DETROIT (4/10/2016) -- Junior
Ben Gjokaj nearly set a school record with 15 faceoff wins, but the University of Detroit Mercy men's lacrosse team had to deal with another day of wintry weather as it dropped a 14-4 contest to Quinnipiac on Titan Field on Sunday Morning.
Gjokaj was a career-best 15-of-22 on faceoffs and tied his season and career high with four ground balls, all against a team in Quinnipiac that was 19-for-19 in faceoffs last week. The 15 wins was just one away from Brandon Davenport's '13 mark of 16 set in 2010 and 2011.
Sophomore
Mark Anstead paced the offense with a goal and an assist, while sophomore
Sean Birney,
Alec Gilhooly and
Adam Susalla all netted goals. Senior
Jordan Yono tallied a team-high two caused turnovers and picked up three ground balls and junior
Jason Weber made 10 saves in net.
The Titans did have the the edge in ground balls (26-17) and were 13-of-16 on clears.
Detroit (1-8, 1-2 MAAC) saw Quinnipiac (6-3, 3-0 MAAC) race out to a 4-0 lead as the snow was falling throughout the game.
Detroit used its dangerous man-up attack to get on the board as Anstead located Gilhooly for the score a couple of minutes into the second period. Detroit was then down 6-1 when Susalla put in his first goal of the year midway through the second.
UDM got out of the gates early in the third as Birney notched his sixth marker of the year to make it a 7-3 game and the final strike came from Anstead with 5:58 left in the contest.
Gilhooly ended the day with three ground balls. Senior
Andy Hebden and sophomore
Austin Polson-McCannon registered a caused turnover and two ground balls and senior
Mike Spuller along with sophomores
Charlie Hayes,
Will Kane and
Pat Masterson all had two GB's.
Detroit will now get ready for two games on the road starting with a trip to Monmouth next Saturday, April 16, with game time changed to a Noon start.
Game Notes:
Quinnipiac now leads the all-time series, 7-1… Davenport won 16 faceoffs at Robert Morris in 2010 and at home versus RMU in 2011… Gjokaj's previous high in faceoff wins was 12 at Manhattan earlier this season… Weber made double-digit saves for the 29th time in his 34 career games… Susalla scored his other career goal against Manhattan last season…
