DETROIT (3/28/2019) -- The University of Detroit Mercy men's lacrosse team will look for another win in conference play as the Titans travel to upstate New York to face Marist on Saturday.

Game time is set for 1 p.m. and fans can watch the action on the Red Foxes Network.

The Titans come into the game at 5-3 overall and 2-1 in the MAAC, while Marist is 4-3 and undefeated in league play at 2-0. 

Detroit Mercy put together one of its best defensive performances in team history last week as the red, white and blue defeated Monmouth, 6-4, behind 15 saves from sophomore goalie Logan Shamblin and a defense that had the Hawks commit 24 turnovers. 

Junior Seth Mendell still leads the team in goals at 21, while senior Matthew Vangalen tops the team in points at 31 with a team-high 19 assists and 12 markers. 

Following the game, the Titans will return home for two straight against Manhattan (Apr. 6) and Canisius (Apr. 13). 

AGAINST THE MAAC

• Detroit Mercy is 31-28 in regular season league play since joining the MAAC in 2010.
• The Titans set their all-time win mark for conference games in a season last year at 5-1.

ALL-TIME VS. MARIST

• This has been one of the most hotly contested series in Titan history as nine of the 12 games have been decided by three goals or less, including seven by one goal.
• The teams have also met three times in the postseason with the Titans defeating the higher-seeded Marist squad in 2011 and 2013 in the MAAC semifinals 
• Detroit Mercy is 0-5 on the road in the series and has actually never won at Tenney Field losing their other three neutral games in the MAAC Championship semifinals.

MAN-UP ADVANTAGE

• Detroit Mercy comes into the game tied for first in the MAAC and 17th in the nation in man-up offense at 40.0 percent (14-35), while Marist is next to last in the conference and in the nation scoring on just 3-of-31 (0.97) extra-man opportunities. 
• Defensively, the Titans are fifth in the MAAC and 49th in the country in man-down defense at 62.5 percent (12-32), while Marist is fourth in the league and 19th in the country stopping opponents at .772 (5-of-18). 

THE BATTLE AT FACEOFF

• The game will feature the top two faceoff specialist in the MAAC in Detroit Mercy junior Alex Jarzembowski and Marist junior Peyton Smith.
• Smith leads the MAAC and is fourth in the nation winning 67.8 percent (99-of-146), while Jarzembowski is second in the conference and tied for 15th in the country at 61.8 percent (123-of-199). 
• Last year, Jarzembowski won the battle going 16-of-25, while Smith was 7-of-16. 

BALANCED OFFENSE

• The Titan offense saw six players score in the season-opening win over Jacksonville and now, 14 total have found the back of the net in the first eight games.

VANTASTIC

• Senior Matthew Vangalen set the school record for points last season recording 51 points on a career-high 31 goals with 20 assists and he is on pace to challenge that mark. 
• He posted his 10th career hat trick with four goals and five points at nationally-ranked Notre Dame and followed that up with his 11th registering three goals and a helper in the win at Marquette and 12th with a season-high six points on three goals and a school-record six assists at Bellarmine. 
• His third goal at Bellarmine was the game winner with 10 seconds left in a 15-14 contest.
• At Air Force, he tallied four points on three assists and a goal.
• Vangalen is now third in school history with 129 points and 69 goals and second with 60 assists, just four away from the record. 
• Vangalen - a preseason All-MAAC selection by the coaches and Inside Lacrosse - was a Second Team All-MAAC honoree last year for the second-straight season.

THE BIG LOGAN

• Sophomore Logan Shamblin showed no signs of a sophomore slump in the season opener as he tied his career high with 15 saves in the 9-8 victory over Jacksonville.
• He stopped a career-high 16 shots at Quinnipiac and was excellent in last week's win over Monmouth ending with 15 saves, a season-high seven ground balls and a career-best three caused turnovers. 
• Following the game, he was tabbed the MAAC's Defensive Player of the Week for the second time this season. 
• He made 11 saves in the big road win at Marquette and nine at Bellarmine and finished with 11 at St. Bonaventure. 
• He has now allowed 10 goals or less in 16 of his 23 games, including 12 contests with less than 10 goals. He has also recorded double-digit saves in 17 career games. 
• He was a member of the All-Freshman Team last year as he started all 15 games and picked up nine wins, including going 5-0 in the MAAC during the regular season. 
• Shamblin ended the year 14th in the nation in save percentage (.544), 18th in saves per game (10.8) and 20th in goals-against average (9.13), and his 162 saves was the fifth most in school history, while his goals against average was second and save percentage fourth.

ALEX THE GREAT 

• Junior Alex Jarzembowski - a preseason All-MAAC selection by the coaches and Inside Lacrosse - is currently second in the MAAC and 15th in the nation in faceoff percentage winning 61.8 percent (123-of-199). He also leads the team with a career-best 50 ground balls and is third in the league and 22nd in the nation with 6.25 ground balls per game.
• He is currently the school-record holder in winning percentage at 56.2 percent and faceoff wins with 350. 
• He started the 2019 season off with a big performance in the win over Jacksonville, winning 15-of-21 faceoffs with five ground balls and scoring his first two collegiate goals.
• Coming into the contest, he had attempted just one shot in his first two seasons. 
• For that effort, he was tabbed the MAAC Offensive Player of the Week on Feb. 4. 
• Jarzembowski was named to the All-MAAC Second Team in 2018 as he set a school record winning 163-of-313 (.521). 

