DETROIT (3/8/2014) -- The University of Detroit Mercy women's lacrosse team will host Delaware State at Titan Field Tuesday with game time scheduled for 12:00 p.m. ET.
 
Gameday Central
Titan fans can follow every UDM game this season through Women's Lacrosse Gameday Central located on the Titans Athletic Website that will keep fans one click away from all the action. This page will feature links for live stats (audio and video when applicable) as well as links for all the latest info while also making it easy to find the Titans on social media and to purchase photos and game tickets. Women's Lacrosse Gameday Central also carries all the information on each opponent from who is leading the all-time series to who won the last game.
 
Heartbreaker Down South
The Titans played from behind and then played ahead in Wednesday's 9-8 loss at Elon. UDM opened its Atlantic Sun season with a back-and-forth affair. Detroit found itself down in the last 5:32 of the game and had one last opportunity to tie the game as Campbell was found open in front of the net with 26 seconds left. Pritchard forced a caused turnover and then grabbed the ground ball that gave Detroit the ball with 43 seconds left needing one goal to force overtime. With the save made, the Titans were unable to mount another attack and were forced to head home with a difficult defeat.
 
Titan Points
Six different Titans scored for Detroit Wednesday as junior Tessa Keuler and sophomore Kylie Birney each had two goals offensively. Junior Annie Mendoza, senior Erin Campbell, and freshmen Kelsi Pritchard and Julie Castner each had single goals for the Titans while Birney and Pritchard each had helpers for Detroit. The goal for Castner was her first collegiate point.
 
D-Fence
Junior goalkeeper Lexie McCormick finished with 10 saves for Detroit and had two ground balls against the Phoenix. Sophomore Ally Shrader and Birney each had a game-high three ground balls while junior Morgan Lear also had two. Sophomore Morgan Miller, Shrader, Birney and Pritchard each had one caused turnover for the Titans.
 
Between the Pipes
Lexie McCormick now has 365 saves in 40 career games with UDM and is Detroit's all-time career leader in saves. McCormick is already the UDM school leader in career goaltender victories with 13. McCormick entered Monday's NCAA weekly rankings in third place in saves per game with 12 per contest. She was also 15th in the nation in total saves with 36 and 26th in ground balls with three per game.
 
Robert Morris
The Colonials are 3-0 to start the year after a 16-13 home win over Niagara, a 20-4 home victory over Howard and then a third home win with a 15-14 overtime decision over Oregon that was moved indoors for weather reasons on March 2. Kristin Yoviene leads the team in points with eight goals and four assists while Brittany Byerly also has eight goals but is second in the scoring race with three assists. Katilin Pentz has started each of the team's three games in the cage and has recorded all of the team's wins. The Titans faced Robert Morris in the home opener for both teams a year ago and the Colonials won 13-7 on its home field.
 
Delaware State
The Hornets are 0-5 in their second year of women's lacrosse. The Titans won last year's contest between the two teams in Delaware by a 15-1 score. This year, Delaware State is 0-5 to start the year with losses coming to Longwood, Presbyterian, St. Joseph's, Mount St. Mary's, and on Saturday, the Hornets fell 16-13 in a road contest at Wilmington. Jillian Lontz is in her second year as the head coach and the program is still looking for its first win after an 0-11 season in 2013. Emily Etkins leads the team in scoring with 12 goals and an assist while Rhian Sellers has started all five games in net for the Hornets.
 
Milestone Markers
Junior Tessa Keuler has 33 career assists, third on the school's all-time career list and just eight away from tying the school's all-time career leader Zaynib Hamze with 41. Head Coach Laura Maness is also two wins away from tying and three from becoming UDM's all-time leader in coaching wins.
 
Remembering 2013
The Titans finished 5-14 overall in 2013 but 3-1 in the Atlantic Sun and entered the A-Sun Championship as the No. 2 seed and fell to the top seed Jacksonville in the finals. The Titans swept the A-Sun individual awards handed out on Wednesday as graduated senior Zaynib Hamze was named the Player of the Year and Lexie McCormick garnered the Defensive Player of the Year award. In addition, a total of eight Titans were named to either the All-Conference First or Second Team, three players were named to the All-Conference Freshmen Team.
 
Welcome Back
The Titans return two of its top three scorers in 2014 in senior Erin Campbell (39 goals, 50 points) and junior Tessa Keuler (40 points). Also returning on this year's squad is McCormick and junior defenders Amanda Guthrie (team-high 55 ground balls) and on-the-field leader Taylor Marshall along with sophomore returners Morgan Miller (named to All-Conference Freshman team in 2013) and Ally Shrader (19 games played as a freshman). Also returning will be sophomores Kylie Birney and Michaela Schwartz (both named to All-Conference Freshman team in 2013), Jenna Payne, and Ty Dykes. Redshirt junior Morgan Lear (24 ground balls in 2012) also returns to the squad after missing all of last season with an injury and will be making her debut in the Atlantic Sun Conference in 2014.
 
Newcomers
Eight newcomers will join the Titans including graduate student Vittoria Wallace who came to Detroit in January 2014 after transferring from Oakland University where she played club lacrosse her previous three academic years. Redshirt junior Annie Mendoza will also be making her debut in 2014 as a Titan this year after transferring to Detroit for the 2012-13 academic year but missed the entire 2013 season due to an injury. Six freshmen in Miklain Huntsman, Kelsi Pritchard, Julie Castner, Annelise Niermann, Lauren Sharkey, and Jaclyn Snyder will look to make their mark with the Titans in 2014. Assistant Coach Jake Marmul will also make his Titan debut in 2014 after serving in the same role with the University of Notre Dame women's lacrosse team last year.
 
2014 Preseason Coaches Poll
Detroit grabbed 28 points and was pegged to finish second behind Jacksonville and its 36 votes.  Stetson was third with 25 points. Campbell, Guthrie and McCormick were picked to represent the Titans on the Preseason All-Atlantic Sun Team. Lear and Mendoza were named to the A-Sun Newcomer Watch List.
 
Home Cooking
The Titans had just five home games in 2013 compared to 11 on the road. Detroit will look to have a home field advantage in 2014 with nine home contests including an in-state match-up with the first-year varsity program Michigan Wolverines on April 16. With nine home games for the Titans, it will be the largest home schedule Detroit has ever had in its history with the second largest in 2011 when UDM had eight home games.
 
State of the Atlantic Sun
2014 will be the second year of women's lacrosse action in the Atlantic Sun Conference. The Conference will feature six teams including Detroit, Elon, Howard, Kennesaw State, Jacksonville, and Stetson. Elon will be leaving the A-Sun for the Colonial Athletic Association in 2015 but Furman, Mercer, and Old Dominion will join the A-Sun. In 2016, the A-Sun will be nine teams strong as Central Michigan will join the league.
 
Next Up
Detroit will have two more games this week with the next on Tuesday when Delaware State will be at Titan Field at 12:00 p.m. UDM will then head to Niagara Falls, N.Y where the Titans will face Niagara on March 14 at 3:00 p.m.
 
Social Media
Titan fans don't forget to follow #DetroitsCollegeTeam on Twitter and Instagram at @DetroitTitans and remember to like the Titans on Facebook at Detroit Titans. You can also follow the women's lacrosse team on Twitter @DetroitWL and on Facebook at Detroit Titan Women's Lacrosse.