YPSILANTI, Mich. (4/29/2023) -- Senior Annie Gilbert tallied a career-tying five goals and junior Ella Brandt posted a career-best three, but it was not enough as the University of Detroit Mercy women's lacrosse team fell, 17-12, on the road at Eastern Michigan on Saturday.

Gilbert had her five goals on just seven shots, while Brandt recorded just four shots. Junior Cat Kopchia had two goals and an assist, while junior Sarah Meek and freshman Alyssa Jarvis had one goal apiece. 

Sophomore Meredith Leavell started and made 10 saves before giving way to senior Hannah Shrader, who had two saves in the final 10 minutes. Sophomore Leah Bodnar registered a career-high three caused turnovers to go with three draw controls and a ground ball and senior Jess Turner posted two caused turnovers and two ground balls.

The Titans (3-11, 2-6 MAC) had an early 2-1 lead as Butler - who had three assists on the day - fed Gilbert for a score at 10:20 and then found Jarvis for a score with 7:14 left in the first.

Eastern Michigan (2-14, 1-7 MAC) would take a 4-2 lead in the second, but back-to-back goals by Gilbert and Kopchia knotted it at 4-all with 7:36 on the clock. Detroit Mercy would later take a 7-5 lead with a three-goal run, started off by a caused turnover by junior Heather Keery, which led to Brandt's first goal. Junior Abby Schillinger would cause a turnover and that would set up a free-position goal from Meek and it was 6-5 with 4:38 left. The defense would set up the offense again as Bodnar's cause turnover got the ball back and Butler located Kopchia and her marker gave the red, white and blue a two-goal advantage with 2:41 remaining. 

Detroit Mercy would take an 8-6 lead as Brandt scored her second with 1:33 left and it was a two-goal lead at the break. 

EMU went on a 6-0 run to jump ahead when Bodnar won a draw control and Kopchia ended that spurt with a goal with 3:52 remaining in the third. The Titans would get one more in the period as Brandt was awarded a free position and she buried it to pull the squad within three, 13-10.

The Titans got within two, 13-11, nearly a minute into the fourth as Gilbert knocked in the free position shot. The final score came from Gilbert as sophomore Maddy Camm caused a turnover and set up the senior for the score with 17 seconds to go. 

Along with her goal, Jarvis had a caused turnover and two ground balls as did Butler. Camm pulled down a team-high four draw controls and Keery added two GB's. 

The Titans were a perfect 17-of-17 on clears and had a season-low seven turnovers. 

Game Notes:

• Leavell has posted double-digit saves eight times this season and in 10 of her 25 career games
• Leavell is already fourth in school history with a .423 save percentage and 14.36 goals against average, fifth with 201 saves and 8.10 saves per game
• Kopchia has 61 goals, 27 assists and 88 points in her career and has scored a goal in 29 of her 36 career contests
• Butler finished her career with 39 goals, 41 assists and 80 points
• Gilbert scored a goal in 21 of her last 28 games, with markers in eight of her last nine, and six career hat tricks
• Gilbert had a season-high five points and four goals versus Robert Morris, while she also had five goals at Akron last season
• Gilbert tallied 53 goals, 27 assists and 80 points in her career
• Jarvis has found the back of the net in seven games on the year
• Brandt has scored a goal in five of the last six games after having just two career goals coming into the season

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