The Basics
Final Score:Â #4-Detroit 9, #1-Jacksonville 8
Records: Detroit 12-7, Jacksonville 13-5
Location: Kennesaw, Ga. (Fifth Third Bank Stadium)
KENNESAW, Ga. (5/6/2016) -- Down go the Dolphins.
With a complete team effort and strong play on both ends Friday afternoon, the University of Detroit Mercy women's lacrosse team dethroned top-seeded Jacksonville, 9-8, from Fifth Third Bank Stadium in the Atlantic Sun Championship semifinals. The Titans handed Jacksonville, the three-time defending champions, its first loss ever in the four-year history of Atlantic Sun women's lacrosse.
With the victory, Detroit advances to its fourth consecutive Atlantic Sun Championship game and upset a higher seed for the third-straight year. The Titans are 6-3 all-time at the A-Sun Championship.
The Titans led start-to-finish and led by as many as five goals in the contest. Detroit held Jacksonville to its lowest goal output in any Atlantic Sun game in the four-year history of women's lacrosse.
The Titans (12-7) didn't waste any time getting on the scoreboard in the game as freshman
Lexie Kinmond fired home a shot while falling to the ground to kick off the scoring 1:52 into the contest. Classmate
Morgan Girardi followed minutes later with a free-position goal to give Detroit a 2-0 lead over Jacksonville.
After a JU goal, junior
Kelsi Pritchard took a pass from freshman
Kaitlyn Wandelt on a clear and found the back of the net to give Detroit a 3-1 advantage. The Dolphins pulled to within one, 3-2, but Wandelt scored the next three goals in the contest. Wandelt scored at the 11:46 mark and then three minutes later with 8:26 left in the first half as Detroit increased its lead to 5-2.
That score would stand to halftime, as the Titans allowed just two Jacksonville markers in the opening 30 minutes. Freshman goalkeeper
Allison McDonough and the Detroit defense were strong in the first half. McDonough made saves on each of the first two shots on goal and turned away five of the seven shots on goal in the opening 30 minutes.
Detroit would then hold JU off the scoreboard in the first 17 minutes of the second half as the Dolphins had just two goals in the opening 47 minutes of the game. Wandelt completed the hat trick 10 minutes into the half and Girardi scored off a feed from sophomore
Jordyn Beam to give the Titans a 7-2 advantage.
The Titans controlled play in the second half largely in part because they won nine of the 11 draws in the second frame. Sophomore
Emma Mucci led the Titans with four draw controls, while senior
Kylie Birney and sophomore Brianna Pleaster each had three draw controls.
Detroit had an answer each time, even when Jacksonville started scoring in the second half. Birney answered Jacksonville goals two times, as Detroit continued to lead by five goals after each marker from Birney.
The Titans had the advantage late into the game until Jacksonville started to chip away at the lead with under 10 minutes left. Detroit continued to win draw controls, which helped them control the clock. JU pulled to within two goals, 9-7, with 1:01 left on the clock, but Mucci won her third draw of the second half and pushed the ball into Detroit's offensive end.
Jacksonville forced a turnover and scored on the break with one second left, but it was too little too late. The ensuing draw went into the air and the Titans stormed the field as the buzzer rang out on the scoreboard.
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Birney led the Titans with five ground balls in the game, while a slew of other Titans collected three GB -- Beam, McDonough, Mucci, Pritchard, senior
Ally Shrader and sophomore
Lauren Webley. The Titan defense notched their third-straight game of allowing eight or fewer goals and McDonough turned away 10 shots for the game, her seventh game of the season with 10 or more saves.
Wandelt, the Atlantic Sun Freshman of the Year, tallied her 12th hat trick of the season with three goals and reached the 60-goal plateau during the contest, setting a new Detroit freshman record for markers. She posted her sixth-straight hat trick in Friday's win.
Birney and Girardi each finished with two goals. Girardi became the third Detroit freshmen this season to reach 30 goals, while Birney tied former Titan Corina Mahorn for third on the all-time scoring list as her two goals gave her 110 in her Titan career. Birney's five ground balls also tied a season-high for the senior co-captain.
Detroit was very efficient on its shots, scoring on nine of its 13 shots on goal (69 percent). The Titans had a 10-4 lead in saves, while Detroit also had the advantage in draw controls, 12-7. The Titans were 14-for-18 in clear attempts.
The Titans also finished with 27 ground balls as a team, which was the third-most this season. Detroit's shot-on-goal percentage of 86.7 percent (13 of 15 shots on goal) was tied for the best this year -- Detroit also put 13 of 15 shots on goal against Cincinnati early in the season.
Detroit extended its school-record with its 12th triumph of the year. The Titans have won 12 of their past 15 games overall.
Jacksonville (13-5) had never lost in the Atlantic Sun Championship tournament or during the regular season. The Dolphins entered the game 6-0 in the tournament and 8-0 all-time against the Titans. Detroit is now the only team in the conference's history to reach all four Atlantic Sun Championship games.
Up Next
The Titans advance to their fourth-straight A-Sun Championship game and play No. 2 seed Old Dominion at 1 p.m. ET. The game is set to be streamed live on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN Application from Fifth Third Bank Stadium on Kennesaw State University's campus. The winner of the game gets an automatic bid into the 2016 NCAA Tournament.
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