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DETROIT (4/1/2015) -- After a 2-0 start to open the Atlantic Sun season, the University of Detroit Mercy women's lacrosse team is heading to Florida for conference road games at Jacksonville and Stetson this week. 

The Titans (5-5, 2-0 A-Sun) will take on the defending A-Sun champion Jacksonville on Thursday before playing Stetson on Saturday.

Detroit's 4 p.m. contest on Thursday against Jacksonville is slated to be broadcast live on ESPN3.com.

The Titans and Dolphins are two of the three teams to open the Atlantic Sun schedule with perfect 2-0 records. Furman is the third team that opened at 2-0 in conference play.

Last Time Out
The Titans scored six of the first seven goals and tallied 15 first-half scores on their way to a 21-9 rout over visiting Kennesaw State. With the win, Detroit moved to 2-0 in Atlantic Sun play and 3-0 at home this season. 

Three Titans notched hat tricks led by Kylie Birney's four goals. Michaela Schwartz and Jessica Snyder each posted hat tricks for Detroit, and Tessa Keuler led the team with six points, all in the first half, on two goals and four assists. It was the third time this season that Keuler has tallied six points in a game.

The Titans outshot KSU, 37-19. Detroit also had advantages in draw controls (18-14) and ground balls (18-11).

Scouting Jacksonville
The Dolphins (10-2 overall) opened the A-Sun season 2-0 by defeating Old Dominion, 14-4, and then topping Howard, 21-1. Jacksonville is 6-2 at home this season and leads the conference in offense scoring 14.92 goals per game. The Dolphins allowed just five goals in their first two conference games.

Sophomore attack Danielle Dellarocca leads the conference with 36 goals and 52 points. She is 11-for-17 on free position shots this season. Senior attack Holly Ventimiglia and sophomore attack Rachel Aus rank second on the team with 22 goals apiece. Four other Dolphin players have scored at least 10 goals on the year.

Senior goalkeeper Asia Moore has made all 12 starts in net for Jacksonville, turning away 60 shots, and holds a 42.3 save percentage.

All-Time Series
The Titans are 0-9 all-time against Jacksonville. Detroit played the Dolphins twice during the 2014 season, meeting them in the Atlantic Sun Championship game. Detroit, in its third season in the A-Sun, has matched up against Jacksonville in the Atlantic Sun Championship game in each of the first two seasons.

Lexie McCormick made 13 saves in net in the regular season matchup between the two squads in 2014, while Annie Mendoza tallied two goals in the A-Sun Championship game against the Dolphins.

Lucky Number Seven
The Titans have seven different players who have reached the 10-goal plateau early in the 2015 season. Senior Tessa Keuler has reached the 10-goal plateau for the fourth time in her career. She is tied for second with 16 goals.

Junior Kylie Birney has 24 goals to lead the squad. Junior Michaela Schwartz and sophomore Kelsi Pritchard each have 16 goals, while senior Annie Mendoza is just behind with 15 goals. Sophomore Julie Castner and freshman Jessica Snyder have each scored 11 goals for the Titans this season.

McCormick Among National Leaders
Senior goalkeeper Lexie McCormick, the NCAA Division I active career saves leader, continues to rank inside the top 10 in the national rankings in both total saves and saves per game. McCormick has 97 total saves, which is 10th in the country. She ranks ninth in the nation with 9.70 saves per game. McCormick, the 2013 Atlantic Sun Defensive Player of the Year, is 22nd in the nation in save percentage at 47.8.

McCormick entered the season with an even 500 saves and sits at 597 total saves. She is 51 career saves in front of Manhattan's Christina Fiorinelli.

Assist Queen
Tessa Keuler entered the 2014 season as the all-time assist leader in Detroit women's lacrosse history. She has continued adding assists in her final season in a red, white and blue uniform as she leads the Atlantic Sun in assists with 18 entering Thursday's games. She has already equaled her assist output from 2014, when she led the team with 18 assists. Keuler's next assist will be a single-season school record as she has twice reached the 18 assist plateau -- also as a freshman in 2012.

Keuler has had four games this season with three assists or better and tallied six assists in a home victory over Cincinnati on Feb. 20. Keuler has 69 career assists -- 28 better than anyone else in Detroit women's lacrosse history. Keuler ranks 22nd in the nation in assists.

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.

Milestone Watch
Senior goalkeeper Lexie McCormick already holds school records for wins (23) and saves (597) in UDM history. McCormick is also in third place in ground balls in school history with 167 and needs 31 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 (147) and ranks sixth in goals (78). Keuler already holds the all-time mark in assists (69). Keuler ranks third place on the all-time points list. She needs 17 goals to tie Hamze (95 goals) for fifth place on the all-time goal scoring list.

Senior defender Amanda Guthrie has ranks third all-time with 69 caused turnovers. Guthrie also ranks fourth in ground balls (138) in the UDM record books and is 29 behind teammate Lexie McCormick for third all-time.

Freshman Contributions
Four Detroit freshmen have earned considerable playing time in 2015. Freshman attack Jordyn Beam has started eight games for the Titans scoring seven goals and ranking second on the team with four assists. Freshman attack Jessica Snyder has recorded three hat tricks in the past six games and is sixth on the Titans with 15 points (11 goals, four assists). Snyder also had the most points for a Detroit freshman since Keuler in 2012 when she notched six points (three goals, three assists) at Delaware State.

Emma Mucci has made three starts for Detroit and has six points and nine draw controls, while defender Lauren Webley has played in all 10 games, making three starts, and has six caused turnovers and 12 ground balls. She registered three caused turnovers against Cincinnati and posted four ground balls at Marquette earlier in the season.

Titans Equal Single-Game Goal Record
Detroit tied a single-game school record for goals when the Titans scored 22 goals in a victory at Delaware State on March 16. Eleven different players scored in the victory. Detroit also scored 22 goals in the 2013 regular season finale against Kennesaw State in Detroit.

The Titans nearly matched the record again in its second Atlantic Sun game, tallying 15 first-half goals and scoring 21 goals in a victory at home for Kennesaw State.

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-Conference 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 in 2014) 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 eligibility. 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.

Upcoming
Following its two games in Florida this weekend, the Titans return home for a home game against Howard on April 11 at Titan Field. Two of Detroit's final three games are at home. The Titans visit Old Dominion on April 18, but finish the regular season on April 25, hosting Furman for Senior Day.

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