Gameday Central
MAAC Championship Information
Game Notes vs. Marist
MAAC Championship Banquet (Apr. 30, 7 PM)
 
DETROIT (4/29/2014) -- It took a win on the last day and some tiebreakers to fall their way, but the Titans got in and now it is time to defend their title from a year ago as the University of Detroit Mercy men's lacrosse team faces Marist in the MAAC Championship Semifinals on Thursday, May 1. Opening faceoff is slated for 7:00 p.m., at Tenney Stadium at Leonidoff Field in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
 
Detroit is the No. 3 seed and Marist is the tournament host and the No. 2 seed. The other semifinals match, that will be played at 4:00 p.m., is top-seeded Siena against No. 4 Canisius. The winners will battle it out for the MAAC's automatic berth to the NCAA Championship on Saturday in a game that will be televised live on ESPN3 at 11:00 a.m.
 
Titan fans can follow every UDM game this season through the men's lacrosse GAMEDAY CENTRAL page 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.
 
The Titans finished the regular season at 6-7 and 3-3 in the MAAC, where they tied for second place. It was a five-way tie for second and it came down to goal differential with Marist (+9) getting the second seed, UDM (+1) the third and Canisius (-2) the fourth and Quinnipiac (-2) and Manhattan (-6) on the outside looking in. (Canisius got in over Quinnipiac by beating the Bobcats during the regular season)
 
Detroit defeated Marist 12-11 earlier in the year at home in just another game that came down the wire between the two programs. UDM has now won four of the last five meetings against the Red Foxes and leads the overall series 4-3, but five of the seven games have been decided by just one goal, including both previous match-ups in the MAAC Semifinals.
 
The red, white and blue have been in the MAAC for five years and have now made the MAAC Championship in four-straight seasons with two trips to the championship game and a title under its belt already.
 
Tickets to the MAAC Championship can be purchased at TicketLeap and are set at $25.00 for an All Session pass or $15.00 per game. Students, children and senior citizen tickets are priced at $5.00 per game.
 
The 2014 championship banquet will be held on Wednesday, April 30, at 7:00 p.m., and can be viewed live on MAAC.TV for free. During the banquet, all the regular season awards and academic honors will be announced.
 
AGAINST THE MAAC
Detroit is 15-17 in conference play since joining the MAAC in 2010. UDM opened its MAAC history with a 2-6 mark in 2010 and was 4-2 in 2011 and 3-3 the last three seasons, tying for second place in 2010, 2011 and 2013 and taking fourth place last year.
 
UDM is also 13-18 all-time against current members of the MAAC - which includes conference tournament games.
 
MAAC CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY
This is the sixth year of Titan lacrosse and the fifth year UDM has been in the MAAC. After going 2-6 in 2010 and missing the conference tournament, this group of seniors has led Detroit to its fourth-straight appearance in the MAAC Championship, which already includes a few upsets, two trips to the finals and a league title.
 
The Titans are 3-2 all-time in the tournament with two of those wins over Marist as the red, white and blue upended the second-seeded Red Foxes, 9-8, in 2011, and then ousted the top-seeded squad last year, 7-6, with both of those games in Buffalo, N.Y.
 
Detroit has also squared off with Siena twice falling 12-3 in the championship game to the No. 1 Saints in 2011 and then posting a come-from-behind 11-10 win in overtime last year against the No. 3 seed.
 
The other game was in 2012 as No. 3 Canisius downed No. 2 Detroit, 12-10, in a game played at Marist.
 
ABOUT MARIST
Like Detroit in 2013, Marist had to win its final game just to make the MAAC Championship and the Red Foxes did that, ironically over Canisius, 13-7, once again just like UDM last year.
 
Marist has now won two in a row and ended the regular season leading the MAAC with 11.31 goals per game and ranking second with 16.38 points per game.
 
J.D. Recor tops the team and is second in the MAAC with 44 total points and 3.38 points per game. He also has a team-high 29 assists - second in the MAAC - to go with 15 goals. Joseph Radin has 34 goals - second in the conference - and 41 points and Colin Joka has 31 goals and 35 points.
 
