DETROIT (4/19/2023) -- The push for the playoffs will start on Saturday as the University of Detroit Mercy men's lacrosse team will host Bellarmine on Senior Day on Titan Field.

The game is slated for a Noon start and is set to be broadcast on ESPN+ (weather pending) and will also feature live stats.

Prior to the start of the contest, the Titans will honor their eight-member senior class in David Beacom, Ryan Birney, Cole Gellatly, Tyler Hart, Kyle Loken, Asher Mendell, Ethan Pattinson and Ivan Progar. 

The Titans are 2-9 overall and 2-5 in the Atlantic Sun, but can put themselves in the six-team playoff picture with a pair of wins and some help to close out the regular season. Bellarmine is 9-4, 4-3 in the conference, and the Knights can clinch a playoff spot with a win. 

It will be the 14th meeting between the two schools - tying them for the most in school history with Marist - as the Titans and Knights have met every year except the pandemic season of 2021, when the red, white and blue only played conference programs. Detroit Mercy is 5-8 all-time against Bellarmines and 2-3 all-time at home, but four of those meetings have come indoors in Pontiac. The only time the Titans have hosted the game on campus was in 2012, which was also Senior Day and a 9-8 setback. 

Freshman Drew Kessenich leads the team in scoring with 28 points, is tied for the team lead with 10 assists and is second with 18 goals, while Birney tops the squad with 21 goals and is third with 25 points. 

Sophomore Jakob Hemme still leads the ASUN and is 19th in the country with 12.55 saves per game. 

Bellarmine has won three of the last four and is coming off a 13-8 victory at Cleveland State.

Following the game, the Titans will close the regular season at Cleveland State next Saturday. 

Game Nuggets: 

• The Titans rank fourth in the ASUN and 38th in the country with 7.82 caused turnovers per game as well as leading the league and ninth in the nation with 14.45 saves per game.
• The Titans' 17 goals against Lindenwood were the most by the Titans since a 20-13 win against Bellarmine in 2021, a span of 13 games, while the eight turnovers were the second-fewest on the season behind the seven at Mercer.
• Birney - who had a career-high five goals in the opener at VMI - had two older brothers who play for the Titans and were All-MAAC players in Mike Birney '15 and Sean Birney '18 as well as an older sister who played on the women's team and was All-ASUN in Kylie.
• Birney is the current Titan leader with 58 points and 48 goals and has seven hat tricks in his career. He also has six caused turnovers in his last five games, with a career-best three against RMU.
• Going back to last season, Hemme has posted double-digit saves in 18 of his 21 career games, with a career-high and school-tying 28 saves at Michigan last season. He had 19 saves with a career-best seven ground balls against Utah to go with 16 saves against Marquette, 15 at Mercer and 14 at #16/14 Jacksonville.
• Three Titans notched their first career goals in the season opener as freshmen Drew Kessenich and Zach Snider had two goals and sophomore Chase Mahabir scored his first collegiate marker, while freshman Ayden Snow had his first versus Marquette, sophomore Harold Skinner at Queens, freshman Logan Flaherty versus Lindenwood and sophomore Billy Hart at Jacksonville, the latter two directly off winning a faceoff.
• Kessenich posted back-to-back hat tricks, with three goals at nationally-ranked Ohio State and three goals and an assist at Mercer. He netted two goals and two assists against Utah and Robert Morris before his career performance of five goals and two assists against Lindenwood. He is also third in the ASUN with five man-up goals
• Majick - who was named All-MAAC Second Team in 2021 and was second on the team with 21 points and 13 goals and tied for first with eight assists last season - has 59 points on 35 goals and 24 assists as a Titan, after transferring from Furman. He recorded a career day with seven points, four goals and three assists at Mercer and now has five career hat tricks after depositing three at Air Force.
• Sophomore Nolan Graalman netted his first career hat trick with three goals against Utah and has scored a goal in four-straight games with a pair against Lindenwood and markers at Queens, at Jacksonville and at Air Force.
• Sophomore Aidan Bishop has scored a goal in four of the last seven games - with a career-high three against RMU - as he had just 10 goals and an assist all of last season.
• Progar had just seven career goals coming into the Lindenwood game, but notched his first career hat trick with three markers and added another at Jacksonville and at Air Force.
• Loken scored his first goal of the season at Queens and came back with one against Lindenwood as he now has nine goals in his career, with five of those as a sophomore, to go with 17 caused turnovers and 63 ground balls.
• Beacom tallied a career-high three caused turnovers, tied his career best with four ground balls at Mercer, scored his second career goal against Utah and added another versus Robert Morris. He came into the year with just five career-caused turnovers but has a team-high 12 on the season and is fifth on the team with 19 ground balls. 
• Martin has tallied seven caused turnovers and 29 ground balls in the last eight games, recording a caused turnover and five GB's at Ohio State and two caused turnovers with a career-best six ground balls at Mercer. He tops the team with 31 ground balls and is second with 10 caused turnovers.
• Redshirt freshman Eoghan Mullett started the year with two caused turnovers at VMI and at High Point and had a career-high seven ground balls at #16/14 Jacksonville. He is second on the team with 29 ground balls and third with nine caused turnovers.
• Sophomore Sean Henige had a career-high two caused turnovers at High Point and at Queens and also a career-best four GB's at HPU.
• Freshman Kyle Grant had two caused turnovers and two ground balls at High Point and also two caused turnovers at VMI. He is third on the team with eight caused turnovers to go with 15 GB's.
• Freshman Logan Flaherty won a season-high 10 faceoffs versus the Colonials and nine at Ohio State and at Queens, and scored his first collegiate goal off a faceoff win against Lindenwood. Last week at Air Force, he was 8-of-17 with a ground ball.
• The Titans have had a long history of family connections on the team and have another pair of brothers on this year's squad in senior Kyle Loken and sophomore Caden Loken and senior Tyler Hart and sophomore Billy Hart.
• The Titans have a fairly young roster with 14 upperclassmen on their 47-man roster and have had 13 freshmen and sophomores start a game this year.
• Detroit Mercy has student-athletes from 13 states as well as from Canada.
• The Titans are in their second 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.
• 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 15th season on the sidelines – and ninth as a head coach - for Detroit Mercy in 2022 and holds a career mark of 40-66. His 15 seasons mean 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 named the permanent head coach on July 14. During his time with Detroit Mercy, The Titans posted their first three winning seasons and led the team to a school record in overall (9) and conference victories (5) in 2018. He has coached 4 USILA Scholar All-Americans, 2 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, seven (7) Senior CLASS Award Nominees, including two that went on to the final ballot for All-American accolades, 47 All-Conference players, five (5) LSM's of the Year, three (3) Rookie of the Year's, two (2) Defensive Players of the Year and one (1) Offensive Player of the Year. He has tutored 15 players that have gone on to get drafted in the MLL, NLL and PLL and 19 that have played in all three 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 with the team in the MAAC, 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.