DETROIT (4/2/2016) -- The University of Detroit Mercy women's lacrosse team rides a program-best five-game win streak heading into Sunday's contest against Mount St. Mary's. It's the final non-conference game of the 2016 season for the Titans. First draw is set for noon from Emmitsburg, Md.
Detroit (5-4, 1-0 Atlantic Sun) is coming off a 13-8 victory over conference foe Central Michigan on Wednesday.
Kaitlyn Wandelt led the offensive attack with five goals, while Detroit used a 7-0 run against the Chippewas to help earn the triumph from Titan Field.
The Titans have out-scored opponents 73-26 during their five-game win streak and has held opponents to eight goals or less in each of the last four contests.
Titans Top Central Michigan in A-Sun Opener
In its Atlantic Sun opener Wednesday, the University of Detroit Mercy women's lacrosse team scored seven unanswered goals and held off a late Central Michigan flurry to triumph 13-8 over the Chippewas at Titan Field.
With the win, Detroit set a school record with its fifth-straight victory, four of which have come at home. The Titans improved to 5-4 overall this season and 1-0 in the Atlantic Sun schedule. The game was the first meeting between the two programs. CMU is in its inaugural lacrosse season.
Detroit freshman
Kaitlyn Wandelt continued her impressive rookie season, tying her season-high with five goals, while adding six draw controls, four caused turnovers and four ground balls. She scored four goals in the first half, including three straight in a 7-0 UDM run.
Following Detroit's seven-straight goals, the Titans held a 9-3 lead early in the second half. The final goal in that stretch came off the stick of senior midfielder
Kylie Birney, who had two goals on the afternoon and now has 99 career markers.
Detroit went 8-for-11 on free position attempts, while allowing just one free position attempt by Central Michigan, which went 0-for-1. The Titans were also 10-of-12 on clears and held the shot advantage in the contest, 30-13. Detroit forced CMU into 19 turnovers.
McDonough Earns Atlantic Sun Defensive Player of the Week
For the second-straight week, a University of Detroit Mercy women's lacrosse student-athlete is being honored by the Atlantic Sun as freshman goalkeeper
Allison McDonough was named the league's Defensive Player of the Week on March 29.
McDonough was instrumental in Detroit's 5-4 victory over Robert Morris on Friday, making a season-high 12 saves and turning away 75 percent of the shots that she faced in the contest. McDonough made six saves in the second half as Detroit came from behind for its first-ever win over the Colonials. It's her first career weekly honor from the Atlantic Sun.
The Titans have earned two weekly awards in the past two weeks as McDonough's classmate,
Kaitlyn Wandelt, was named the A-Sun Player of the Week on March 22.
Scouting Mount St. Mary's
The Mountaineers have won two of their last four outings, defeating Manhattan in overtime and St. Bonaventure with a season-high 18 goals. Most recently, Mount St. Mary's fell to George Mason on the road, 15-4. The game against Detroit is the opening of a three-game homestand in Emmitsburg. Mount St. Mary's is 1-3 at home.
Mount St. Mary's averages 8.44 goals per game, while giving up 11.55 per game so far this season. Senior Molly Morris leads the team with 29 points (17 goals, 12 assists), while sophomore Nicole Lantuh is the team leader in goals with 19. Junior Sammie Knapp (28 draw controls) and sophomore Jannel Daufenbach (25 draw controls) lead the attack in draws as Mount St. Mary's has collected 97 as a team this season. In net, senior Steph Rurkowski has started all nine contests and has a 50.0 save percentage to go along with 96 total saves.
All-Time Series
Detroit and Mount St. Mary's are meeting for the first time in women's lacrosse.
Atlantic Sun Leaders
As of Saturday morning,
Kaitlyn Wandelt ranks third in the conference with 22 goals and tied for sixth in total points with 27. She also is first in the league with 32 draw controls and tied for second in caused turnovers.
Morgan Girardi is tied for seventh in goals (18), while
Kylie Birney and
Lexie Kinmond are tied for 10th with 17 goals each. Senior
Ally Shrader is tied for first among field players with 24 ground balls.
As a team, Detroit ranks just behind Jacksonville and Old Dominion in goals per game at 11.56. The Titans are first in free position goals with 31, while also ranking third with 79 caused turnovers. Detroit is also third behind JU and ODU in goals against average (10.22).
Win Streak Makes History
Detroit's five-game win streak matches is the longest in the eight-year history of Detroit women's lacrosse. The Titans have out-scored their opponents by a 73-26 margin in that streak. Detroit opened the stretch with a 12-10 win over VCU and then tied the school record for fewest goals allowed in a game in a 22-1 triumph over Delaware State. After a 21-3 win at Radford, Detroit used a comeback in a 5-4 victory over Robert Morris last week before topping Central Michigan 13-8 in its A-Sun opener.
The win streak surpasses a four-game triumph stretch that the 2012 squad put together near the end of the season. Detroit won its final three games of the regular season in 2012 over Presbyterian, Howard and Cincinnati before winning its National Lacrosse Conference Tournament opener over Liberty. It's just the fifth time Detroit has had a win streak of longer than three contests, one of which came late last season during Detroit's school-record 10 win season.
Birney Closes in on 100 Career Goals
Senior midfielder
Kylie Birney is tied for third on the squad with 17 goals this season and has 99 for her career. She just recently passed two former teammates -- Zaynib Hamze (95 career goals) and
Tessa Keuler (92 goals) -- on the all-time list and would become just the fourth Detroit women's lacrosse player to reach the century mark when she gets to 100 career markers and first since Corina Mahorn in 2012.
Mahorn is next on the list with 110 career goals. Emily Boissonneault holds the all-time school record for goals with 242.
Birney led the Titans in goals last season with 38 markers and is a two-time All-Atlantic Sun First Team honoree. The three-year co-captain and 2015 Atlantic Sun Scholar-Athlete of the Year has scored in every game this season and has 15 career hat tricks.
Freshman Standouts
The Titans' leading goal scorer nine games into the season is freshman
Kaitlyn Wandelt, who has team-highs of 22 goals and 27 points. She has scored 11 goals in her last three games. Classmates
Lexie Kinmond (17 goals, 7 assists) and
Morgan Girardi (18 goals, 5 assists) rank second and third on the team in points. Combined, the trio have 57 goals and 74 points, while all three have started all nine games. Girardi has four hat tricks this season, totaling a season-high five points vs. Oregon. Kinmond has scored in every game and had her first career hat trick at Radford with five goals. Wandelt also leads the team in draw controls with 32 and caused turnovers with 17.
Detroit freshmen have accounted for 60 of the 104 goals this season (57.6 percent). Five of the six freshman field players have scored goals this season for the Titans, with
Emma Leszczak and
Ali Magyaros each picking up their first markers against Delaware State.
Alex McCafferty has started four games on the defensive for Detroit and corralled two ground balls in her first collegiate start vs. VCU.
In goal, rookie netminder
Allison McDonough has started all nine games for the Titans and earned the A-Sun Defensive Player of the Week honor on March 29 after turning away 12 shots vs. Robert Morris. She has 55 saves total this season and has stopped 37.4 percent of shots to go along with a 10.93 goals against average.
Up Next
The Titans return to the road next weekend, visiting Atlantic Sun foe Furman on Sunday, April 10 for a 12 p.m. contest in Greenville, S.C. Detroit's next home contest is Friday, April 15 against Stetson from Titan Field. Opening draw is set for 3 p.m. on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN Application.