Dominic Montemurro is 173-of-312 (.554) in faceoffs with a team-high 66 ground balls and Patrick Eaker paces the squad with 12 caused turnovers and 42 GB's.
 
Dave Scarcello has played in 13 games with 11 starts, posting a .481 save percentage and an 11.74 goals against average.
           
LAST TIME VS. MARIST
Junior Shayne Adams had six goals and seven points and freshman Jason Weber set a school record with 23 saves as Detroit roared back to a 12-11 victory at home.
 
Senior Tom Masterson tied his career high with three goals and five points, while junior Brandon Beauregard tallied a pair of goals and assists. Senior Alex Maini also had a good game with three helpers and a marker.
 
The Titans trailed 10-9 late in the third period when Masterson hooked up with his Canadian counterpart as Adams tied it all up at the 2:38 point of the third.
 
Masterson would be the playmaker again to give the Titans the lead as he found Maini for a score less than a minute into the fourth and midway through the period, Drummond was able to find Masterson who gave UDM a 12-10 advantage with 7:23 left.
 
Marist would trim that to a one-goal lead, 12-11, with 4:35 remaining and the Red Foxes would have a few opportunities to try and tie it up, but the Titan defense held strong. First, sophomore Paul Bitetti came up with a caused turnover with 58 seconds left and two Marist shots inside of 10 seconds did not go in with Weber ending his career day with his 23rd save with just one tick on the clock.
 
Detroit was outshot, 50-27, and Marist won the battle of ground balls, 43-28.
 
It looked like a great start for the Titans as Adams found the back of the net for his 100th career marker less than two minutes into the contest for a 1-0 lead, but Marist stormed back with five-straight goals to take a 5-1 advantage with seven minutes left in the first.
 
From that point on, UDM outscored the Red Foxes 11-6 in the final 52 minutes, tying it at 7-7 in the second and trailing by just one, 8-7, at the break.
 
STAY IN YOUR SEATS
The Titans and Red Foxes usually play some thrilling games as five of the seven career meetings have been decided by just one goal with another game by three.
 
The two MAAC Championship Semifinals contests have also been tied in the fourth period.
 
Both teams are also the most penalized squads in the MAAC as Detroit is fifth with 4.31 per game and Marist is last at 5.38.
 
ENOUGH OF THE CLOSE GAMES
With any luck or a timely goal or stop, Detroit could easily be undefeated in the MAAC and have 10 wins on the season.
 
The Titans have dropped four one-goal games and three overtime contests, including two in league play, and in three of the games, the red, white and blue have led in the fourth period.
 
In conference action, Detroit led by one over Quinnipiac until the Bobcats tied it with 1:08 left in the game. Against Siena, UDM was up by one with 4:02 remaining, while at Manhattan, the Titans had a 5-4 lead in the third.
 
SAVING UP FOR A RECORD
The Titans have posted 209 saves on the season setting a new school record ahead of the 186 accomplished in 2011.
 
Detroit also has a school record with 32 man-up goals, 15.85 points per game, 6.69 assists per game, .628 save percentage, 9.50 goals against average and 16.08 saves per game.
 
KEEP IT UP
Junior Shayne Adams ran his streak to 45-straight games recording at least one point as he found the back of the net six times at Monmouth.
 
He now has 130 points on 111 goals and 19 assists during this spurt. 
 
The streak is currently the fourth longest in the nation by an active player in Division I.
 
WEBER LEADS THE NATION IN TWO CATEGORIES
He didn't begin the year with the starting assignment, but he earned it with his play and finally has enough games under his belt to qualify as a national leader as freshman Jason Weber tops Division I in save percentage and saves per game.
 
Weber – who has started 10-straight games and has posted at least 12 saves in each contest – leads Division I goalies with a .647 save percentage and 16.30 saves per game, and is tops in the MAAC and 15th in the country with an 8.87 goals against average - all school records.
 
On the year, Weber has made 163 saves – including 100 in league play – which ranks second in Titan history, just 16 shy of 179 A.J. Levell had in 2011.
 
