DETROIT (4/8/2023) -- The University of Detroit Mercy men's lacrosse team went on a game-ending 4-0 run as freshman
Drew Kessenich put the finishing touches on his career day with the game-winning goal as the Titans rallied past Lindenwood, 17-16, on Saturday afternoon.
Kessenich had a season-high seven points with five goals and two assists. Senior
Ivan Progar posted a career-high three goals and four points and senior
Luke Majick had two goals and four assists.
Senior
Tyler Hart came in off the bench to make three saves and pick up the win in net.
Lindenwood (2-6, 1-4 ASUN) scored three straight to begin the fourth period and led 16-13 with 12 minutes left when the Titans (2-7, 2-3 ASUN) went on their offensive charge.
Hart made a save with the man down and that would help set up the offense as Progar found Kessenich and he found the back of the net with 10:34 left. A little more than two minutes later, senior
Ryan Birney fed sophomore
Aidan Bishop and he fired one in and it was 16-15.
The Titans used some defense again to get the ball back as freshman
Joe Janda came up with a caused turnover and that led to Majick locating sophomore
Nolan Graalman and he knotted it at 16-16 with 6:37 remaining.
Sophomore
Billy Hart would win the next faceoff and that led to the game-winning goal as Birney set up Kessenich and he ripped one in with 5:45 on the clock. From there, redshirt freshman
Eoghan Mullett ended a Lions possession with a caused turnover and Hart made two more saves to keep the red, white and blue in front.
Bishop and Graalman each finished with two goals and Birney had a goal and two assists. Junior
Noah Martin recorded a caused turnover and three ground balls and senior
Kyle Loken added a goal and two ground balls.
The Titans were a perfect 15-of-15 on clears, but were outshot 46-38 and lost the ground ball battle, 32-20.
The game was tied 2-2 early on as Progar and Majick had early strikes, but Lindenwood ended the period with four straight goals to take a 6-2 lead.
The Titans started to chip away and would end up tying the game at 9-9 at the half as they scored three straight to end the period. Freshman
Logan Flaherty started that spurt, winning a faceoff and eventually making his way to net and beating the goalie. Loken followed with a goal off a pass from Majick and then Majick found Kessenich with the man-up to level the score.
Detroit Mercy would knot the score four times in the third as Graalman made it 10-10, Bishop 11-11, Progar 12-12 and Kessenich 13-13, but the Lions would then go up by three 16-14.
Detroit Mercy will have a long week traveling as they are at Jacksonville on Wednesday and Air Force on Saturday.
Game Notes:
- The 17 goals were the most since defeating Bellarmine, 20-13, in 2021
- Hart's other win in net was also of the come-from-behind variety off the bench as he made seven saves in last year's 16-11 win against VMI
- Kessenich previous high in points is four points at Mercer, against Utah and against Robert Morris and posted back-to-back hat tricks, with three goals at nationally-ranked Ohio State and three goals and an assist at Mercer
- Majick's career-high in points is seven points with four goals and three assists at Mercer
- Loken has now scored in back-to-back games
- Progar had just seven career goals coming into the game
- Beacom now has 16 career-caused turnovers
- Birney now has 56 career points on 47 goals and nine assists
