LOUISVILLE (3/2/2019) -- It was another record-breaking performance for junior Alex Jarzembowski and the outcome was decided in thrilling form as senior Matthew Vangalen tallied the game-winner in a 15-14 victory at Bellarmine on Saturday afternoon. 

Jarzembowski set a school record for the second-straight week, going 27-of-33 in faceoffs with a school-best 15 ground balls, while also adding a goal.

Vangalen registered a career-high and school-record six assists and ended with nine points. Sophomore Brett Erskine tallied a career-best five goals and six points and junior Seth Mendell had three markers and a helper.

Detroit Mercy (3-1) got off to a slow start as Bellarmine (0-5) led 4-1 in the first and 9-5 early in the third before the offense started to kick in.

The Titans took a 14-13 lead with 6:35 on the clock as Vangalen found Erskine for the score, but the Knights came back to tie it at 14-14 with under a minute to go.

Jarzembowski then won his 26th faceoff to set up the final play as after a timeout, freshman AJ Van Voorhis found Vangalen and he beat the keeper with a laser to give the red, and blue a 15-14 advantage with nine seconds left. Jarzembowski then put a bow on the win with his 27th faceoff triumph and 15th ground ball of the day.

The Titans out-shot Bellarmine, 50-34, and dominated ground balls, 45-21. They were also 20-of-23 on clears and saw the Knights commit 20 turnovers.

Sophomore Matt Blevins had two goals and sophomore Ryan Figueiras posted one. Van Voorhis had two assists and sophomores Ollie Nigh and Paul Manuszak each picked up five ground balls.

Detroit Mercy will be back in action on Wednesday as the Titans visit another Southern Conference member in Air Force. Game time is set for Noon (EST). 

First Quarter:

• Bellarmine took an early lead just two minutes into the game, but the Titan starting attack tied it up as Erskine found Vangalen on the left wing and he ripped one past the goalie at the 10:39 mark
• The Knights then went on a 3-0 run to open a 4-1 advantage with 3:31 left in the first
• Jarzembowski ended that spurt by winning a faceoff and beating the keeper for his fourth marker of the season 
• Off a turnover, the Titans got the ball back and Vangalen struck again to make it 4-3 with just under a minute remaining

Second Quarter:

• The Titans got behind 6-3 when Vangalen collected his third point of the contest feeding Erskine and the sophomore buried it midway through the period
• Detroit Mercy got to within one again as Figueiras cored with 5:40 on the clock
• The Knights added two late goals for an 8-5 lead at the break 
• At the half, Jarzembowski was 7-of-10 in faceoffs with four ground balls and the Titans recorded more shots (23-18) and ground balls (18-11)

Third Quarter:

• Bellarmine scored to open up the period
• The Titans started their second-half offense with another win at the faceoff and cashed in as Erskine found the back of the net
• The red, white and blue would then score five of the next six goals starting with a 3-0 run
• Erskine started it again off another pass from Vangalen to make it 9-7 and then off a Bellarmine turnover,  Vangalen was the play maker again finding Blevins and his marker had the team within 9-8 with 8:24 left
• After a Knights' goal, Blevins followed his shot that hit the post and picked up the ground ball and tickled the twine to make it 10-9
• Mendell then caused a turnover as Bellarmine tried to clear and he recovered the ball and scored to knot it at 10-10 at the 4:26 mark and then Jarzembowski won his 15th faceoff of the game with senior Brent Lubin picked up the ground balls and Vangalen notched his career-tying fourth assist locating Mendell for another goal at 4:26 to give Detroit Mercy an 11-10 advantage

Fourth Quarter:

• Detroit Mercy once again jumped ahead as Erskine posted his career-best fourth goal for a 12-11 advantage at 13:31
• Back and forth it went as Bellarmine took a 13-12 lead, byt back-to-back tallies by the Titans had Mendell register his fourth career hat trick to tie it up and then Vangalen registered his career-high fifth assist getting it to Erskine right in front of the net and he buried his fifth marker of the contest for a 14-13 lead with 6:36 on the clock
• Bellarmine would tie the game at 14-14 with over a minute left in the game
• The Titans won the next faceoff with Jarzembowski collecting his 26th win and they called a timeout to set up a winning place with 30 seconds remaining
• When play resumed, Voorhis located Vangalen and the Canadian put the team back in front beating the keeper with high heat with just nine seconds left 

Game Notes:

• The Titans are now 4-7 all-time against Bellarmine and have won four of the last five in the series
• The Titans are now 16-18 all-time against current teams from the Southern Conference, the home league of the Detroit Mercy women's lacrosse program
• It was the third-straight road game in a stretch of six straight away from the Motor City for the Titans 
• The Titans have now scored 15 goals in two-straight games, tied for sixth in school history
• The Titans' 50 shots was the fourth most in school history and the most since firing 53 against Siena last year
• Detroit Mercy's 45 ground balls are tied for the fourth most in school history
• The school record for assists was four accomplished four times, including by Vangalen at Manhattan last year when he set a school record with 11 points and tied another mark with seven goals
• Jarzembowski just set a school record last week against Marquette winning 19-of-30 faceoffs
• Erskine just had a career-high three goals last week at Marquette
• The previous school record for ground balls was 11 by Jordan Houtby against Mercer in 2011