He has four games on the year with 18 or more saves and his school record 23 saves against Marist on April 5 is still the most in the NCAA this year.
 
MAN-UP DOMINATION
The Titans have taken advantages of penalties so far scoring on 32-of-46 (69.6%) extra-man opportunities - including 12-of-16 (75.0%) in MAAC play.
 
The 69.6% is first in the nation and is currently shattering the all-time NCAA record of 58.6% (41-of-70) set by North Carolina in 1985.
 
ON TOP OF THE NATION
As a team, Detroit still leads the nation in man-up scoring at .696, while also leading the country with 16.08 saves per game.
 
UDM also ranks 14th in DI – and second in the MAAC - in caused turnovers per game (8.38), while sophomore Paul Bitetti is eighth in the nation and leads the MAAC at 2.00 caused turnovers per game.
 
MAAC HIGHS
The latest NCAA stats released last Monday has the Titans leading the MAAC in three categories, man-up offense (.696), man-down defense (.679) and saves per game (16.08), while ranking second in assists per game (6.69), caused turnovers (8.38) and scoring defense (9.54). UDM also has a conference-best and school record 32 man-up goals.
 
Sophomore Paul Bitetti tops the conference - and is eighth in the nation - with 2.00 caused turnovers per game, while junior Joe Gifford is sixth at 1.00 per game.
 
Junior Shayne Adams leads the MAAC with 36 goals and 2.77 goals per game (2.50), while standing third in points per game (3.31) and fourth in shot percentage (.400).
 
Senior Alex Maini is third in the MAAC - and 16th in the nation - in shot percentage (.450), fourth in points per game (3.15) and fourth in assists per game (1.77).
 
Senior Tom Masterson is sixth in assists per game (1.54) and junior Scott Drummond is seventh in assists (1.15).
 
SPREADING THE BALL AROUND
Detroit has six players in double figures in points so far and 12 players have posted at least one goal.
 
ADAMS FIRST TITAN TO 100
Junior Shayne Adams - a Tewaaraton Award watch list member in 2013 as well as a two-time All-MAAC selection - tied his season high with six goals at Monmouth, his team-leading 19th career hat trick.
 
The six goals gave Adams a career high 36 on the season, just one away from former teammate and current member of the NLL's Buffalo Bandits Joel Matthews' 37 in 2010. Adams also now has a career-best 43 points, five away from the school mark that Matthews had in 2010.
 
With the six goals, he extended his school record to 114 goals, and is second in school history with 133 points.
 
His 114 goals are the 11th most among active players in the country and his 2.43 goals per game is sixth
 
Below are the top six active leaders in goals per game.
Matt Gregoire , UMBC - Sr. - 3.15
Miles Thompson , Albany - Sr. - 2.95
Brody Eastwood , Stony Brook - So. -  2.65
Dan Lomas , High Point - So. - 2.54
Alex Love , Hobart - Sr. - 2.49
Shayne Adams , Detroit - Jr. - 2.43
 
MAINI FIGHTING TO KEEP SCHOOL RECORD
Senior Alex Maini is the Titan career leader in points and he added to that with a pair of assists at Monmouth to come into the game with 143 total points. He holds the school record by 10 points over current teammate Shayne Adams' 133 
 
Maini is also second in school history with 82 goals, trailing Adams by 32, while Maini owns the school single-season assist mark with 23 on the year and the career record with 61.
 
He is currently 16th in the nation in shot percentage (.450), 21st in assists per game (1.77) and 49th tin points per game (3.15).
 
ARE YOU SURE YOUR PLAYING WITH ONE LESS?
While scoring goals gets all the attention and the man-up offense is leading the nation, the man-down defense has not been too shabby either ranking 21st in Division I and tops in the MAAC in killing off penalties at 67.9%, allowing just 17 goals in 53 attempts.
 
The man-down unit even started the game-winning goal at Wagner in UDM's 9-8 triumph with less than a minute left.
 
A NEW SCHOOL RECORD
Freshman Jason Weber may not have won a MAAC award, but he helped the Titans to an important win as he posted a school record 23 saves against Marist on April 5, the most by any one in the NCAA this season.
 
