DETROIT (3/29/2023) -- Three Titans tallied hat tricks, including a game-high four goals by senior
Ryan Birney in a 6-0 run to end the game, as the University of Detroit Mercy men's lacrosse team stormed past Robert Morris, 14-8, on Wednesday afternoon.
Along with his four goals and seventh career hat trick, Birney had a career-high four ground balls and three caused turnovers. Senior
Luke Majick and sophomore
Aidan Bishop each netted three goals - a career-high for Bishop - and freshman
Drew Kessenich recorded two goals and two assists to tie his season high with four points.
Sophomore
Jakob Hemme made nine saves with three ground balls for the win. Redshirt freshman
Eoghan Mullett tied his season high with four ground balls and junior
Noah Martin and freshman
Joe Janda scooped up three.
Detroit Mercy (1-6, 1-2 ASUN) - who never trailed in the game - saw Robert Morris (4-4, 1-2 ASUN) score three in a row to tie the game at 8-8 early in the fourth, but the red, white and blue ended the contest with six-straight goals.
Off a Hemme save, Kessenich found Bishop and he scored his third goal to give the Titans a 9-8 lead with 9:07 left. Birney then took over to put the game away, unleashing four-straight in a three-minute span, and Majick had the finishing strike as his hat-trick third marker had the team up 14-8 with 2:35 left.
Seniors
David Beacom and
Ivan Progar had goals, with Progar adding an assist. Majick and Kessenich had three ground balls and freshman
Logan Flaherty won a season-high 10 faceoffs. Beacom, senior
Kyle Loken and sophomore
Sean Henige each had a caused turnover and two ground balls and sophomore
Joey Schmaltz had a caused turnover and a GB.
Detroit Mercy opened the game with two scores as Majick forced a turnover and beat the goalie with a shot less than a minute into the contest. Later in the period, Hemme made a save and that led to Progar firing in a goal. Detroit Mercy went in front, 3-2, as sophomore
Harold Skinner found Bishop for his first goal, but RMU knotted it at 3-3 after one.
In the second, Schmaltz came up with a caused turnover and Bishop turned that into a goal for a 4-3 advantage with 12:39 to go in the period, and Majock made it 5-3 with 5:27 left as he found the back of the net.
The Colonials again tied it at 5-5, but three straight goals had the Titans in front, 8-5 in the third. Beacom started that spurt with a goal, and off a faceoff win, Kessenich tickled the twine and it was 7-5 at the 8:20 mark. Hemme made three saves to keep RMU at bay, and the Titans took advantage of a penalty as graduate senior
Ethan Pattinson recorded his first Titan point, feeding Kessenich with 3:44 on the clock for an 8-5 lead.
Robert Morris would come back to knot it at 8-8 early in the fourth before the Titans game-ending 6-0 run.
Detroit Mercy outshot RMU, 47-31, and won the battle of ground balls, 33-37. The Titans were a perfect 21-of-21 on clears and had a season-low 12 turnovers.
The red, white and blue will now head back on the road as they travel to North Carolina to face first-year Division I member Queens on Saturday in a Noon start.
Game Notes:
- Detroit Mercy is now 2-8 all-time against Robert Morris and 2-4 all-time at home, with the other win an 11-10 victory in overtime in 2015
- The 14 goals were the most by the Titans since the 16-11 win against VMI last season, a span of 13 games
- The 12 turnovers were the second-fewest on the season behind the seven at Mercer
- Birney's career high in goals was five in the opener at VMI
- Birney's first career hat trick was against RMU as a freshman as he now has nine goals and 10 points in the last three games
- Beacom came into the season with one career goal but has now scored in back-to-back contests
- Kessenich posted back-to-back hat tricks, with three goals at nationally-ranked Ohio State and three goals and an assist at Mercer and now has 10 goals and five assists in the last four games
- Majick now has four career hat tricks
- Bishop has now scored a goal in three-straight games
- Martin has tallied three caused turnovers and 18 ground balls in the last four games
- Progar also had a goal and an assist as a freshman against Robert Morris
- Mullett also had four GB's against Marquette
