DETROIT (9/5/2017) -- The University of Detroit Mercy women's soccer team will have a pair of matches against MAC schools this week as the Titans welcome Bowling Green to campus on Wednesday before heading to Central Michigan on Sunday.
The home match against BGSU will kick off at 3 p.m., while the game at CMU is slated for a 1 p.m., start.
The game against Bowling Green will also feature a Titan Athletic Luncheon prior to the start at 1 p.m. For more information or to attend,
click here.
The games are the final two non-conference games before the Titans open Horizon League play next week against defending conference champion Milwaukee.
THIS WEEKEND'S ACTION
| Date: Sept. 6 |
Date: Sept. 10 |
| Opponent: vs. BGSU |
Opponent: at CMU |
| Time: 3 p.m. |
Time: 1 p.m. |
| Location: Titan Field |
Location: CMU Soccer Complex |
| Tickets: Free |
Tickets: Free |
| Live Stats: Click Here |
Live Stats: Click Here |
| Live Video: Click Here |
Live Video: Click Here |
| Twitter Updates: @DetroitWSOC |
Twitter Updates: @DetroitWSOC |
All-Time Vs. The MAC
- It will be a "MAC" week for the Titans as Detroit Mercy plays Bowling Green and Central Michigan.
- The games mark the second and third against a MAC school this year as the Titans tied Toledo, 0-0, in the season opener. The Titans still have Eastern Michigan on the schedule next week. Also in the preseason, Detroit Mercy defeated Western Michigan, 3-1.
- The red, white and blue are 38-33-10 all-time against MAC schools.
Against Bowling Green
- Detroit Mercy is 8-4 all-time against the Falcons of Bowling Green, including winning four of the last five. The Titans are 5-1 all-time on Titan Field with the lone setback in 2009 when BGSU claimed a 4-0 win.
- This will be Bowling Green's fourth road game of the season as it started the year with wins at Oakland (5-1) and Morehead State (2-0) before falling at Butler (2-0) and at home versus Michigan State (2-1).
Against Central Michigan
- The Titans are 2-8-4 all-time against the Chippewas, but have not defeated CMU since 2004. Central Michigan is 5-0-3 in the last eight meetings, but the last two games and three of the last five have ended in ties.
- Detroit Mercy is also 1-5-1 on the road at CMU with the one victory a 2-1 decision in 2004, the last Titan win.
Fire
- The Titans have been outshot in five of their six games. The only contest when they outshot their opponent was against Lawrence Tech, when they posted a 28-2 margin.
- The 28 shots were the most since posting a school-record 41 against Marygrove on Oct. 7, 2013.
The Manzo Watch
- Junior Marina Manzo has played great in net to start the season tallying 34 saves and three shutouts in the first six games.
- She started the year keeping Toledo off the board in a 0-0 tie recording three saves. She had five saves - four in the second half – to keep Fort Wayne at zeros in the road triumph and had two saves in the blanking of Lawrence Tech.
- At Pittsburgh, Manzo made nine saves, the most since posting nine against Baylor in the 2016 season opener.
- She leads the Horizon League in saves, saves per game (5.67) and goals against average (.80), while standing second in save percentage (.872) and tied for third with three shutouts.
- Manzo is now fifth in school history with 207 saves and is also fourth with 15 shutouts.
- She is currently second in goals against average (1.16), third in save percentage (.793), fifth in wins (22) and seventh in saves per game (4.40).
4 Goals And Counting
- Freshman Rachel Russo leads the team with four goals and eight points. She has also taken 10 shots on the year, and nine have been on goal.
- She is currently tied for second in the Horizon League in goals and third in points.
Offensive Output
- Detroit Mercy's 5-0 victory over Lawrence Tech marked the most goals scored since beating Youngstown State, 5-1, last season.
DeLuca Does It All
- Offense, defense, set pieces, corners, there is nothing that senior Rachel DeLuca can't do on the field for the Titans.
- Last season, she attempted nearly every corner and set piece for the team, and she is off to that same start with all 12 corners on the year.
- The reigning Horizon League Defensive Player of the Year had three goals and four assists last year and is off to another quick start on offense with three assists and two goals, good for fourth in the HL with seven points and tied for first with three assists.
Defense!
- The Titan defense has been impressive, starting the 2017 campaign with three-straight shutouts, the most ever to begin a season in Titan history surpassing the 1997 squad that had shutouts in its first two games against Green Bay (5-0) and Washington State (4-0).
- The three-straight shutouts were also the most since posting three-straight in 2015 with wins over Eastern Michigan (1-0) and Green Bay (5-0) and tying Fort Wayne (0-0).
- The Titans started the season not allowing a goal in their first 333:06 of play before Pittsburgh netted one at 43:06 in the first half.
A Long Carroll
- Junior Caitlin Carroll waited a long time before scoring her first collegiate goal against Lawrence Tech. She sat out last season after playing at Dayton in 2014 and Marquette in 2015.
- With the Flyers, she played in 14 games with two starts for a team that won the Atlantic 10 championship. With the Golden Eagles, she saw action in five games and had one shot.
First Points
- The Titans have a few members who have celebrated their first collegiate points.
- Freshman Rachel Russo got her first points in a big way with three goals at Fort Wayne. Junior Caitlin Carroll - who played at Dayton and Marquette in her first two years - netted her first collegiate goal against Lawrence Tech as did freshman Kelli Doyle.
- Meanwhile, freshman Olivia Parra had her first point on an assist at Fort Wayne and fellow rookie Rima Youssef had a helper against LTU.
Young Blood
- The Titans knew they would be young this year and some early season injuries have pressed even more youngsters into action.
- In the season opener versus Toledo, Detroit Mercy had four freshmen starters and played eight freshmen. At Fort Wayne, the Titans had five freshmen starters and eight freshmen who saw action, while in the last four games, they have played as many as nine rookies.
Still Together
- The Titans will once again be in the steady hands of a veteran coaching staff as head coach Mike Lupenec - the only coach in program history - is back to lead the 25th varsity team.
- He is the only coach in school history and has guided the Titans to a 222-2-6-38 overall mark with conference championships in 1995, 1996 and 2004. The 2004 team also won a game in the NCAA Tournament.
- Lupenec has been voted league Coach of the Year by his peers three times (2000, 2005, 2012).
- His assistant coach Jamie Huff has been at his side for 16 seasons, while goaltending coach Mike Sheehy is in his seventh season.
