CINCINNATI, Ohio (8/11/2017) -- Fueled by three first-half goals on Friday night, the University of Detroit Mercy men's soccer team earned a 3-1 road victory at the University of Cincinnati in its 2017 exhibition opener at Gettler Stadium.
Redshirt-senior
Tyler Moorman scored the first two goals for the Titans, while freshman
Mohamad Miri added another late in the first half to put the visiting Titans up 3-0 over the Bearcats. Redshirt-seniorÂ
Robbie Beckwell added five saves in net in the opening 45 to help stake Detroit Mercy to its large halftime lead.
Friday marked just the third day of the 2017 preseason for the Titans, which opened practice as a team on Wednesday.
"We started off just trying to get the cobwebs out," head coach
Nicholas Deren '99 said. "It was good to play a real match, to see how our shape looks and where we can get exposed and where we were okay. I'm pleased with the result. We could have had four or five (goals) in the first half, they turned away two on the line. We were lethal on the counter attack.
"We worked out some of the kinks at halftime and I played everyone. There was some fantastic individual performances. There was a lot there to build upon."
Moorman scored the first goal on a penalty kick in the 14th minute after senior
Spiro Pliakos was taken down in the box. Moorman added another goal in the 32nd minute off a feed from sophomore
Jake Reitzloff. Miri then followed in the 40th with a goal in his first collegiate game.
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The Titans played everybody that traveled in the game, with many players seeing their first collegiate soccer action, including sophomore keeper
Sami Nouri.
Detroit Mercy finished the game with 11 shots, including eight shots on net. Cincinnati had 16 shots in the contest, eight of them on goal. Cincinnati had the edge in corner kicks, 5-2, but Detroit Mercy had the advantage in saves, 7-5.
Beckwell turned away five shots and junior keeper
Josh Flamme made two saves in goal for the Titans. Moorman led the team with two shots on goal, scoring on both. Deren noted the play of freshman
Kyle Bandyk as a standout, among many others.
"(Bandyk) was our Man of the Match. He looked like a senior out there tonight. He won every ball out of the air. He was massive for us. The whole team had that bite tonight. I don't think I've ever seen so many slide tackles. It's a different team. It's exciting to see."
The red, white and blue are 14 days away from their 2017 regular season opener on Aug. 25 at home against Stetson. Detroit Mercy has one final exhibition game, hosting Western Michigan on Saturday, Aug. 19 at Noon from Titan Field. Admission into all home matches is free.
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