DETROIT (4/24/2021) -- Junior midfielder Taryn McManus had a career-day, totaling seven points on five goals and two assists, adding numerous other stats, but the University of Detroit Mercy women's lacrosse team dropped its Senior Day contest, 16-12, to visiting Akron on Saturday from Titan Field.

McManus was all over the field in Saturday's Mid-American Conference contest, adding team-highs with six draw controls and five ground balls along with tallying four caused turnovers. Junior midfielder Elise Harder (three goals, one assist) and sophomore Annie Gilbert (one goal, three assists) each posted four points for the Titans (2-4, 2-4 MAC).

Prior to the game, Detroit Mercy honored its five seniors -- Taylor Cantelon, Kamryn Corraro, Kristina Ellis, Maddie Johnson and Sarah Lucas. Cantelon had five DC, Corraro notched two goals and three ground balls, Ellis posted four ground balls and Johnson tallied three saves, four ground balls and two caused turnovers in net for the red, white and blue. Lucas had a career-high and game-high five caused turnovers for the Titans in the contest.

The Titans scored two goals in the first minute of the contest with Butler connecting with Gilbert, who scored the first goal just 33 seconds into the game and then Gilbert fed Corraro for the second goal of the contest as Detroit Mercy led 2-0 just 1 minute in. The Zips then scored the next four goals of the game to take a 4-2 lead 5 minutes into the contest. Gilbert assisted on another goal as she found Harder, who scored at the 23:46 mark to cut the Akron lead to 4-3. The Zips would score the next three to take a 7-3 lead at the 17:42 mark.

McManus scored the next three Titan goals and three of the next four in the game as she scored off a feed from Titan sophomore Charlotte Dale at the 16:05 mark and then against at 14:15 and 12:36 to pull the Titans within two goals, 8-6. Akron scored three of the final four goals of the first half to take an 11-7 lead at the halftime break. McManus and Gilbert both had four points at the halftime break with McManus tallying a hat trick in the first half and Gilbert assisting on three of the first-half goals.

McManus scored the first goal of the second half off a feed from Ellis and then freshman Cat Kopchia scored off an assist from Harder and the Titan defense held Akron off the scoreboard in the first 10 minutes of the second frame as the Titans trailed by just two, 11-9, with plenty of time left. The Zips answered, however, scoring two goals in a span of 1:14 to take back a four-goal lead, 13-9, with 17:52 left.

McManus scored her fifth goal of the contest just a few seconds later, her 11th goal of the season, to cut the deficit to three again, but again Akron would answer the Titan goal with two of its own to lead 15-10 with 16 minutes left on the clock. Akron goalie Abby Lerch, who made 11 saves in the contest, made several saves down the stretch for the Zips, helping prevent a Titan comeback effort.

Harder scored her 19th and 20th goals of the season late in the game, her final one coming with 1:52 left on the clock, but the Titans ran out of time on the come-from-behind effort.

The Titans out-shot Akron in the contest, 34-25, and helped force 27 Akron turnovers in the contest. Detroit Mercy held the advantage in ground balls (29-23) and draw controls (16-14).

In addition to Lucas (five CT) and McManus (four CT) combining for nine caused turnovers, Cantelon, junior defender Claire Conway, Johnson and freshman defender Kaileigh Nuessgen all each posted two caused turnovers for the red, white and blue. Harder added three draw controls and Kopchia and freshman Cecelia Vergara both posted one draw control.

Titan News & Notes
• McManus' seven points surpassed her previous career-highs of five, set on April 17 against Youngstown State.
• In two games against Akron in 2021, McManus had 11 points, 10 ground balls, 10 draw controls and nine caused turnovers.
• Gilbert totaled 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in two games against Akron this season.
• Lucas joined McManus as the second Titan to record five caused turnovers in a game in 2021.
• All 22 of McManus' points this season (11 goals, 11 assists), have come in the past five games.
• The 22 caused turnovers and 29 ground balls for the Titans were both season-highs.
• The Titans have out-drew their opponents in five of six games this season.
• The Titan senior class has 21 victories across their three-plus seniors and were part of two SoCon regular-season titles (2018, 2019).
• It was the second meeting between the two opponents in the last two weeks (Titans won the first meeting in double overtime).

Up Next
Detroit Mercy returns to the field on Wednesday, hosting Robert Morris in a 3 p.m. ET contest in Detroit. The game is set to be streamed live on ESPN+ from Titan Field. The Titans are then on the road at Kent State on Saturday, May 1.