NOTHING BUT JARZ

• Junior Alex Jarzembowski already had his name on top of the Titan record book in faceoff wins as he twice tied a school record with 16, but he now has the mark all to himself, breaking that mark in back-to-back games.
• He was 27-of-33 with a program-best 15 ground balls in the victory at Bellarmine, where he won the game's last 13 faceoffs and also scored a goal. 
• The 27 faceoffs are tied for the second most in the nation alongside Marist's Peyton Smith (27 vs. Hartford) and behind only Hobart's Matthew Pedicine's 32 at Siena. 
• At Marquette, he was 19-of-30 with five ground balls and a goal and put together a 19-of-22 effort with 13 GB's and a score last week at St. Bonaventure. 
• After winning 10 last week against Monmouth, he has now won double-digit faceoffs in 21 career games and 18-straight dating back to last season. 

MENDELL ON FIRE

• Junior Seth Mendell could not wait for the season to start as he led the Titan offense with three goals and four points in the 9-8 victory over Jacksonville.
• It was his fourth career hat trick and he has not cooled off at all as he is coming off his fourth-straight hat trick with three goals at Quinnipiac.
• In his last four games - he missed last week due to injury - he has been unstoppable with 16 goals and 18 points with three markers at Bellarmine, four goals and two assists at Air Force and a career-tying six goals at St. Bonaventure, which earned him MAAC Offensive Player of the Week for the second time in his career. 
• Prior to that, in the win at Marquette, he posted two goals and an assist. 
• Despite battling an injury, Mendell played in all 16 games with 14 starts last year and finished third on the team with a career-high 27 points, tied for third with a career-best 19 goals and fifth handing out eight assists, tying his rookie mark.
• He currently leads the team with 21 goals and is second with 25 points. 
• In his career, he now has 78 points on 58 goals and 20 assists in 39 games, seventh in goals and ninth in points in school history. 

ERSKINE SHINES

• Sophomore Brett Erskine - who has missed the last two game with an undisclosed injury -  tallied two-straight hat-trick performances tallying a career-high five goals and six points in the win at Bellarmine and four goals and five points in the triumph at Marquette. 
• A couple of his goals on the season have been highlight reel acrobatic dives to the net. 
• For his effort against Marquette, he was named the MAAC Offensive Player of the Week for the first time in his career. 
• Erskine earned MAAC All-Rookie Team recognition last season after he started all 16 games and was second on the team in points (35), goals (22) and assists (13).
• Erskine scored a goal in the last 10 games on the season and had nine multi-goal contests on the year, while picking up 25 ground balls, tying for the team high among attackman.
• He is now third on the team with 17 points and tied for second with 12 goals. 

DIAPER DANDY

• Freshman Cam Kostus was not shy in his collegiate debut firing a team-high 11 shots and finishing with a goal, assist and three ground balls in the win over Jacksonville. 
• At Notre Dame, he scored one goal on three shots and just recorded his first collegiate hat trick with three goals in the road win at Marquette. 
• Last week, he notched two late goals - including the eventual game-winner - against Monmouth. 

WELCOME TO DI MAX PAYTON

• Freshman Max Payton made his collegiate debut at St. Bonaventure, but in just his second career game, the rookie got the start and did not disappoint scoring three goals at Quinnipiac. 
• He came back last week recording two goals and an assist in the win over Monmouth. 

AKINS LEADS THE D

• Junior defender Alex Akins - a preseason All-MAAC selection by the coaches and Inside Lacrosse - has earned All-MAAC honors in his first two years, including First Team in 2018. 
• He had two caused turnovers at Quinnipiac, his fourth-straight contest with at least two caused turnovers. 
• Akins tied his career best with three caused turnovers and picking up six ground balls at St. Bonaventure and also had two takeaways at Air Force and at Bellarmine. 
• A team captain, he was fifth on the squad with 11 caused turnovers and seventh picking up a career-high 23 ground balls in 2018. 
• He was a key cog on the Titan defense that produced  8.56 caused turnovers per game to not only lead the MAAC, but also rank eighth in the country, as well as ranking second in the conference and 19th in the nation in scoring defense at 9.38 goals per game.
• On the year, he has a team-high nine caused turnovers and 16 ground balls and in his career, he has 32 caused turnovers - ninth in school history - and 54 ground balls. 

WHAT A GAME FOR MCCLAIN

• Redshirt sophomore Sam McClain had a big week on defense for the Titans in the win at Marquette as he helped shut down All-BIG EAST First Team selection John Wagner, holding the Golden Eagles attackman two just two assists and no goals on his 10 shots.
• McClain was credited with a caused turnover and two ground balls in the contest. 
• At St. Bonaventure, he tallied three more caused turnovers and had a takeaway and a team-high four ground balls at Quinnipiac. 
• On the season, he has eight caused turnovers and 17 ground balls. 

LEAVE IT TO THE LSM

• Sophomore Paul Manuszak had a fine rookie campaign and has not suffered a sophomore slump at all.
• He is currently tied for first on the team with nine caused turnovers and is second with 31 ground balls to go with two goals and two assists, all career highs. 
• He had a big debut in the season-opening victory over Jacksonville as he tallied a career-best three caused turnovers and six ground balls.
• Manuszak was back on his game in the win at Marquette coming up with a caused turnover and six more GB's and picked up five more ground balls at Bellarmine. 
• He appeared in all 16 games as a rookie and had two goals, 17 ground balls and three caused turnovers. He scored his first collegiate goal on his first-ever shot against Air Force.