DETROIT (4/9/2021) -- The University of Detroit Mercy men's lacrosse team made one comeback to take the lead, but was not able to make another to win the game as the Titans dropped a 9-7 contest at Monmouth in a battle of first-place teams in the MAAC on Friday afternoon.

The Titans (3-3, 3-2 MAAC) trailed 3-1 in the first before taking a 4-3 lead late in the period, but then could not rebound as Monmouth (5-1, 4-1 MAAC) went ahead 7-4 late in the second and held on for the win. 

Senior Logan Shamblin made 11 saves and picked up six ground balls. Senior Brett Erskine scored two goals and had an assist, while sophomore Luke Majick and freshman Will Edell each tallied a goal and an assist.

Senior Paul Manuszak registered three caused turnovers and a team-high seven ground balls with an assist and graduate senior Alex Akins posted a season-high three caused turnovers with a pair of ground balls. 

The Titans fell behind quickly at 1-0 just 35 seconds in, but Erskine would tie it at 1-1. The Hawks then went up 3-1 at the 9:51 mark. Edell started a 3-0 run for the team to jump ahead scoring a goal and that was followed up with a strike from Majick for a 3-3 game. Erskine would later score in the first for a 4-3 advantage, but Monmouth tied it at the end of the period and ran its lead to 7-4 in the second.

Graduate Senior Matt Turner made it a 7-5 game with a goal right before halftime and junior AJ Van Voorhis pulled the team within one, 7-6, with 9:26 to go in the third. Detroit Mercy also got within one again at 8-7, just as the third period ended as graduate senior Scott Shepard fired in his Titan goal with the clock expiring, but the red, white and blue could not find the tying goal.

The Titans outshot Monmouth, 32-26, and won the battle of ground balls, 36-26. Detroit Mercy was also 17-of-20 on clears and the Hawks turned it over 19 times with the Titans credited with 11 caused turnovers.

Detroit Mercy will be back in action next Saturday, Apr. 17, when it hosts Marist at Noon. 

First Period:

• Manuszak caused a turnover and after picking up the ground ball, he found Erskine for the score to tie it at 1-1 just three minutes in
• The Titans were down 3-1 when Edell got inside and in front of the cage for a score and he also drew a two-minute un-releasable penalty on the play
• Detroit Mercy would then knot it at 3-3 as Edell found Majick for the score with 8:21 to go
• Erskine then gave the Titans the lead at 4-3 as he got a pass from Majick with 4:16 remaining
• Shamblin would make a save, but Monmouth would make it 4-4 with 1:26 on the clock

Second Period:

• Shamblin would come up with three saves, but Monmouth would score three goals for a 7-4 lead with 5:43 to go
• Akins would cause a turnover and that led to a goal from Turner with 11 seconds left in the period to get the team within two, 7-5

Third Period:

• Shamblin turned away three more Monmouth attempts at extending the lead
• Off a shot that was saved, Van Voorhis would get the ball and put a bouncer on net that beat the goalie to make it 7-6 with 9:26 left
• Akins would cause a turnover with 18 seconds left and that set up Scott Shepard's goal as he took a pass from Erskine and fired one in from about 25 yards out with one second on the clock to get the Titans within one again, 8-7

Fourth Period:

• Shamblin made an early save, but Monmouth took a 9-7 lead with 10:46 left
• The Titans would get off seven more shots and force five Monmouth turnovers in the last 10 minutes, but could not get another goal on the scoreboard

Game Notes

• Detroit Mercy still leads the all-time series, 6-3, including a 4-1 record at Monmouth
• It was a showdown of a couple of former Rutgers teammates in Chris Kolon '09 (MBA) and Brian Fisher as both attended Rutgers between 1995-2001 and were teammates for two seasons from 1998-99
• The Titans came into the game seventh in the nation with 9.40 caused turnovers per game 
• Detroit Mercy has outshot its opponent and won the ground ball ratio in every conference game this season
• Shamblin now has 27 games with double-digit saves and it was the 19th time in his career he has allowed less than 10 scores
• Manuszak's career-high in caused turnovers is seven against St. Bonaventure this year as he is now ninth in school history with 37 passing former teammate Will Kane '18
• Manuszak also passed former teammate and current assistant coach Charlie Hayes '19 for seventh place with 152 career ground balls 
• Akins' career-high in caused turnovers is four against Canisius in 2019
• Akin is now tied for eighth in school history with 58 games played and fifth with 53 starts
• Shepard played four years at Albion before transferring to Detroit Mercy and finished ninth in school history with 64 goals and added 25 assists for 89 points along with recording 31 ground balls and eight caused turnovers in 51 career games
• Edell has now scored a goal in five of the six games on the year
• Erskine is now in sole possession of fourth place in school history with 107 points