DETROIT (3/31/2022) -- After a grueling non-conference slate, the University of Detroit Mercy men's lacrosse team will turn its attention to league action as the Titans begin Atlantic Sun play with Robert Morris on Saturday in a red, white and blue doubleheader.

Both the men's and women's teams will face RMU with the men's game to start at 11:00 a.m. and the women to follow at 2:00 p.m. at Seaholm High School in Birmingham, Michigan. Both games are set to be broadcast live on the Titans Sports Network on YouTube and will have live stats.

Tickets to the contests are $5 and can be purchased here with the ticket valid for both games. Tickets can only be purchased electronically as no cash will be accepted. 

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. Robert Morris is also in the first year in the league that will already see growth with Jacksonville, Mercer and Lindenwood joining the Titans, Colonials, Air Force, Bellarmine, Cleveland State and Utah next year.

Detroit Mercy is 1-5 on the year with five road losses at High Point, Marquette, Michigan, Notre Dame and Ohio State to go with their school-record come-from-behind win against VMI.

Graduate senior Brett Erskine still tops the team in scoring with 15 points on a team-high 11 goals and team-best four assists. Junior Luke Majick has nine points with seven goals and two assists and both junior Ryan Birney and sophomore Will Edell have five goals apiece. 

Graduate senior Paul Manuszak leads the ASUN and is 21st in the country with 6.50 ground balls per game, while standing sixth in the conference and 33rd in the nation with 1.50 caused turnovers per game. Sophomore Connor Baratta is fourth in the conference in faceoffs at 46.2%, but has won 68.0% in the last two games going 23-of-29 against VMI and 11-of-21 at High Point. 

Redshirt freshman Jakob Hemme still leads the nation with 13.8 saves per game, but senior Tyler Hart has started the last two, posting 22 stops.

Robert Morris is 4-4 on the season and has won two in a row at home, 10-7 over Marquette and 15-14 against Drexel.

The game is the start of two in a row at home as the red, white and blue host Air Force next week. 

Game Nuggets:

• 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 were tied for the longest span in school history with the four in a row in 2011
• Detroit Mercy is third in the ASUN and is 33rd in the nation with 30.3 ground balls per game, while placing first in the league and fourth in DI with 15.17 saves per contest
• The two-time MAAC LSM of the Year, Manuszak has registered at least ground balls in five games with back-to-back season highs of eight against VMI and at High Point and is third in school history with 195 ground balls - 22 behind second-place - while his 48 caused turnovers are seventh in school history and four away from sixth place
• His 195 ground balls are also 22nd among active players and his 3.90 ground balls pr game is 35th
• Manuszak also has multiple caused turnovers in three games with a season-best four at Ohio State
• Hemme posted double-digit saves in four of the first five games and is leading the conference and seventh 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.
• 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, and then tallied 15 saves last week at High Point with two caused turnovers and three ground balls
• Erskine has 125 career points for fourth in school history, 21 away from third place, while his 82 goals are tied for second with Alex Maini, with the all-time leader Shayne Adams at 147
• His 82 goals are 45th among active players and 125 points are 49th
• After starting the year 4-of-24 at the faceoff X, Baratta is 62-of-115 (53.9%) in the last five games and 34-of-50 (68.0%) in the last two
• That includes a career-best 23-of-29 effort with 11 ground balls against VMI with the 23 faceoff wins tied for the eighth-most in the nation 
• Freshman Aidan Bishop has scored a goal in three-straight games, including two at High Point
• 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
• 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
• Freshman Evan DeVito had three caused turnovers at High Point, while sophomore Noah Martin has five caused turnovers on the year
• Birney - who had a career-high four goals against VMI and tallied three at home against RMU in 2020 - 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 38-53. 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. 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