The Basics
Final Score: No. 3 Furman 12, No. 2 Detroit Mercy 8
Records: Detroit Mercy 8-10 (4-2 SoCon), Furman 11-7 (5-1)
Location: Greenville, S.C. (Paladin Stadium)

GREENVILLE, S.C. (5/2/2019) -- The University of Detroit Mercy women's lacrosse team pieced together a late-game charge, led by freshman Taryn McManus' first-career hat trick, but the No. 2 seed Titans couldn't overcome an early deficit as they fell to No. 3 seed and host Furman, 12-8, in the Southern Conference semifinals on Thursday evening from Paladin Stadium.

McManus entered the contest with just five collegiate goals, but proved to be a crucial part of the Detroit Mercy scoring offense Thursday. She opened the second half with a goal and accounted for the Titans' final two scores.

McManus' third goal, which came with 3:09 remaining, cut Detroit Mercy's deficit to four goals at 12-8. Time wasn't on the Titans' side, as Furman milked the clock and prevented another shot by the red, white and blue to advance to Saturday's SoCon championship game.

McManus led Detroit Mercy with three goals and an assist on four shots. Sophomore Kamryn Corraro added two goals, and senior Lexie Kinmond, junior Kaitlyn Wandelt and freshman Elise Harder chipped in one goal apiece.

Harder's goal marked the 30th of her rookie season. She became the fifth Titan to reach the 30-goal mark this season, joining Kinmond, Wandelt, Corraro and senior Morgan Girardi. Kinmond netted two assists in her final game in the red, white and blue, and senior Allison McDonough totaled five saves in net for the Titans.

Furman — which fell to Detroit Mercy 14-12 at Titan Field on April 12, 2019, the lone SoCon loss the Paladins suffered in the regular season — wasted little time extracting its revenge, scoring on the opening possession and again at the 25-minute mark. 

After a Furman turnover, Wandelt put the Titans on the board. With 19:07 remaining in the first half, Kinmond fed Wandelt a pass and the junior blasted a shot from five yards out to make it 2-1.

Furman took a 3-1 lead with 14:14 remaining in the half, but the Titans answered one minute later. Harder went low on the free position shot, sneaking the ball past Furman goalkeeper Courtney Baker. The Paladins kept Detroit Mercy off the board the rest of the way, scoring three unanswered goals to go into the break up 6-2 on their home turf.

The second half was much more even, with both teams scoring six goals. Detroit Mercy raced out of the half with a strong start. Kinmond came up with the opening draw control and McManus sliced through the Furman defense to find the back of the net 41 seconds into the half.

The red, white and blue tried to build on McManus' strike, but Furman responded with a goal on the ensuing offensive possession and added another 28 seconds later to go up 8-3.

Detroit Mercy, on the man-advantage, pieced together a pair of free position shots but both were blocked. Kinmond scooped up the ground ball and McManus fed Corraro, who trimmed the deficit back to four goals at 8-4.

Furman scored two unanswered goals in a span of two minutes, the first at the 25-minute mark and the second nearly two minutes later, to reach the 10-goal threshold.

The Titans fought through the final whistle, though. Kinmond scored on the free position with 14:48 remaining, and Detroit Mercy ended scored three of the last four goals to make it a four-goal game.

Three hat tricks fueled the Furman offense and Baker played a strong game in net, totaling 11 saves. Detroit Mercy held the advantage in shots (28-27) and shots on goal (19-17), and had one fewer turnover (14-13) than Furman.

Wandelt tied for the game-high in shots with five and led all players with five ground balls. Kinmond led the Titans with four draw controls as the team totaled 10 on the night. Sophomore Kristina Ellis, Wandelt and Harder all each added two draw controls for Detroit Mercy.

Six impactful Titan seniors (Morgan Girardi, Lexie Kinmond, Emma Leszczak, Ali Magyaros, Alex McCafferty and Allison McDonough) played in their final games for the red, white and blue with all of them seeing playing time in the contest. The group (along with classmate Kaitlyn Wandelt) has been highly successful during their careers, becoming the first team to ever defeat Jacksonville in ASUN history during their freshmen seasons in 2016 in the semifinals of the tournament. The squad has been at the forefront of the success in the past two seasons as Detroit Mercy won 18 games and captured two regular-season SoCon titles.

Titan News & Notes
• Detroit Mercy finishes head coach Megan Callahan '13's first season at the helm with an 8-10 record and a share of the So-Con regular season title. It's the fourth time in the past five seasons that the Titans reached the eight-win threshold, including the second-straight season.
• Senior Lexie Kinmond finished with three points in the game to up her season total to 78 (fourth all-time) and her school-record career mark in points to 281.
• Harder became the fifth Titan to reach 30 goals this season after Kinmond, Wandelt, Corraro and Girardi.
• Taryn McManus enered the game with five goals and tallied her first career hat trick during the contest, scoring all three goals in the second half.
• Wandelt extended her single-season school record for draw controls to 117, which leads the Southern Conference.
• Kinmond tallied 37 assists in 2019 which was the second-most in single-season history, just two shy of her 39 she had last season.
• McDonough and Girardi both tied for second place all-time in games played (73), playing in every single game in their careers. McDonough started all 73 games in net during her Titan career, while Girardi started 72 of 73 games in the red, white and blue.
• With the win, Furman evens the all-time series with Detroit Mercy at 3-3, as the red, white and blue dropped to 1-2 all-time in games played in Greenville at Paladin Stadium.
• The SoCon finals features the same two teams as last year's inaugural championship with top-seeded Mercer playing No. 3 Furman.

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