He broke Vince Diana's school mark of 20 at Air Force in 2009, UDM's inaugural season.
 
The 23 saves were also the most by a MAAC goalie since Matt Lindemann had 24 at Virginia last year, and is tied for the second most by a player in the conference since 2009.
 
MY "MAIN" MAN
It has been another year of increased production for senior Alex Maini. A team captain this year, Maini has seen his numbers rise in every collegiate season and he now has a career high and school record 23 assists this year.
 
Meanwhile, his career-high 41 points is tied for third in the school record book, just two away from current teammate's Shayne Adams' 43 on the year and seven shy of the 48 by Joel Matthews in 2010.
 
RELOADING THE DEFENSE
The Titans - who led the nation in caused turnovers in 2011 and 2012 and were third in 2010 and tied for second last year - knew they had to build their defense back up after the graduation of a number of key starters and players from last year's NCAA Tournament team and Detroit has done just that.
 
Detroit tops the country in saves per game (16.08) and is 14th with 8.38 caused turnovers per game.
 
UDM totaled 17 caused turnovers against Bellarmine, tied for the fourth most in school history and the most since posting 20 against VMI last season.
 
COMEBACK KIDS
The Titans trailed 5-1 to Marist in the first period, but stormed back to win the game, 12-11, back on Apr. 5.
 
The four-goal comeback marked the second biggest margin overcome by the Titans behind the 9-4 score against Siena in last year's MAAC Championship.
 
CORKY COMING THROUGH
Senior Tyler Corcoran has come through in a big way for Detroit as the fifth-year Titan tied a career high with 11 faceoff wins (21 attempts) at Monmouth. The performance came after he was 9-of-13 at Manhattan.
 
Corcoran is now 20-of-34 (58.8%) in the last two games after starting the season 9-of-40 (22.5%)
 
He also grabbed five ground balls against the Jaspers and a season-best seven last week.
 
The 11 faceoff victories was his best showing since setting a career high with 11 wins against Quinnipiac last season in 19 attempts.
 
BIRNEY GOES BOOM
Junior Mike Birney has 17 goals on the season and posted his seventh career hat trick with four goals against Marquette. He also added an assist to tie his career high with five points.
 
Birney – who has a shot clocked as high as 114 MPH - earned All-MAAC Second Team and was the Most Outstanding Player at the 2013 MAAC Championship, where he recorded eight goals and had a pair of game winners and a career-high five in the title game.
 
He scored a goal in 14 of UDM's 15 games last season, including 12 in a row to end the campaign, and had multiple goals on nine occasions with five hat tricks and that career performance of five in the MAAC Championship comeback against Siena.
 
THE BEAT OF HIS DRUM
Junior Scott Drummond was one of the unsung heroes in last year's run to the MAAC Championship and NCAA Tournament appearance and he started the season with a bang tying his career high with five points and three assists against Mercer. He then added a goal and two helpers against Michigan and had a goal and an assist at Manhattan.
 
He saw his streak of 14-straight games with at least one point come to an end at Robert Morris, but has one point in 24 of his last 25 games dating back to last season.
 
He is currently fourth on the team with a career-high 31 points, third in assists with a career-best 15 and fourth on the squad with a new high watermark of 16 goals.
 
A MASTER OF HIS PROFESSION
Senior Tom Masterson posted his second career hat trick as the Canadian tied his career high with three goals and five points against Marist. He also had that same stat line versus the Red Foxes as a freshman in 2011.
 
He now has a career-high 14 goals, 20 assists and 34 points, and has now scored a point in 23-straight games.
 
His 20 helpers is now tied for second in school history with Scott Harris in 2011 and trails his current teammate Alex Maini by three for the school record.
 
BO KNOWS OFFENSE
Junior Brandon Beauregard ended his sophomore season in fine fashion as he tallied his first career hat trick at No. 2 Notre Dame in the first round of the NCAA Championship.
 
On the season, he has scored at least one point in 12 of 13 games has found the back of the net in eight of those contests.
 
He also tallied a career-high four points with two goals and two assists against Marist.
 
