DETROIT (9/21/2018) -- The University of Detroit Mercy men's soccer team returns to Horizon League play on Saturday, playing in Chicago against the defending league champions, UIC. The match is set for 8 p.m. ET and will be streamed live on ESPN3.com and the WatchESPN Applications from Flames Field.

Detroit Mercy earned a 2-0 victory over the Flames last season early in the season from Titan Field. The red, white and blue most recently fell 2-0 on the road at Pittsburgh in a non-conference match on Tuesday.
 

Game 8  |  Detroit Mercy (1-6, 0-2 HL) vs. UIC (6-2, 2-0 HL)
Dates / Time	Saturday, Sept. 22 // 8 PM ET
Location / Tickets	Chicago, Ill. (Flames Field) // Tickets: $8
Live Stats	StatBroadcast
Live Stream/Video	ESPN3.com / WatchESPN
Social Media	Twitter (In-game Tweets): @UDMSoccer  |  Facebook     Instagram  |  Tweet #DetroitsCollegeTeam
All-Time Series	Titans lead, 12-9-5 // Last Meeting: Titans 2, UIC 0 (9/9/17)

Titan News & Notes
• The Titans hold a 12-9-5 advantage over the Flames in the all-time series.
• Detroit Mercy is 6-1-2 against UIC all-time under head coach Nicholas Deren '99.
• The Titans' next home match falls on Homecoming with Detroit Mercy hosting Wright State on Saturday, Sept. 29.
• Both goals and assist this season are the first career points for the players involved. Sophomores Daniel Iyok and Mohamad Miri both scored their first collegiate goals earlier this season, while senior Kevin Tapchom tallied his first career assist on Miri's game-winning goal at Robert Morris.
• Defenders Justin Murray and Garret Weaver have each started all seven games and played all 639 minutes on the field this season.
• Sophomore Demetri Pliakos leads the squad in shots (10) and shots on goal (3) so far during the 2018 season. 
• Goalkeepers Evan Mazurek (1.33 GAA, 13 saves) and Devin Mendez (1.71 GAA, 15 saves) have split time in net this season with Mendez starting four matches and Mazurek starting in three contests.
• Mazurek recorded a shutout in a 1-0 win over Robert Morris in his first collegiate game and start, while Mendez made three saves, allowing just one goal in Detroit Mercy's first Horizon League match, a 1-0 loss to Oakland at home.
• Senior defender Grant Harrison was Second Team All-HL in 2017 and leads active Titan players with 40 starts on the back line.
• The Titans have experience on the back line with defenders Harrison (40 starts), Garret Weaver (38), Justin Schueneman (31) and Justin Murray (23) having started a collective 132 matches across their Detroit Mercy careers.
• Weaver started all 19 games a year ago and led the Titans in minutes played (1,787).
• The Titans went 7-8-4 last season en route to an appearance in the semifinals of the Horizon League Championship tournament.
• Head coach Nicholas Deren '99 enters his ninth season and has 57 victories in his Titan head coaching career.
• Detroit Mercy has won or earned a share of two regular-season Horizon League titles in the past seven seasons (2012, 2014 - share).
• The red, white and blue opened the 2018 season with five-straight matches on the road and eight of nine away from Detroit.
• Five of the final nine matches for Detroit Mercy are from Titan Field, including two of the last three contests.

Scouting UIC
The Flames are 6-2 on the 2018 season, including 2-0 in Horizon League play. UIC has scored eight goals in two league matches so far, earning a 4-1 victory over Oakland in Rochester and a 4-0 triumph over IUPUI at home on Sept. 15. The Flames are receiving votes in the most recent United Soccer Coaches national poll and are ranked No. 4 in the regional rankings, behind just Big Ten schools Indiana, Michigan State and Michigan.

Senior forward Max Todd leads the Flames with six goals and 12 points also boasting team-leading highs in shots (33) and shots on goal (19). He has four game-winning goals this season. Junior midfielder Jesus Perez ranks second on the team with 11 points, tallying two goals and a team-best seven assists. Three other players have multiple goals on the 2018 season. Senior keeper Sawyer Jackman has started all eight matches in net, posting four shutouts and holding a 0.75 goals against average with a 79.3 save percentage.

UIC are the winners of each of the past two Horizon League Championships and have made appearances in the NCAA Tournament in the past two campaigns.

All-Time Series
Detroit Mercy is unbeaten in its last four matches (2-0-2) against the Flames, winning last season by a 2-0 margin from Titan Field. In 2016, the Titans played the Flames to a 2-2 draw in Chicago. In each of the past four matches, Detroit Mercy has scored two goals. The last loss against UIC came in 2013 in Detroit, when UIC earned a 2-0 victory. Overall, Detroit Mercy is 12-9-5 all-time against the Flames and 6-1-2 under head coach Nicholas Deren '99.

Harrison Candidate for Senior Class Award
Senior defender Grant Harrison (Macomb, Mich. / Eisenhower) was selected as a candidate for the 2018 Senior Class Award, it was announced on Sept. 19. Harrison was one of 30 men's soccer student-athletes across the nation to be considered for the honor. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: Community, Classroom, Character and Competition.

Detroit Mercy has had a player earn consideration for the Senior Class Award as one of the 30 finalists in four out of the past six seasons. Prior to Harrison, Tyler Moorman (2017), Nathan Steinwascher (2015) and Adam Bedell (2013) all received the accolade for the Titans. Harrison is the lone Horizon League men's soccer student-athlete to be considered for the Senior Class Award.

Preseason Poll
The Titans were selected to finish eighth in the Horizon League Men's Soccer Preseason Poll. Detroit Mercy received 22 points overall. The reigning league champion, UIC, received six of the nine first-place votes and was voted to finish first in the poll. Green Bay, Wright State and Milwaukee each received one first place vote and followed UIC in the poll in second, third and fourth, respectively.

Last season, Detroit Mercy finished sixth overall at 4-4-1 in the regular-season standings before advancing past third-seeded Milwaukee in the quarterfinals of the Horizon League Championship after a 5-4 penalty kick shootout. Detroit Mercy fell to Green Bay, the 2017 regular-season champs, in the semifinals of the tournament by a 3-1 margin in Chicago.

Up Next
Detroit Mercy meets Western Michigan next week on Wednesday, Sept. 26 for a non-conference match. The contest is set for a 3 p.m. first kick from the WMU Soccer Complex in Kalamazoo.