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PONTIAC, Mich. (2/19/2014) -- The University of Detroit Mercy men's lacrosse team came back from an early deficit and then forced overtime with a late rally, but Michigan was able to net the game winner as the Titans fell to the Wolverines, 14-13, in overtime in front of a record crowd of 1,909 at Ultimate Soccer Arenas in Pontiac.

The 1,909 is also believed to be the largest crowd for any Olympic sport at Detroit.

Senior Alex Maini had three goals and two assists to lead the Titan offense. Junior Mike Birney tallied a hat trick with three goals, while senior Tom Masterson and junior Scott Drummond each had a goal and two assists. Sophomore Paul Bitetti led the defense with four caused turnovers and he also recorded his first career goal and redshirt freshman Connor Flynn made 12 saves in net.

After Michigan (2-1) scored four in a row to take a 13-11 lead with 4:17 left, Detroit (1-1) would end up coming back to force the extra period. First Maini was able to take a pass from senior Tom Masterson and power one in with a little more than three minutes left. UDM was then able to get the equalizer with 32 seconds remaining as Birney got his hat trick beating the UM keeper.

In overtime though, Michigan was able to win the opening faceoff and Kyle Jackson took a pass from Mike Hernandez and just beat the Titan goalie for the win.

The Titans got behind right from the start as the Wolverines jumped out to a 7-2 lead after the first 15 minutes. UDM then got its offense going in the second as back-to-back goals from Birney and Maini made it 7-4, but a UM score had the Titans down by four, 8-4, with 7:09 left in the period. The Titans then ended the second frame with two-straight markers as senior Drew Schupbach posted his first career knock and Drummond was able to find junior Shayne Adams, who laced one in to send the red, white and blue to the locker room down by just two, 8-6.

Maini was able to jumpstart the offense coming out in the third as he found Masterson for a goal at the 12:46 mark, but Michigan responded nearly a minute later to make it a two-goal deficit, 9-7.

That is when the Titans looked to really take control of the game going on a 4-0 spurt for an 11-9 advantage. The red, white and blue used a pair of UM penalties to start the charge as Adams and Maini had man-up goals to knot it at 9-9 with 3:27 on the clock. Bitetti then came up with a caused turnover and sprinted up the field and fired one in for Detroit's first lead with 2:15 on the clock just as time was expiring, Birney unleashed one just after from outside the box and right into the net for the 11-9 lead.

Unfortunately, Michigan did not go away answering with four-straight goals in the fourth before the late Titan rally.

Junior Joe Gifford ended the game with three caused turnovers, while senior Troy Dennis picked up a team-high five ground balls.

Detroit was outshot, 52-36, and lost the battle of ground balls, 43-31. UDM did see the Wolverines commit 20 turnovers with Detroit forcing 11 for the second-straight game. The Titans were also a perfect 3-for-3 with the man-up and held Michigan to 0-of-4 with the man-down.

The Titans will now get ready for a trip to Robert Morris on Sunday, Feb. 23, with game time set for 1:00 p.m.

Game Notes:
UDM is now 3-3 in overtime games in its history… The Titans were outshot for the second-straight game… Adams is now tied for third among active players with a point in 34-straight games… Maini now has seven career hat tricks and four career games with five or more points… Maini now has 41 career assists, second in school history and is just two away from school record holder Scott Harris (2009-12)… Birney recorded his sixth career hat trick… Bitetti's goal was on his first career shot… Sophomore long pole Jordan Yono took a career high 21 faceoffs in the game… In the 2012 match-up, the crowd was announced at 1,800.