Gameday Central

DETROIT (3/15/2015) -- The University of Detroit Mercy women's lacrosse team hits the road for its fourth straight contest away from Michigan on Monday, playing a 1 p.m. contest Monday against Delaware State in Dover, Del.

The Titans (2-4) have a 1-2 record on their current road trip and dropped a 14-12 contest against the top-scoring team in the country last Monday, against Robert Morris. Detroit has one more road game, visiting Marquette on Sunday, March 22, before opening the conference season against Mercer at home on March 25.

Robert Morris Recap
Detroit scored 10 second-half goals against the top-scoring team in the country, Robert Morris, but fell to the Colonials 14-12 on March 9. Junior midfielder Kylie Birney tied her career-high with five goals to lead the Titans. UDM held RMU to its lowest goal output of the season in the defeat.

The Titans trailed by six goals with 12 minutes left in the game, but Detroit began to chip away at the RMU lead. Tessa Keuler, Michaela Schwartz, Annie Mendoza, Julie Castner and Birney all scored goals in the stretch run to pull to within two goals. Robert Morris would make two saves in the final minute, however, to thwart the Detroit comeback attempt.

Senior goalkeeper Lexie McCormick made eight first-half saves and finished the game with 13 saves total. It was her fifth game of the season with 10 or more saves. Freshman midfielder Emma Mucci scored her first collegiate goal in the loss and finished the game with two points.

Scouting Delaware State
The Hornets are 0-7 entering their contest against the Titans on Monday. Detroit and DSU have one common opponent so far this season as the Hornets also played Robert Morris earlier this season with the Colonials taking a 20-5 game in Dover. Delaware State also dropped games to Atlantic Sun foes Kennesaw State, Stetson and Mercer earlier this year.

Delaware State has given up at least 14 goals in all of its games this season. Emily Etkins leads the team with nine points and has seven goals on the season. Brionna Watkins has 20 ground balls to Delaware State.

All-Time Series
Detroit is 2-0 all-time against Delaware State, with both wins coming in the past two seasons. The Titans earned a 15-1 road victory in 2013 and defeated the Hornets at Titan Field in 2014, winning by a score of 19-6 on March 11.

National Rankings
Lexie McCormick ranks fourth in the NCAA in saves per game at 12.17. She is sixth in total saves with 73 and is also in the top-20 in the country in save percentage (49.3).

McCormick Earns Atlantic Sun Honor
Lexie McCormick was selected as the Atlantic Sun Defensive Player of the Week on March 10 following a week in which Detroit went 1-1 against Saint Mary's and Robert Morris. McCormick made 26 saves total during the week and had a 59.0 percent save percentage. It was the fifth career weekly honor for the 2013 Atlantic Sun Defensive Player of the Year.

Senior defender Amanda Guthrie, a three-year starter, was named the inaugural Atlantic Sun Defensive Player of the Week for the 2015 season, as she was selected for the honor on Feb. 3. Guthrie led the Titans with three ground balls and two caused turnovers against Ohio State and helped limit the Buckeyes to six second-half goals.

2015 Preseason Poll
Detroit, the 2014 runner-up in the conference, was selected to finish third in the Atlantic Sun Preseason Coaches Poll. The Titans received 41 votes and finished behind defending champion Jacksonville (59 points) and newcomer Old Dominion (53 votes) in the league poll.

Six Titans were named to the 14-member Preseason Atlantic Sun All-Conferece Team. Senior goalkeeper Lexie McCormick was named to the team and was also voted the Preseason Defensive Player of the Year. Senior defenders Amanda Guthrie, Morgan Lear and Taylor Marshall, junior midfielder Kylie Birney and senior attack Tessa Keuler were also named to the preseason squad. Detroit had the most selections of any other team in the Atlantic Sun.

Team Captains
Seniors Tessa Keuler and Morgan Lear and junior Kylie Birney were selected as the 2015 team captains. For Keuler and Birney, it's the second straight season that the pair have been team captains, while it's the first year as captain for fifth-year senior defender Lear.

Detroit Returners
The Titans bring back 10 of 12 starters from a team that reached the Atlantic Sun title game in 2014. Seven of Detroit's top eight scorers from a season ago are back in 2015. Senior attacks Tessa Keuler (22 goals, 18 assists) and Annie Mendoza (25 goals) return for the Titans in 2015, as does junior midfielder Kylie Birney, who was second on the squad with 26 goals last season. Sophomore Kelsi Pritchard and junior attack Michaela Schwartz (18 points each) tied for fifth on the team in points last year. Sophomores Lauren Sharkey and Julie Castner, who combined for 11 goals and 15 points, also return for the Titans.

McCormick is a three-year starter and goal and already holds the school records for wins and total saves. She was the 2013 Atlantic Sun Defensive Player of the Year and finished the 2014 season with 181 total saves, which ranked fourth in the nation. She also finished 17th in the nation in save percentage (46.4 percent). She has been named to the All-Conference Teams twice during her career.

The entire defense returns for the Titans with seniors Amanda Guthrie, Morgan Lear and Taylor Marshall returning, along with juniors Morgan Miller and Ally Shrader. Guthrie led the Titans with 21 caused turnovers, while Miller was second with 18 during the 2014 season. Lear and Shrader each had 15 caused turnovers last year. Marshall, who was an All-Conference performer as a sophomore in 2013, battled injuries last year but returns to the lineup healthy in 2015.

Newcomers
Nine new faces are set to take the field in 2015 for the Titans. Jordyn Beam, Emma DeYoung, Brittany Fenney, Emma Mucci, Jessica Snyder, Taylor Spray and Lauren Webley are all true freshmen for Detroit in 2015. Freshman goalkeeper Julia Darroch will back up McCormick in 2015 with all four years of elgibility. Sophomore transfer Danielle Kirby is also new to the team after spending the 2014 season at Wheeling Jesuit, where she was an All-GLIAC performer in her first season of collegiate lacrosse.

Milestone Watch
Senior goalkeeper Lexie McCormick already holds school records for wins (20) and saves (574) in UDM history. McCormick also is in third place in ground balls in school history with 161 and needs 37 more this season to reach the top of the history books. Zaynib Hamze has the all-time mark with 198 ground balls during her Detroit career.

Senior attack Tessa Keuler ranks fifth all-time in points (130) and ranks sixth in goals (69). Keuler already holds the all-time mark in assists (61). Keuler is five points shy of Corina Mahorn (135 points) for fourth place and seven points shy of Zaynib Hamze (136 points) for third place on the all-time points list. 

Senior defender Amanda Guthrie has 64 caused turnovers and ranks fourth in school history, two behind Corina Mahorn (66) for third all-time. Guthrie also ranks fifth in ground balls (132) in the UDM record books, three behind Anna Eidem (135 ground balls) for fourth all-time.

Up Next
Detroit closes out the five-game road swing at Marquette on March 22. The Titans then return home until March 25, when Detroit opens the conference season against Atlantic Sun foe Mercer at Titan Field.

Social Media
Titan fans don't forget to follow #DetroitsCollegeTeam on Twitter and Instagram at @DetroitTitans and remember to like the Titans on Facebook.