DETROIT (2/23/2024) -- The University of Detroit Mercy women's lacrosse team will be in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for two games, starting with a showdown with Duquesne on Saturday.

Game time is set for Noon at Rooney Field and will be broadcast live on ESPN+. A live stats feed will also be available.

The Titans are coming off a close 12-11 setback at New Hampshire as senior Cat Kopchia tied her career-high with four goals and senior Abby Schillinger pulled down a career-best eight draw controls.

UDM trailed 10-5 at one point but made a late charge to pull the deficit within one on two occasions. 

Duquesne is 2-1 on the year with home wins over Eastern Michigan (16-13) and Youngstown State (17-13) and a 20-2 loss at Pittsburgh.

Following the game, the red, white and blue will visit the Panthers on Monday.

SEASON 16 FOR THE TITANS

• The first-ever game for the Titans was on Feb. 21, 2009, a 20-1 road victory at Howard. 
• The red, white, and blue posted their first winning season in 2015 at 10-8 and broke that mark with a school-record 12-8 mark in 2016 and had another winning mark at 10-8 in 2018. 
• The Titans have been on the doorstep of the NCAA Tournament on four occasions as they made four straight trips to the Atlantic Sun Championship game from 2013 to 2016. 
• UDM is 85-158 all-time, but 44-48 in its conference games throughout the years as members of the National Lacrosse Conference (2010-12), ASUN (2013-17), Southern Conference (2018-19) and the MAC (2020-present).  
• Six Titans have guided the program in Mary Ann Meltzer (2009-11), Laura Maness (2012-16), Laurie Merian (2017-2018), Megan Callahan (2019-20), Dwayne Hicks (2021-23) and first-year head coach Madeline Dugan.  

HONOR THY CAPTAIN

• Detroit Mercy will have four outstanding players leading the group in graduate senior Marina Butler, seniors Sarah Meek and Kiah Nuessgen and junior Sophie Davis.
• Meek and Butler are both captains for the second straight year.

NEED TO BE ROAD STRONG

• The Titans are 36-85 all-time on the road, including 5-19 in the last four years, with three of those wins at Akron.
• More than half of the Titans' 243 career games have been away from the Motor City, including the 121 road games and 24 neutral site battles. 
• In the state of Pennsylvania, the Titans are 1-10 all-time with a 1-1 mark at St. Francis (PA), the lone win of 19-12 in 2019, while falling five times at Robert Morris and four times at Duquesne. 

ALL-TIME SERIES

• The two schools are just 216 miles away from each other as Duquesne has owned the all-time series, winning all eight match-ups.
• The Dukes were one of the first teams on the Titans' inaugural 2009 schedule.
• The last game came in 2019, a 23-9 Dukes' victory.
• Duquesne is also 4-0 all-time at home in the series. 

ABOUT THE ROSTER

• The Titans return 23 letterwinners and nine starters from last year's team that went 3-11 overall and 2-6 in the MAC, but they are under the direction of first-year head coach Madeline Dugan.
• On offense, UDM brings back 12 of its 15 goal scorers from a year ago, including three of its top four-point scorers. Senior Cat Kopchia is the returning scorer and goal producer, with 24 markers and 32 points a year ago. Graduate senior Marina Butler tallied 30 points on 13 goals and a team-high 17 assists, while junior Leah Bodnar tallied a career-best 19 goals and 21 points with a team-best 33 draw controls. 
• Defensively, the Titans also bring back most of their key players from a year ago. Junior Maddy Camm had a team-high 16 caused turnovers and was second on the team with 27 ground balls and tied for second with 27 draw controls to go with five goals and six assists. Junior Katie Bilello was second on the squad with 11 caused turnovers and 20 GB's and graduate senior Kiah Nuessgen posted 10 takeaways and 19 ground balls. 
• Along with Camm, senior Sarah Meek pulled down a team-high 27 draw controls and senior Abby Schillinger registered 14 DC's, five caused turnovers, four ground balls and four points.
• In net, Detroit Mercy will have two-year starter Meredith Leavell back as well as freshman Sam Gargiulo. Leavell led the MAC and was ninth in the nation with 10.36 saves per game as well as led the conference and finishing 18th in the country with 2.86 ground balls per game. 

ACADEMICALLY SPEAKING

• The Titans posted a 3.51 GPA in the first semester - the second highest in the athletic department - with 19 players registering a 3.5 and 26 student-athletes garnering a 3.0.
• The program also posted a perfect 100% GSR in the latest report released by the NCAA in December and was named an IWLCA Academic Squad for the 13th time in school history last summer. 
• Last year, nine students were tabbed to the IWLCA Division I Academic Honor Roll and 14 were named to the MAC All-Academic Team.

