DETROIT (3/23/2022) -- After an extra week off, the University of Detroit Mercy men's lacrosse team will hit the road as the Titans make the trip to North Carolina to face High Point on Saturday.

The game is set for a Noon start and will be streamed live on ESPN+ and will also feature live stats. 

This is the first career meeting between the two schools.

The Titans are 1-4 on the year and are coming off their biggest come-from-behind win in school history in a 16-11 triumph over VMI. They trailed 9-1 in the first, but ended the game on a 15-2 run, which included blanking the Keydets in the second half. 

The four losses on the year have been at the hands of big programs in current top-10 schools in Ohio State and Notre Dame, Michigan - who was ranked and is receiving votes - as well as on the road at Marquette. 

Graduate senior Brett Erskine continues to lead the team in scoring with 13 points on 10 goals and three assists. Junior Luke Majick has eight points with six goals and sophomore Will Edell has six points with five goals.

Sophomore Connor Baratta was 20-of-29 with 13 ground balls against VMI and is winning 45.1% on the season, while graduate senior Paul Manuszak tops the team with nine caused turnovers and 31 ground balls.

High Point is 4-4 on the season and is coming off a 14-12 close loss to #10 North Carolina. Earlier in the year, HPU had a one-goal setback to #1 Virginia, 11-10. The Panthers have two wins over Atlantic Sun schools in Bellarmine (15-4) and at Robert Morris (13-11).

After the game, the Titans will return home for two-straight games as they open ASUN play with Robert Morris on April 2 and welcome Air Force to town on April 9. 

Game Nuggets

• The Titans are in their first season as a member of the Atlantic Sun Conference after spending 12 seasons in the MAAC from 2010-2021, with their first year as an independent in 2009
• The four-straight true road games to start the season were the most in a row since the Titans played five-straight in 2012, while the four road games to start the year was tied for the longest span in school history with the four in a row in 2011
• The Titans are 14-6 all-time against current members of the SoCon with a 5-1 mark against VMI, 5-2 versus Mercer and 4-3 against Jacksonville
• Detroit Mercy leads the ASUN and is 43rd in the nation with 30.0 ground balls per game, while placing first in the league and fourth in DI with 15.2 saves per contest
• The two-time MAAC LSM of the Year, graduate senior Paul Manuszak continues his play as one of the best in the country and move up in the school record book as he is sixth in the ASUN and 21st in the nation with 1.8 caused turnovers per game as well as leading the league and 24th in the nation with 6.20 ground balls per game
• He picked up a season-high eight ground balls against VMI and had six at Ohio State - where he also had four caused turnovers - and at Michigan and tallied three caused turnovers with seven GB's at Marquette
• Manuszak is third in school history with 187 ground balls - 30 behind second-place - while his 48 caused turnovers are seventh in school history and four away from sixth place
• His 187 ground balls are also 22nd among active players and his 3.90 ground balls pr game is 35th
• Redshirt freshman Jakob Hemme has posted double-digit saves in four of the first five games and is leading the conference and eighth in the nation with 13.8 saves per game
• He tied a school record with 28 saves at Michigan - tops in the country at the moment - and has 69 total stops on the season.
• Senior Tyler Hart came off the bench for only his second career action and made seven saves in nearly 49 minutes of action against VMI, allowing just two goals in picking up the victory
• Brett Erskine has 123 career points for fourth in school history, 23 away from third place, while his 81 goals are third, one in back of Alex Maini for second place with the all-time leader Shayne Adams at 147
• His 81 goals are 45th among active players and 123 points are 48th
• Freshman Aidan Bishop has taken 22 shots with 11 on net (.500) in five games and tallied his first collegiate points on a goal and an assist at Michigan
• Junior Luke Majick had his first career hat trick with three goals in the season opener at Ohio State and added two goals and two assists against VMI
• Sophomore Will Edell posted his first career hat trick with three goals at Marquette, which also tied his career-high in points
• Senior Keegan Stenstrom registered the first points of his career with a goal and two assists against VMI
• Junior Ryan Birney - who had a career-high four goals against VMI - had two older brothers who played for the Titans and were All-MAAC players in Mike and Sean as well as an older sister who played on the women's team and was All-ASUN in Kylie
• The Titans have had a long history of family connections on the team in the Birney's, Masterson's, Case's and have another pair of brothers on this year's squad in junior Kyle Loken and freshman Caden Loken and senior Tyler Hart and freshman Billy Hart
• Another family connection is senior Zach Kennedy as his grandfather played basketball and football for the Titans, while his dad played basketball for the red, white and blue
• A leader of men on and off the field and a pioneer of the game helping it flourish in the state of Michigan, Chris Kolon is in his 14th season on the sidelines – and eighth as a head coach - for Detroit Mercy in 2022 and holds a career mark of 38-52. His 14 seasons means that he has been with the program since its birth, first as an assistant before assuming the head coaching duties. On June 2, 2014, he was tabbed the program's interim head coach and then was named the permanent head coach on July 14. During his time with Detroit Mercy, The Titans have posted their first three winning seasons and led the team to a school-record in overall (9) and conference victories (5) in 2018. His teams were always at the top of the MAAC in academic accolades in both Academic All-League selections and honor roll recipients. He has also tutored five players that have gone on to get drafted in the MLL and NLL and 10 that have played in both professional lacrosse leagues and in 2019, he was named an assistant coach with the Atlas Lacrosse Club in the brand new Premier Lacrosse League. In his seven years as a head coach, Detroit Mercy made the MAAC Championships five times, reaching the title game in 2018. His first-ever win was a memorable one as Detroit Mercy upended Ohio State, 9-8, on March 7, 2015. The win was the first by the Titans over Ohio State - who were receiving votes in both the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll and the USILA Coaches Poll and would go on to play in the NCAA Tournament later that season