Game Highlights  |  A-Sun Championship Central  |  Photos from Exposure Recap

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (5/1/2015) -- The Titans are headed back to the Atlantic Sun Championship game. 

For the third straight year, the University of Detroit Mercy women's lacrosse team (10-7) has advanced to the conference title game after defeating Old Dominion University (13-5) in the A-Sun Championship semifinals, 14-11, on Friday afternoon at D.B. Milne Field on Jacksonville University's campus.

It's the second-straight year that Detroit has defeated the No. 2 seed in the Atlantic Sun Championships. Detroit upset second-seeded Elon last year, 15-11.

For the second straight game, senior Annie Mendoza led the offensive charge by scoring four goals to lead the Titans. Senior Tessa Keuler finished the game with one goal and five assists for her sixth game of six points this season. Juniors Michaela Schwartz and Kylie Birney each had three goals, while sophomore Julie Castner had two goals. Senior goalkeeper Lexie McCormick made eight stops in net for the Titans.

Detroit came out firing to start the game, scoring the first six goals of the contest. The first five goals of the game were scored on free position attempts.

Mendoza picked up where she left off Wednesday, scoring the first two goals for the Titans. Keuler, Schwartz and Birney all followed with free position goals to make it 5-0 Titans just 10:42 into the contest. Mendoza then completed the hat trick off a feed from Keuler on a man-up opportunity as Detroit went up 6-0 midway through the half.

Detroit kept the Monarchs off the scoreboard for the first 17 minutes of the game. Old Dominion scored two straight goals within a minute, but Detroit would push the lead to 8-2 after goals by Birney and Castner. Birney found the net once more in the first half to tally her eighth hat trick of the year before the break.

Detroit led 9-5 at halftime and led the Monarchs in shots (14-9) and free position shots (6-3) in the opening 30 minutes.

The Monarchs scored three goals in a span of 2:20 to open the second half and pulled to within one goal, 9-8, after the surge. Detroit had the answer though, scoring five of the next six goals. Mendoza scored her fourth of the game to make it 10-8 and after ODU scored to pull to within one goal again, the Titans scored the next four goals, while keeping Old Dominion scoreless for the next 17 minutes of the game.

Castner and sophomore Kelsi Pritchard each scored goals during the span. Schwartz scored Detroit's final two goals to make it 14-9 with just 6:35 left on the clock.

ODU tallied goals within 23 seconds of each other to cut the UDM lead to 14-11 with 3:22 left, but Detroit forced the Monarchs into a turnover and McCormick came up with a clutch save with one minute left in the game to regain possession and clinch the win.

The Titans converted on 14 of their 22 shots in the contest for a season-high 63.6 shooting percentage. Detroit scored on 14 of their 17 shots on goal (82.3 percent). Detroit was 11-for-12 on clears, while holding ODU to 5-of-10 on clear attempts.

The victory extended Detroit's school-record for wins in a season with 10. The Titans improved to 4-2 all-time in the Atlantic Sun Championships. Detroit has never finished lower than second in the conference tournament.

Detroit faces host Jacksonville University in the title game at 1 p.m. Sunday at D.B. Milne Field. The game is set to be broadcasted live on ESPN3.com. It's the third straight year that the Titans have played the top-seeded and regular-season champion Dolphins in the championship.