FROM ALL OVER

• The Titans have four homegrown student-athletes on the roster, but Detroit Mercy has done a great job hitting the national recruiting trails.
• Detroit Mercy has players from Illinois (5), Ohio (5), Florida (3), Arizona (1), California (1), Indiana (1), Maryland (1), Minnesota (1), New York (1), North Carolina (1), Texas (1), Virginia (1) and Washington (1) along with one from Canada (1). 

VS. THE A-10

• The Titans are 2-14 all-time against current members of the Atlantic 10 Conference with the 0-8 mark against Duquesne, 0-4 against St. Bonaventure, 1-2 record versus Davidson and 1-0 over VCU.

OUT TO PROVE YOU WRONG

• Detroit Mercy was picked to finish seventh in the MAC Preseason Coaches Poll.
• Kent State was tabbed first with 33 points and three first-place tallies, just ahead of Central Michigan's 32 points and three first-place nods.
• Robert Morris (28), Eastern Michigan (16), Youngstown State (13) and Akron (13) were all picked ahead of the Titans' 12 points.

CONGRATS CAT, MEREDITH

• The University of Detroit Mercy women's lacrosse team took home some hardware after week one as senior Cat Kopchia and junior Meredith Leavell were honored as the Mid-American Conference Offensive and Defensive Player of the Week.
• Kopchia tied her career high for the fifth time with four goals, while adding two ground balls and a caused turnover in the season opener at New Hampshire. She is the first Titan awarded the Offensive Player of the Week since Kaitlyn Wandelt was named the Southern Conference Offensive Player of the Week in 2020.
• Meanwhile, Leavell posted 10 saves with two caused turnovers and a ground ball against the Wildcats to become the first Titan to be tabbed the Defensive Player of the Week since Taylor Cantelon earned the MAAC accolade in 2021.

YOU RANG

• Graduate senior Marina Butler is back after leading the team with 17 assists, placing third with 30 points and tied for fourth with 13 goals last year.  
• She scored a goal in seven games and had multiple markers in five of them. 
• Butler tied her career-high with five points on three goals and two assists against Eastern Michigan. She also handed out a season-high three assists and scored a goal against Lindenwood and tied her season-high with three assists at Akron and at Eastern Michigan. 
• She now has 80 points on 39 goals and 41 assists - tied for fourth in school history - along with 32 ground balls, 15 caused turnovers and eight draw controls.

OUR ALL-MAC IS BACK

• Junior Leah Bodnar got off to a quick start in the season opener at New Hampshire as she tallied a career-tying three-caused turnovers with three ground balls, two assists and a goal.
• Last year, she was named All-MAC Second Team after seeing action in 13 games with 12 starts and finished third on the squad with 19 goals and tied for fourth with 21 points. She also led the team with 33 draw controls, had 12 ground balls, and caused six turnovers. 
• Bodnar scored a goal in seven games, all multi-goal contests, recording her first career hat trick with three goals at Central Michigan. She added another hat trick along with a career-best four GB's, two draw controls and an assist at Akron and had a monster game with a career-high five goals, six points and seven draw controls against Kent State. 

NINE LIVES

• Senior Cat Kopchia got off to a hot start in the season opener at New Hampshire as she recorded her ninth career hat trick with a career-tying four goals en route to being named the MAC Offensive Player of the Week. 
• In her career, she now has 92 points on 65 goals and 27 assists, 10th in school history with those helpers. 
• She was already one of the top goal scorers in the MAC, starting all 12 games she played in and leading the team with a career-high 24 goals, second with 30 points and tied for third with eight assists last season. She also led the team with 75 shots and 56 were on net for a .747 shots on goal percentage and topped the team with five free-position goals and 14 free-position attempts.
• Kopchia recorded a goal in 11 of her 12 games, with nine multi-goal contests, including a season-high five points on three goals and two assists, along with a GB, a draw control and a caused turnover against Eastern Michigan. She tallied a season-high four goals with a ground ball at Akron and had three goals and an assist versus Kent State.

REPRESENTING PUERTO RICO

• Senior Cecelia Vergara donned a different red, white and blue for a few days as she was a member of the Puerto Rico National Team at the PALA Sixes Cup in Kingston, Jamaica, last November. 
• A defensive midfielder, Vergara posted seven caused turnovers with five draw controls and three ground balls in 12 games last year.
• In her career, she has appeared in 34 games and has 22 draw controls, 13 ground balls and seven caused turnovers to go with five points on four goals and an assist. 
• The Pan-American Lacrosse Association (PALA) is the third Continental Federation (CF) formed under the auspices of World Lacrosse, which is the international governing body of lacrosse. As a Continental Federation, PALA governs members in the Americas and the Caribbean. 

