WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. (5/3/2018) -- The University of Detroit Mercy men's lacrosse team found itself down by four goals in the fourth, but the Titans ended the game on a 7-0 run in the final 8:08 as the red, white and blue flew by the Monmouth Hawks, 12-9, on Thursday in the MAAC Championship semifinals at Kessler Stadium in West Long Branch, New Jersey
Although the Titans were seeded second and Monmouth third, the Hawks are the host of this year's championship putting Detroit Mercy on the road. Detroit Mercy will face fourth-seeded Canisius, who upset top-seeded Quinnipiac, in its third MAAC Championship game and the first since the Titans won it all in 2013.
The win was the ninth on the year for Detroit Mercy, setting a new school record.
Junior
Matthew Vangalen led the offense with five points on three goals and two assists, his fifth-straight hat trick. The five points also give him 49 on the year, tying the Titan record.
Freshman
Brett Erskine had two goals and an assist along with a season-high seven ground balls and junior
Patrick Walsh notched two goals. Sophomore
Alex Jarzembowski was 16-of-24 in faceoffs with six ground balls.
Defensively, redshirt freshman
Logan Shamblin made 11 saves, while sophomore All-League defenseman
Alex Akins shutout Monmouth's top scorer Bryce Wasserman.
Senior
Charlie Hayes picked up five ground balls. Senior
Will Kane had a caused turnover and four ground balls and senior
Pat Masterson had a caused turnover with three GB's.
The Titans (9-6) scored the first goal of the game and led 2-1 at the end of the first. Monmouth (7-8) scored four-straight and was ahead at the half, 5-3, before extending its lead to 9-5 with 8:31 remaining.
That is when Detroit Mercy posted one of its biggest comebacks in school history tying it up with 4:32 on the clock. The offensive charge didn't end there as the Titans posted three more goals to put the game away.
The MAAC Championship is set for Saturday, May 5, at 10 a.m., and will be broadcast live on ESPNU.
First Period:
- The Titans ended four Monmouth scoring chances as Shamblin had a save and Kane and juniors Sam Horton and Emmett Green had caused turnovers in the first five minutes.
- The Titans got on the board as sophomore Seth Mendell set up Vangalen for his first strike at the 10:12 mark.
- Monmouth answered at 9:07, but the red, white and blue took a 2-1 lead as Vangalen located Erskine and he scored with 5:25 on the scoreboard.
- Shamblin made three more saves as Detroit Mercy led 2-1 after one.
Second Period:
- Monmouth controlled the period and went on a 4-0 run to open a 5-2 advantage with 3:21 left.
- After Shamblin made a big save, the Titans got on the board late as in transition, Vangalen found Hayes and he beat the keeper to make it 5-3 at the break.
Third Period:
- Monmouth made it 6-3 early in the third and then the Titans took advantage of a Hawks' penalty as senior Alec Gilhooly scored to cut it to 6-4.
- After another save by Shamblin, the Titans peppered the Monmouth goalie before Erskine found the back of the net to pull the team within one, 6-5, with 6:42 remaining.
- The Hawks were able to get one back and took a 7-5 lead going into the fourth.
Fourth Period:
- Monmouth opened its biggest lead of the day at 9-5 with 8:31 on the clock.
- After a timeout, Jarzembowski provided the spark winning four-straight faceoffs as he quickly got the ball into the box, where senior Sean Birney fired one past the keeper at the 8:09 mark.
- Jarzembowski won his second-straight, and eventually, Erskine would find Walsh and his marker had the red, white and blue down 9-7 with 6:34 remaining.
- Jarzembowski kept up his winning ways and that led the Titans to score another, this time off the crosse of senior Lucas Ducharme.
- Monmouth called a timeout, but that didn't cool down Jarzembowski, who won another battle and that is when Vangalen knotted the game at 9-9 with 4:32 left.
- The Titan defense then stepped up as Masterson caused a turnover and on the offensive side, Green fed Vangalen and his hat-trick third-goal gave Detroit Mercy a 10-9 advantage with 2:38 left.
- Detroit Mercy extended that to 11-9 at the 1:12 mark as Walsh found the twine again.
- Monmouth then had a penalty and freshman Brennan Kamish put the finishing touches on the comeback scoring with 26 seconds on the clock.
Game Notes:
- Detroit Mercy leads the all-time series, 5-2, and its last four wins against Monmouth have been by comeback variety
- The Titans won the 2013 MAAC Championship and reached the title game in 2011
- Detroit Mercy had lost three-consecutive MAAC Championship tournament games with its last win coming in that 2013 title game against Siena
- The Titans now have eight fourth-quarter comebacks in their history with four coming this season and another two last year and seven have been on the road
- Earlier this season, Monmouth led 8-7 with 5:14 left in the game and that stood until six seconds left in regulation when freshman Brennan Kamish came around the net and fired one high, right past the goalie to tie it up before winning it in overtime
- It was a battle between two Rutgers' graduates and former teammates turned head coaches in Detroit Mercy's Chris Kolon and Monmouth's Brian Fisher, who both attended Rutgers between 1995-2001 and were teammates for two seasons
- The Titans now have a school-record 156 goals and 92 assists on the year
- Vangalen is now tied with Shayne Adams (2014) for the most points in a season with 49
- Vangalen is now fourth in school history with 96 points
- Shamblin is now 6-0 against MAAC opponents on the year going 5-0 in the regular season
- Shamblin came into the game second in the league in save percentage (.548), third in goals-against average (9.08), fourth in total saves (142) and fifth in saves per game (10.92)
- Erskine now has five-straight games with two goals
- Birney tied his career high with 21 points on the season
- Jarzembowski came into the game 77-of-139 (55.4%) in the MAAC on the year and was 16-of-24 today
