DETROIT (4/28/2018) -- Six Titans found the back of the net and a 7-0 run in the second period was the recipe for success as the University of Detroit Mercy men's lacrosse team proved too much for Cleveland State on Saturday at Titan Field in a 12-6 triumph. 

It was a great send off for the nine-member senior class in Sean Birney, Marcus Butters, Lucas Ducharme, Alec Gilhooly, Charlie Hayes, Will Kane, Pat Masterson, Bryan Matney and Travis Sparling as the elder Titans saw the team tie a school record with their eighth win and extend their winning streak to a program-best four-straight games. 

Detroit Mercy (8-6, 5-1 MAAC) already knew it was going to be the No. 2 seed in the MAAC Championship next week and will face third-seeded Monmouth in the semifinals.

Junior Matthew Vangalen led the way with five points on four goals and an assist, his fourth-straight hat trick, while Hayes and Ducharme posted two goals apiece. Freshman Brett Erskine registered two goals and two assists and Birney notched a marker and a helper. Sophomore Alex Jarzembowski was 12-of-20 in faceoffs with four ground balls. 

Hayes also led the defense with four caused turnovers and eight ground balls. Junior Emmett Green and freshman Marc Longe posted two caused turnovers and redshirt freshman Logan Shamblin made 10 saves in net and picked up seven GB's.

The Titans got off to a slow start as Cleveland State (4-10) scored the first two goals of the game. Detroit Mercy came back with two-straight in the middle of the first, but the Vikings had a 4-2 lead after one.

The second period was all the red, white and blue's as Detroit Mercy went on a 7-0 run to break the game open and take a 9-4 advantage at the break. CSU had two goals in the third, but the Titans ended the contest on a 3-0 spurt for the victory.

Detroit Mercy held a 38-33 edge in shots and 39-32 margin on ground balls, while forcing 12 of the Vikings' 20 turnovers. The defense also kept CSU off the board on all three extra-man opportunities as it held its opponent to under 10 goals for the third-straight game.

The MAAC Championship will get underway on Thursday, May 3, at Monmouth with the Titans taking on the Hawks at 3 p.m. The first semifinal has top-seeded Quinnipiac facing the No. 4 seed Canisius at Noon. 

First Period:

• Cleveland State took a 2-0 lead a little more than four minutes into the game.
• Shamblin made two saves and after he picked up a ground ball, that led to a face-break opportunity and Hayes got the Titans on the board at the 8:03 mark.
• Detroit Mercy was able to hold the Vikings off the board on an extra-man attack as Shamblin made a save and then Green came up with the caused turnover, and on the offensive side of the ball, Vangalen fed Erskine and it was a 2-2 game with 6:05 left.
• The Vikings would score two goals late in the period for a 4-2 lead after one.

Second Period:

• Erskine kept a Titan offensive possession alive with a caused turnover and he set up Vangalen, who found the back of the net with 11:28 on the clock.
• Jarzembowski then won the faceoff and Hayes picked up the ground ball and charged to the net, beating the keeper to knot it all up at 4-4.
• After a save by Shamblin, the Titans got in position again to score and Ducharme was able to find the back of the net for a 5-4 lead at 7:27.
• Jarzembowski won the ensuing faceoff and after a shot by Hayes hit the post, Birney picked up the ground ball and fired one in for a 6-4 lead at the 6:40 mark.
• The Titans took advantage of a CSU penalty and Gilhooly fed Vangalen and he notched his second of the game. 
• The Titans came right back with another goal of a faceoff victory as Erskine found Vangalen in front of the net for a score and it was 8-4 with 2:59 left. 
• Jarzembowski kept on winning faceoffs and his next win led to freshman Brennan Kamish, who found Vangalen again and his third-straight goal in 39 seconds and fourth of the game had the red, white and blue up 9-4 and that was the score at the half.

Third Period:

• The Titans killed off a two-minute unreleasable penalty towards the end of the second and start of the third, but CSU struck first in the second half nearly three minutes in.
• Shamblin had another save and Green caused another turnover, but the Vikings got within 9-6 with a goal with 5:33 left.
• Hayes had two caused turnovers the rest of the period and Matney had one as Detroit Mercy led 9-6 after three.

Fourth Period:

• The Titans came out looking to end the game as a quick faceoff win led to Birney hooking up with Masterson and the LSM scored his second of the second just 20 seconds into the period for a 10-6 lead.
• Longe and Masterson came up with two caused turnovers to keep CSU off the scoreboard and with 6:03 remaining, freshman Ryan Figueiras located Erskine and he tickled the twine for an 11-6 advantage.
• The Titans final goal came from Ducharme as he beat the keeper with 1:24 left to make it 12-6.

Game Notes:

• The eight wins match the school record of 8-6 the 2015 squad had, head coach Chris Kolon's first season as head coach
• The eighth win this year also guarantees a winning record for just the second time in school history
• Detroit Mercy set a school record with 231 points, while the 144 goals is second five shy of the top spot and the 87 assists is tied for second and four shy of first place
• The Titans had won three in a row six times in their history before extending the school record to four straight today
• The Titans came into the game third in the MAAC on the penalty kill at 66.0 percent, allowing just 17 goals in 50 opportunities
• Vangalen now has 25 points in his last four games on 18 goals and seven assists
• Vangalen moved into fifth place in school history with 91 points as well as sixth in school history with 53 goals, while his 44 points on the season is three shy of his career high from last year and five shy of tying for first place in Titan history
• Hayes' 72 ground balls on the year is third in school history, one behind Jordan Houtby's second place total of 73 in 2013
• Hayes now has 68 career caused turnovers – third in school history – and 136 career ground balls – sixth in Titan record books
• Hayes had a career-best two goals
• Ducharme tied his career high for the fifth time with two goals
• Erskine now has 14 points in his last four games on eight goals and six assists
• Erskine has scored two goals in four-straight games and eight times on the year
• Masterson now has three career goals and two this season as he scored at Canisius two weeks ago
• Shamblin now has a 9.08 goals against average on the season, just shy of Jason Weber's school record of 9.07 in 2014