LOUDONVILLE, NY (4/20/2019) -- The University of Detroit Mercy men's lacrosse team went on the road looking to solidify its spot in the postseason and the Titans did just that as a team effort on offense and defense saw the red, white and blue put away Siena, 13-10, on Saturday afternoon at Hickney Field.

The win moved the Titans to 8-4 overall - guaranteeing them their third career winning campaign - and 5-2 in the MAAC as they clinched a spot in the conference tournament.

Sophomore Logan Shamblin made a career-high 21 saves - including seven stops in the second and third periods alone. The 21 saves is the third most in school history to go with five ground balls.

Senior Matthew Vangalen and sophomore Brett Erskine each had a team-high five points as Vangalen finished with a goal and four assists and Erskine registered three goals and two helpers. Junior Seth Mendell tallied a team-high four goals and freshmen Cam Kostus and AJ Van Voorhis each recorded two goals and an assist.

Junior Alex Jarzembowski was 18-of-24 with six ground balls at the faceoff and sophomore Paul Manuszak picked up a team and career-best 10 ground balls. 

The game was tied at 2-2 in the first and 3-3 early in the second when the Titans scored two in a row off the crosse of Erskine and Van Voorhis to jump ahead 5-3 at the half.

Siena (6-6, 3-3 MAAC) scored early in the third to make it 5-4, but the Titans posted four of the next five goals to open a 9-5 advantage at the end of three and had a 10-5 lead with 13:52 left in the fourth. 

The Titans saw the Saints get back in it at 10-7 with 9:45 left, but senior Brent Lubin picked up a ground ball off a turnover at the midfield and raced to the cage, beating the keeper to stop that run and the Titans eventually pushed their lead back to five, 13-8, with 4:55 remaining. 

Detroit Mercy won the battle of ground balls, 42-35, while seeing Siena own a 56-44 advantage in shots. Siena came into the game leading the league and eighth in the nation with the extra man at 44.8 percent, but the Titans held them to just 1-of-3 on the day.

Junior Alex Akins and redshirt junior Sam McClain each had a caused turnover as did senior Mike Sforza and Lubin, who also tied his career-high with four GB's. 

The Titans will end the season with two non-conference games as they visit Cleveland State on Wednesday and Utah on Saturday.

The MAAC Championship will be held at Marist in Poughkeepsie, New York, from May 2-4. Detroit Mercy can win a share of the MAAC regular-season title with Canisius beating Marist next week. 

First Quarter: 

• The Titans got on the board first as Lubin caused a turnover and Erskine took a pass from Vangalen and put it between the pipes just two minutes into the contest
• Erskine was back at it again as the Titans won the next faceoff and Erskine drove right to the net and beat the keeper to make it 2-0
• After a long Siena possession, Shamblin came up with two saves but the Saints would get the ball back on a turnover and get a score at 7:34
• Shamblin would get another save at 6:23 and the Titan defense held off a couple of long Siena possessions, but the Saints tied it at 2-2 at the 3:04 mark

Second Quarter:

• Shamblin made a couple of saves early on before Van Voorhis gave the Titans the lead back a couple of minutes into the period as he beat the keeper with a bouncer
• The game was tied at 3-3 when Erskine put the red, white and blue back ahead with a marker at 8:03 for his hat trick
• Shamblin then took over making five saves in a five-minute stretch and the Titans also killed off two penalties
• Van Voorhis then scored his second of the game to make it 5-3 with 4:18 left
• McClain stopped a Siena possession with a caused turnover and Manuszak was there to pick up the ground ball as he had eight in the first half

Third Quarter:

• Siena score in the first minute to cut it to 5-4
• Shamblin made three more saves, including two one-on-one situations to keep the Saints off the board
• The freshmen connection then got on the board as Van Voorhis fed Kostus and he fired a rocket past the goalie with nine minutes to go
• Shamblin made another save - his 14th - at the 6:14 mark and another at 4:50 and that one sparked a fast break with Mendell capping off the possession off a pass from Vangalen to make it 7-4 with 4:27 remaining
• The Titan netminder stuffed a Siena point blank at the 1:47 mark
• Siena got a penalty on that play and with the man-up, Erskine set up Mendell and he scored to make it 8-5 with 1:13 left and Vangalen found the back of the net with five seconds left in the period

Fourth Quarter:

• A little more than a minute in and already having possession due to a late Siena penalty in the third, Kostus found Mendell and he lasered one past the keeper to make it 10-5
• Shamblin then stuffed three potential Siena shots to up his total to 19 before the Saints scored to make it 10-7 with 9:45 on the clock
• Off a Siena turnover at midfield, Lubin came up with the ball and ran right at the goalie, unleashing a shot for a score and the Titans led 11-7 with 8:45 left
• Erskine was the playmaker as he set up Mendell and he went around the keeper and scored his fourth to give Detroit Mercy a 12-8 lead with 6:01 remaining
• With the man-up, Kostus netted his second off a pass from Vangalen with 4:55 left

Game Notes:

• Detroit Mercy has now won four of the last five meetings and the all-time series is tied at 6-6
• The Titans are now 4-2 all-time on the road against the Saints
• The Titans clinched a playoff spot for the eighth time in their 10 years in the MAAC
• Detroit Mercy is one away from tying its record for most wins in a season with the nine it had last year
• The Titans came into the game second in the MAAC and 15th in the nation in man-up offense at 40.0 percent (16-40) and were 2-of-3 with the extra-man attack
• Shamblin's 21 saves was the fourth time a Titan goal has posted 20 or more in a game and the first since former teammate Jason Weber's school-record 28 against Mercer in 2015
• Shamblin is now 10-2 against the MAAC in the regular season in his first two years
• Shamblin has now allowed 10 goals or less in 17 of his 27 career games
• Vangalen's five points give him 49 on the season, two away from his own school record he set last year, and 147 in his career, moving past Alex Maini for second in school history and behind only Shayne Adams (179)
• Mendell's four goals give him 31 on the season - tied for the sixth most in school history - and 90 in his career, sixth in school history
• Mendell now has posted at least three goals in 10 career games
• Erskine now has three hat tricks in his career - all this season
• It was Lubin's second career goal
• Manuszak's 10 ground balls were the most by a non-faceoff player for the Titans since Jordan Houtby had 10 against Michigan in 2012
• Manuszak's career high in ground balls was seven against Manhattan
• Jarzembowski has now won double-digit faceoffs in 25 career games and 22-straight dating back to last season
• It was the fifth game this year that Jarzembowski has won at least 15 faceoffs
• Jarzembowski broke his own school record with faceoff wins as his 177 on the year best his 163 from last season