The Basics
Final Score: Kennesaw State 21, Detroit Mercy 12
Records: Detroit Mercy 2-6, Kennesaw State 5-2
Location: Detroit, Mich. (Titan Field)
DETROIT (3/24/2017) -- The University of Detroit Mercy women's lacrosse team dropped its 2017 ASUN Conference opener on Friday afternoon from Titan Field, falling to visiting Kennesaw State 21-12.
Sophomore goalkeeper
Allison McDonough tied her career-high with 15 saves, while classmate
Morgan Girardi had a team-high five points for Detroit Mercy in the contest on three goals and two assists. Senior
Kelsi Pritchard notched her third hat trick of the season with three goals and
Lexie Kinmond added two goals and two assists for her fifth, four-point effort of the 2017 season.
The Titans (2-6, 0-1 ASUN) started the game strong, leading 2-1 after Kinmond's first goal was followed by a nifty no-look goal by Girardi just two minutes later. Kennesaw State tied the game twice, but Detroit Mercy went up 5-3 after back-to-back goals by Pritchard and Kinmond.
Kennesaw State would come back, however, scoring six goals before the break to take a 9-5 halftime lead. Girardi (two goals, one assist) and Kinmond (two goals, one assist) each had three points at the break, while McDonough was big in the first half in-between the pipes, making nine stops in net in the opening 30 minutes.
The Owls (5-2, 1-0 ASUN) scored the first two markers in the second half, but Detroit Mercy fired back with the next three markers. Junior attack
Jordyn Beam tallied two-straight goals within 29 seconds of each other and junior
Jessica Snyder scored a man-up goal from sophomore
Kaitlyn Wandelt just minutes later to pull the Titans to within three, 11-8.
KSU scored the next goal, but Girardi fired back, completing her hat trick with her third goal of the game with 19:21 left in the contest. The Owls would not go away, however, scoring seven of the next eight before Pritchard ended the run off a feed from Kinmond with 3:36 left on the clock.
Plester scored her fifth of the season just minutes later to complete the scoring for the Titans.
Junior
Lauren Webley led the Titans with three ground balls, while Girardi scooped up two GB's. Beam led the squad with a season-best four draw controls and Girardi added three DC's and Kinmond won two draw controls for the Titans. Girardi scored on 2-of-3 free-position attempts.
McDonough reached 15 saves in a game for the third time in the 2017 season. Consistently ranked in the top 10 in the NCAA all season in saves per game, McDonough notched her fifth, double-digit save effort of the year and has 88 saves following eight games.
Detroit Mercy went 10-of-16 on clear attempts during the game. Kennesaw State had a 43-33 shot advantage during the contest. The Titans had 15 draw controls during the game and led KSU in free-position shots (7-4).
Kinmond moved closer to the 100-point plateau in her Titan career and has 94 points in her young career. Kinmond reached the 30-point plateau during the game for the second-straight season. Pritchard reached 20 points for the third-consecutive season and also moved closer to 100 points and has 88 after Friday's contest. Girardi surpassed the 20-goal plateau as well for the Titans.
It was the sixth game of the season in which Webley has recorded three or more ground balls.
Up Next
Detroit Mercy plays its second contest of a four-game home stand on Sunday at 11 a.m., hosting Mercer at Titan Field.
