RIVERDALE, NY (4/14/2018) -- Junior
Matthew Vangalen broke a Titan record with 11 points and tied another pair of school records with seven goals and four assists as the University of Detroit Mercy men's lacrosse team cruised past Manhattan, 18-8, on Saturday afternoon at Gaelic Park.
The win moved the Titans to 6-6 on the year and 4-1 in the MAAC, clinching one of the four spots in the MAAC Championship. The win also tied a school record for most MAAC wins in a season and was the fourth road win of the year, tying another school mark.
Detroit Mercy recorded 31 points on the day and had 13 assists, a pair of new school watermarks, while the 18 goals are the second most in Titan history.
Vangalen's 11 points broke the previous school record of Joel Matthews, who had eight at Canisius in 2012, while the seven goals are tied with Matthews' seven at Canisius and Shayne Adams' seven against Mercer in 2011. He also tied a school record and career record with four helpers. He took just nine shots in the game with eight on goal and had his sixth career hat trick just midway through the first period.
His 11 points and seven goals are the most by any player in the MAAC this year and tied for the fifth most in the NCAA on the season. The seven goals were the most in the MAAC since 2016 when Joseph Radin of Marist and Brian Feldman of Quinnipiac had seven, while the 11 points are the most since Siena's Bryan Neufeld had 11 in two games in 2012.
Senior
Sean Birney, sophomore
Seth Mendell and freshmen
Brett Erskine and
Brennan Kamish each had two goals with Birney adding two assists and Mendell registering one helper. Senior
Alec Gilhooly had a career-high three assists and tied his career best with four points.
Senior
Charlie Hayes led the defense with three caused turnovers and six ground balls, while senior
Will Kane had a pair of caused turnovers with three GB's. Redshirt freshman
Logan Shamblin made 11 saves and sophomore
Alex Jarzembowski was 10-of-19 in faceoffs with five ground balls.
The Titans led 3-0 just seven and a half minutes into the game and had a 4-0 advantage with six minutes left as Vangalen struck for all four markers. Detroit Mercy led 5-3 after one and 10-6 at halftime as Vangalen had five goals at that point.
Manhattan (4-8, 0-4 MAAC) pulled within three, 10-7, just a couple of minutes into the third, but the red, white and blue put the Jaspers away with a 5-0 run the rest of the period.
The Titans won the ground ball battle, 37-26, were a perfect 20-for-20 on clears and held Manhattan 0-for-4 on its extra-man attempts.
Detroit Mercy will return home for its final two games of the regular season hosting Siena next Friday, Apr. 20, at 4 p.m.
First Period:
- Manhattan won the opening faceoff, but defense got the ball back as Hayes came up with a caused turnover.
- A few minutes later, Vangalen recorded a caused turnover, picked up the ground ball and scored the first of his seven at the 11:25 mark.
- After a save by Shamblin, Vangalen beat the netminder again at 9:14.
- Manhattan scored a goal, but another save by Shamblin got the Titans the ball back and Mendell set up Vangalen, and he had his hat trick with 7:27 left.
- After a caused turnover by Kane, Vangalen would tally his fourth with six minutes remaining.
- The ensuing faceoff victory saw the Titans get another goal scorer as Gilhooly fed Birney and he ripped one into the twine for the 5-1 advantage with 5:31 left and Detroit Mercy led 5-3 after one.
Second Period:
- Shamblin made two saves early on, and Detroit Mercy took a 6-3 lead as Birney fed Mendell for a strike at the 11:40 mark.
- Manhattan scored to make it 6-4, but the Titans scored twice within two minutes as Birney had another goal and Vangalen located Kamish for a goal and an 8-4 lead with 4:48 remaining.
- The Titans added two more goals to end the half as Hayed fed Vangalen and he notched his fifth with 3:28 on the scoreboard and then junior Patrick Walsh located senior Lucas Ducharme and he netted a marker as Detroit Mercy took a 10-6 lead at the break.
Third Period:
- The Jaspers got within three, 10-7, but after that, Jarzembowski won the faceoff and just 20 seconds later, Kamish scored to start a 5-0 spurt.
- Vangalen added another assist setting up Erskine's first of the game with 12:07 on the clock and after a save by Shamblin, Vangalen had the pass to Mendell, and he made it a 13-7 contest with 9:01 remaining.
- Junior Bo Pickens got into the mix with a caused turnover and on the offensive end, sophomore Connor Bennardo tacked on his first goal of the year for a 14-7 lead at the 3:49 mark.
- The Titans opened their lead to eight as junior Emmett Green had the assist to Erskine and his second goal made it a 15-7 game with less than a minute left.
Fourth Period:
- Manhattan scored to make it 15-8, but a faceoff win by junior Mike Sforza set up the offensive possession, and Vangalen registered his fourth assist - and school record ninth point - as Gilhooly beat the keeper midway through the period.
- Just a couple of minutes later and the playmakers were reversed as Gilhooly located Vangalen and his sixth goal made it 17-8 with 6:26 left.
- Vangalen then had his school-tying seventh goal taking a pass from Birney and burying it in the back of the net with 2:24 left.
Game Notes:
- Detroit Mercy has now won four in a row against Manhattan and leads the all-time series, 6-4.
- The Titans have made the MAAC postseason in seven of their nine seasons in the league
- The 10-goal win was the second most in school history, behind the 19-3 victory against Mercer in 2011, but was the biggest winning margin in the Titans' conference history besting the 14-7 triumph at home against Wagner in 2010
- The 31 points were the most in the MAAC this season, while the 18 goals and 13 assists are tied for the league high
- The school record for points was 27 in the 19-3 win over Mercer in 2011
- The school record for points was 10 accomplished four times previous, while the 18 goals was one away from the school record of 19 against Mercer
- The 37 ground balls tied a season high for the third time this season
- The 12 caused turnovers are tied for the second most on the season behind the 13 at Mercer
- The Titans came into the game second in the MAAC and 15th in the nation with 8.18 caused turnovers per game
- The Titans came into the contest third in the MAAC on the penalty kill at 62.2 percent, allowing just 17 goals in 45 opportunities as Manhattan was 0-for-4 today
- Vangalen's previous career high in goals and points was five
- Vangalen is now eighth in school history with 48 career goals, one away from seventh place and Matt Gregson, while his 35 career assists are now sixth in school history
- Vangalen now has 80 career points, eighth in school history
- Hayes is now third in school history with 62 career caused turnovers and seventh with 122 ground balls
- With Bennardo scoring a goal, the Titans now have 16 players score a goal this season
