LOUDONVILLE, NY (4/1/2017) - Freshmen
Seth Mendell tied his season high with six points and senior
Jason Weber led another excellent defensive effort with 13 saves as the University of Detroit Mercy men's lacrosse team went on the road and defeated Siena, 10-6, on Saturday afternoon.
With the win, Detroit Mercy moved to 5-6 overall and 3-0 in the MAAC for its best start in conference play in school history.
The Titan defense held down a Siena (0-10, 0-2 MAAC) team that came into the game second in the MAAC in scoring at 10.78 goals per game.
Mendell finished with a game-high six points on four goals and two assists. Junior
Sean Birney had two points on a goal and an assist and freshman
Donavon Dempsey netted a goal and kept offensive possessions alive with a season-high five ground balls.
Junior
Pat Masterson had two caused turnovers and two ground balls and junior
Charlie Hayes had a caused turnover, three ground balls and also scored his third goal of the season.
Freshman faceoff specialist
Alex Jarzembowski was brilliant on the day winning 12-of-17 and tying his season high with a game-best seven ground balls.
Both teams began the game feeling each other out, but the Titans struck first as freshman
Alex Akins caused a turnover and on the offensive end, junior
Lucas Ducharme found his Canadian counterpart in sophomore
Patrick Walsh, and he put one in with 9:11 remaining in the first.
After a Siena goal, Jarzembowski won the faceoff and the ball eventually made its way to Mendell, who fired one in to make it 2-1 with 6:33 left in the first.
The game was tied at 2-2 after the first quarter, but the red, white and blue took control in the second period scoring four-straight goals. Hayes started that charge with a goal at the 10:51 mark and a little more than a minute later off another faceoff win, junior
Adam Susalla followed with an unassisted marker.
The teams were scoreless for the next seven minutes when off a save from Weber, Mendell unleashed a shot inbteween the pipes for a 5-2 lead with 2:47 left. After the Titans won yet another faceoff battle, Mendell fed Dempsey, who beat the keeper for a 6-2 lead and the Titans took a 6-3 advantage at the break.
Detroit Mercy pushed its lead back to four, 7-3, early in the third as the Titans registered four shots in a row until Mendell found the back of the net.
The Saints tried to mount a comeback with back-to-back goals late in the third, but Detroit Mercy answered as junior
Alec Gilhooly located Birney and he scored on the extra-man advantage with just 19 seconds left in that period. Jarzembowski won the opening faceoff in the fourth and then Mendell set up senior
Kyle Beauregard and he went high on the net for a score and a 9-5 lead with 13:54 left.
Mendell ended his potent offensive game with a goal off a pass from Birney late in the fourth as the Titans put the finishing touches on their second-straight conference road win.
Akins and junior
Austin Polson-McCannon had two ground balls apiece, while junior
Will Kane had a caused turnover and two GB's.
The Titans had a 30-22 edge on ground balls and were 19-of-21 on clears. Detroit Mercy also saw Siena commit 13 turnovers with the Titans forcing seven.
Detroit Mercy will return home for a two-game homestand starting with a game against Jesuit-rival Canisius next Saturday, April 8. Game time is set for noon at Titan Field and both teams will come into the contest undefeated in the MAAC.
Game Notes
Siena leads the series, 6-4, but the Titans are 3-2 all-time on the road against the Saints… The Titans have two conference road wins for just the third time in school history (2016 and 2014)… Sophomore
Matthew Vangalen, who came into the game leading the Titans in scoring with 37 points on 20 goals and 17 assists, did not score… Mendell had six points on six goals against Bellarmine... The defensive midfielder Hayes has now scored a goal in three-straight games after having just one career marker in his first 22 games… Birney now has six man-up goals on the season, tied for first in the MAAC… Susalla has now scored in two-straight games for the first time in his career… Jarzembowski's season high in faceoffs was a 14-of-21 mark with seven ground balls at Robert Morris… Weber now has 635 career saves and has posted double-digit saves in 40 of his 48 career games…
