DETROIT (3/24/2022) -- Back to conference play for the Titans as the University of Detroit Mercy women's lacrosse team will travel across the Ohio border to face Kent State on Saturday.

Game time is set for 4:00 p.m. at Dix Stadium and will feature a live stream and live stats. 

The Titans are 1-7 on the season and 1-3 in the MAC as the red, white and blue posted a 15-12 victory over Akron at home last week before falling in double overtime to St. Bonaventure, 18-17.

Detroit Mercy has tallied double-digit goals in its last three games after averaging just 6.1 goals in its first five games, tallying 10-straight goals in the come-from-behind win against Akron and a season-high 17 goals against the Bonnies, the most since netting 24 at Youngstown State last year.

Sophomore Cat Kopchia still leads the tea with 24 points and 11 assists and is tied for the team lead with 13 goals. Senior Elise Harder and junior Annie Gilbert both have 13 goals, while redshirt sophomore Charlotte Dale has 19 points on 10 goals and nine assists.

Harder is coming off a great game with a school-record 19 draw controls - tied for the third-most in the NCAA this season - as she is second on the team with 38 draw controls, trailing senior Taylor Cantelon's 42. Cantelon is third in the league and 40th in NCAA with 5.25 draw controls per game, while Harder is fifth in the MAC and 56th in DI with 4.75 per game.

Freshman Meredith Leavell has started the last three games in net and is registering 5.3 saves per game, 12.28 goals-against average and a .421 save percentage with a season-high 12 saves at YSU. 

Kent State is 3-8 on the year and 0-4 in the MAC as the Golden Flashes need a win to stay alive for a playoff spot as KSU has dropped conference games to at Akron (11-6), Robert Morris (11-8), at Central Michigan (20-6) and Youngstown State (21-20). 

Following the game, the Titans will return home to face Robert Morris next week, April 2, at Seaholm High School in Birmingham. 

Game Nuggets: 

• The Titans are 1-2 all-time against Kent State, defeating the Golden Flashes at home, 16-12, in 2019, and dropping both games last season 17-12 at home and 20-11 on the road
• Kopchia had a career-high seven points as she tallied six assists, tied for third in school history, in the comeback victory over Akron
• Kopchia is third in the MAC and 71st in the nation with 1.38 assists per game, while her 3.00 points per game are fifth in the league and 141st in DI
• Harder's 1.96 points per game are tied for eighth in school history, while her 1.77 goals per game are sixth
• Harder's 122 draw controls are seventh in school history and six away from Emma Mucci and sixth place, while her 2.50 draw controls per game are third in school history
• Cantelon's 117 career draw controls are seventh in school history, while her 3.72 draw controls per game are second in the school record book
• The Titans have three of the top six assist leaders in the MAC as Kopchia is third (1.38), junior Marina Butler fourth (1.33) and Dale sixth (1.12)
• Dale has back-t0-back hat tricks with career-high six points on three goals and three assists against Akron and three goals with two helpers versus St. Bonaventure
• Gilbert tallied a career-high five goals against Akron
• Senior Taryn McManus and freshman Maddy Camm both have a team-high seven caused turnovers
• Leavell's 32 saves are sixth in the MAC
• Dwayne Hicks is officially in his second year as head coach of the Titans after taking over as an interim coach in 2020 before it was canceled due to the pandemic (but was not assessed any wins or losses that season) as his record stands at 3-15. His first career win was a double-overtime thriller, 15-14, in 2021, while his second was a record-breaking 24-12 contest at Youngstown State as the Titans netted a school-record 24 markers. Hicks is a familiar face within the Titan Athletic Department, having spent the prior three seasons as an assistant coach on the men's lacrosse staff. He joined the men's lacrosse program in the fall of 2017 and in both of his full campaigns with the team, he helped coach back-to-back winning campaigns with a school-record nine wins in 2018 and a trip to the MAAC Championship game and another eight wins in 2019 and another bid to the postseason. Hicks brings more than 45 years of lacrosse in his background as a player and coach and has been one of the most instrumental individuals in helping spread the game in the state of Michigan. He spent 15 years as the Director of Lacrosse at the Total Sports Complex in Wixom, Michigan. He was also the head coach and director of the Total Lacrosse's Train and Play program and Team Total Lacrosse travel team. Hicks coached the Oakland University women's lacrosse program in four seasons, as the team qualified for four national championships, placing as high as third and winning three regional championships. Hicks has been recognized as Coach of the Year on five occasions. He has also been selected National Coach of the Year twice, once as head coach of the men's team at Michigan State and the other as the assistant coach of the Oakland women's team. During his five years with the Oakland men's team, Hicks was able to develop an unknown program into a nationally ranked, highly touted lacrosse team, which included two national championship appearances and one Central Collegiate Lacrosse Association (CCLA) title. In 2006, Hicks moved from Oakland to Eastern Michigan to help build their program. After three seasons with the Eagles and helping them become a CCLA playoff contender, he moved to Michigan State, where he guided the Spartans to four CCLA playoff appearances, one championship and two runner-up efforts. After his collegiate playing career at Notre Dame, Hicks played/coached professionally in the English Lacrosse Union in Manchester England. Originally from Long Island, New York, Hicks was a standout lacrosse player and wrestler at Freeport High School