the 2014 season is FREE.

Upcoming Schedule
Following two games at home this week, Detroit returns to the road for its next two games. The Titans play Wednesday, Oct. 15 at Valparaiso in a league matchup before visiting Ann Arbor on Tuesday, Oct. 21 for a 7:30 p.m. match against Michigan. Detroit will then return home for its final two home games of the season, entertaining Cleveland State on Oct. 25 and Bowling Green on Oct. 29.

Social Media
Titan fans don't forget to follow #DetroitsCollegeTeam on Twitter and Instagram at @DetroitTitans and remember to like the Titans on Facebook. Also follow the UDM men's soccer Twitter account at @UDMSoccer.