Beauregard just set new career highs with 10 goals and 22 points and in his career, he has 21 goals and 28 assists for 49 points.
 
THE EXTRA PASS
Detroit ended with 10 assists against Marist on April 5, tying a school record for the third time.
 
UDM also had 10 against Wagner in 2010 and at Quinnipiac in 2012, both wins.
 
GREAT DEFENSIVE JOB
UDM limited the MAAC's leading scorer in Siena's Richie Hurley to just one point on an assist three weeks ago.
 
THE WALL OF WEBER
Freshman Jason Weber has taken over the goalie duties at Detroit and he has played great in between the pipes.
 
In 10 games - all as a starter - Weber has five wins with 163 saves, an 8.97 goals against average and a .647 save percentage, while collecting 28 ground balls.
 
He has now posted at least 14 saves in nine of his 10 starts and came up with a school record 23 against Marist and 18 versus Siena, Manhattan, Monmouth and Wagner.
 
Weber was named the MAAC Defensive Player of the Week this past Monday after stopping 18 shots at Monmouth as well as on Mar. 24 after making 17 saves at Canisius.
 
He made his first collegiate start at VMI on March 1 and finished with 16 saves - six in the fourth period - and allowing just six goals, including none in the final 22 minutes of action, in an 8-6 road triumph.
 
In just his third start, he tallied 18 saves in another road victory at Wagner – tying for the third most in program history and just two away from the school record – including a key save with 30 seconds left that help set up Detroit's game winning shot. Weber started that week by making 15 stops against RV/RV Bellarmine and would end up being named the MAAC Rookie of the Week on March 10.
 
PICK THAT UP
Junior Chris Shevins recorded a career-high five ground balls his last time out at Monmouth.
 
His previous career best was three done three times.
 
I GOT A WILSON
Junior Alex Wilson picked up an assist earlier in the year at Michigan and in his last game versus Monmouth, Wilson was able to beat the goalie for his third career marker and the first this season.
 
BITETTI'S TAKING IT AWAY
Sophomore defenseman Paul Bitetti leads the team with 24 caused turnovers and is averaging 2.00 per game, eighth in the NCAA.
 
Bitetti has at least four caused turnovers in three games this year with a career-high five against Bellarmine.
 
CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR
The Titans have 59 losses in their program's history, but half of those have been by four goals or less, including 12 by one goal, five by two and another eight by three.
 
UDM has suffered 15 of its losses to conferences foes by four goals or less, with nine one-goal games, four three-goal setbacks and three two-goal defeats.
 
STANDING TALL
The Titans have been outshot in nine of 13 games and 540-435 on the year, but did come up with a couple of big wins while being outgunned.
 
Detroit was outshot, 50-27, against Marist, but ended up winning 12-11. The 23-shot margin was the biggest in school history that yielded a win.
 
It was also only the fifth time in school history that UDM won a game despite being outshot.
 
KEEP THE SUN OUT
Detroit is 1-5 all-time in games that start at 7:00 p.m., or later with the lone win over Marist, 9-8, in the 2011 MAAC Championship Semifinals, held at Canisius.
 
ONE SENIOR WHO HAS SEEN IT ALL
Senior Tyler Staruch has seen the Titan program rise from a winless squad to a MAAC Champion and NCAA participate.
 
Staruch was a freshman on the 2010 team that posted the school's first-ever victory after opening its' history with 17-straight losses. He had a big hand in that win with five goals and six points as Detroit beat Presbyterian, 16-12.
 
He did not play in 2011, 2012 or 2013, but was on the roster and saw UDM reach the MAAC title game in 2011 and win it all last year, nearly upsetting No. 2 Notre Dame in the first round of the NCAA Championship.
 
He finished the 2010 season tied for third on the team with 13 goals and totaled 25 points for fifth on the squad, and just made his first appearance since 2010 at Monmouth last week.
 
LET'S JUST PLAY 60
UDM played its eighth career overtime game against Siena and for the third time this year, the Titans dropped the extra session contest, 9-8.
 
Detroit is now 3-5 all-time in overtime and 2-3 in MAAC play.
 
All of the overtimes have been decided in the first overtime period.