YES I CAMM CAMM

• Junior Maddy Camm showcased a great all-around game last season and started off this year with the same results, ending with a team-high and tied her career-high with four ground balls, and registering an assist, a draw control and a caused turnover at New Hampshire. 
• She topped the team with 16 caused turnovers, was second with 27 ground balls and tied for second with 27 draw controls to go with 11 points on five goals and six assists in 2023. Her 27 GB's and 16 caused turnovers were ninth most in the league and she also ranked sixth in the MAC with 1.23 caused turnovers per game as well as sixth in the league and 85th in the nation with 2.08 ground balls per game.
• On defense, she had at least one caused turnover in 10 games and multiple in five, at least two ground balls in 10 contests and two draw controls on seven occasions. She pulled down a career-best five draw controls with two ground balls and an assist at Xavier, recorded a career-best three caused turnovers, with a draw control, two ground balls, a goal and an assist against Eastern Michigan and two caused turnovers, two draw controls, a career-high four ground balls and a goal at Akron.

NOT IN MY NET

• Junior Meredith Leavell was named the MAC's Defensive Player of the Week after a stellar season opener that saw her record 
• 10 saves with two caused turnovers and a ground ball at New Hampshire.
• It was her 11th career game with double-digit saves.
• Leavell is currently fifth in school history with 211 saves and 8.12 saves per game, third with a .428 save percentage and fourth with a 14.29 goals-against average.
• Last year, she played in all 14 games on the season with 13 starts and led the MAC and was ninth in the nation with 10.36 saves per game as well as leading the conference and 18th in the country with 2.86 ground balls per game. Her 145 total stops and 10.36 saves per game were third in the Titan record book, while her 40 total GB's and 145 saves were the third most in the league. She ended third in the league and 28th in DI with 145 saves, third in the MAC and 38th in the country with a .457 save percentage as well as fourth with a 14.40 goals-against average. 
• Leavell registered double-digit saves in eight games and at least three ground balls on six occasions and tallied a career-best 17 saves against Butler at home earlier in the year, tied for 10th in school history, along with five ground balls. She stopped 15 shots at Central Michigan, made 14 saves at Youngstown State and 11 saves with a career-best six GB's at Xavier.

OUR PRESIDENT

• Senior Sarah Meek not only holds the distinction of being one of the Titan captains but also serves as President of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).
• A three-time member of the Athletic Director Honor Roll and a two-time member of the MAC All-Academic Team, Meek saw action in all 14 games with two starts and tied for the team lead with a career-high 27 draw controls and also posted a career-best 10 points, tying her career-high with seven goals and adding nine ground balls and three caused turnovers.
• She recorded a career-high seven draw controls with a ground ball at Marquette and scored a career-best two goals with two draw controls and a ground ball against Lindenwood. She came away with three draw controls and a goal versus Eastern Michigan and tallied a career-high three points on two assists and a goal, along with four draw controls and a GB against Robert Morris.
• In her career, she has 39 draw controls, 12 ground balls and 19 points on 14 goals and five assists. 

OUR WASHINGTON TITAN

• Sophomore Alyssa Jarvis, the first Titan from the state of Washington, had a solid rookie campaign last year and started this season with a pair of goals at New Hampshire.
• She played in 14 games with 12 starts as a freshman and was sixth on the team with 10 goals and tied for sixth with 13 points. She was also fourth on the squad with 18 draw controls and had 12 ground balls and four caused turnovers. 
• She scored two goals on her first two collegiate shots at Xavier. Jarvis posted a season-best three goals with two draw controls and a ground ball against Robert Morris and pulled down a season-high five draw controls and had a goal and ground ball against Kent State.

CONGRATS JULIA

• Senior Julia Fortino has battled some injuries in her career, but recorded her first two collegiate goals in the season opener at New Hampshire.  

ALL 3 BACK AT D

• The Titans' starting defensive unit will be led by a trio of returning starters from last season in graduate senior Kiah Nuessgen and juniors Katie Bilello and Sophie Davis.
• Nuessgen has been a starter since he stepped foot on campus, playing in 39 games with 37 starts and posting 23 caused turnovers and 44 ground balls, including a career-high 10 caused turnovers and 19 GB's last season.
• Bilello as seen action in 29 games with 22 starts and registered 16 caused turnovers and 32 ground balls. Davis has appeared in 21 games with 12 starts, including 11 starts last season, where she collected six caused turnovers and four ground balls. 

TITANS SIGN NINE IN THE FALL

•  Detroit Mercy added some talented players from the Midwest and also picked up a commitment from the Pacific time zone as the Titans announced their 2023 fall recruiting class. 
• The class consists of three players from Michigan, two from Minnesota and Ohio and a student-athlete from California and Canada. 
• "Our staff is very excited to welcome the 2024 class to the Titan family," said head coach Madeline Dugan. "This class has a great mix of talent, grit, passion, and love for lacrosse that will continue to help take our program to that next level!"
• Joining the Titans next season are: Lucy Annese, Maria Coleman, Emily Coyne, Kaitlynn Hedrick, Jaeda Jensen, Madeline Kreiger, Beverly Peterson, Sophia Schwab and Gabrianna Vasquez.