DETROIT (3/1/2024) -- The University of Detroit Mercy women's lacrosse team will start a four-game stretch on the road as the Titans travel to New York to face Jesuit-rival Canisius on Saturday.
Game time is set for 11:00 a.m., at the Demske Sports Complex in Buffalo and will be broadcast live on the Golden Griffins Sports Network. A live stats feed will also be available.
Detroit Mercy's four-game road trip will see the red, white, and blue visit Xavier on Tuesday, Lindenwood next Saturday, and open the conference slate at Central Michigan in two weeks.
UDM is coming off a 19-7 loss to Marquette in its home opener. The Titans led the game at 6-5, but the Golden Eagles went on a run to take the lead. Senior
Cat Kopchia tallied three goals and is now tied for second in the MAC with 11 goals, while junior
Meredith Leavell stopped 15 shots and is tied for second in the league with 43 saves.
Canisius is 2-1 on the year, beating George Washington, 11-6, and Central Michigan, 15-9, on the road while dropping a 14-10 decision at Queens.
HONOR THY CAPTAIN
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.
VS. CANISIUS
- Detroit Mercy and Canisius are just about a five-and-a-half-hour drive through Canada, yet these teams have met just three times, with the Golden Griffins winning them all.
- Two meetings came at home, while the lone road setback was in 2010.
AGAINST OUR FELLOW JESUITS
- The Titans are 1-15 all-time against Jesuit schools, with the win last year at Xavier, 11-10.
- Most of that is a 0-9 record versus Marquette.
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 MAAC
- The Titans are 2-11 all-time against current members of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, with a 1-0 mark against Mt. St Mary's and a 1-5 record versus Niagara for the victories.
TAKE IT AWAY
- UDM has posted 38 caused turnovers through the first four games, with eight at New Hampshire and 10 at Duquesne, at Pittsburgh and against Marquette.
- In fact, the Titans saw Pitt turn it over 18 times and Marquette 17.
- The Titans registered double-digit caused turnovers just four times last season.
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. She then had two caused turnovers, two ground balls and a goal at Duquesne, two GB's at Pitt and four ground balls and a goal the last time out against Marquette.
- She is currently tied for the team lead with 11 ground balls and has five points on three goals and two assists.
- 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 has remained hot on offense as she is coming off her second hat trick of the season with three goals against Marquette. She tied her career-best with four goals in the season opener at New Hampshire en route to being named the MAC Offensive Player of the Week. She came back with a pair of markers at Duquesne and at Pittsburgh.
- She currently tops the team with 11 goals and now has 99 points on 72 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 at Akron and had three goals and an assist versus Kent State.
NOT IN MY NET
- Junior Meredith Leavell is coming off a season-high 15 saves against Marquette, her 13th career double-digit save game.
- She 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.
- She stopped 13 shots at Duquesne, including three on the free position, and five at Pittsburgh.
- Leavell is currently fifth in school history with 244 saves and 8.41 saves per game, third with a .426 save percentage and fourth with a 14.42 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.
GIVE ME LIBERTY
- Sophomore Libby Cuckler has stepped up on offense to start the year as she recorded a goal and an assist at New Hampshire, two goals - both on the extra attacker - at Duquesne and had an assist at Pittsburgh.
- She had just two goals and three points in 11 games last season.
YOU RANG
- Graduate senior Marina Butler finally got on the stat sheet with a goal at Pitt and added another goal with two caused turnovers and two GB's against Marquette.
- Last year, she led the team with 17 assists, was third with 30 points and tied for fourth with 13 goals.
- 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 has 82 points on 41 goals and 41 assists - tied for fourth in school history - along with 35 ground balls, 17 caused turnovers and nine draw controls.
OUR PRESIDENT
- Senior Sarah Meek not only holds the distinction of being one of the captains, but she also serves as President of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).
- Meek posted a career-high five ground balls and three caused turnovers at Duquesne and matched that effort with three caused turnovers and two GB's at Pittsburgh.
- 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.
- In her career, she has 40 draw controls, 18 ground balls and 19 points on 14 goals and five assists.
YES I CAMM CAMM
- Junior Maddy Camm showcased a great all-around game last season and has started off this year with the same play.
- She leads the team with seven caused turnovers and three assists, tied for first with 11 ground balls, second with nine draw controls and third with three goals and six points.
- Camm tallied a team-high and tied her career-best with three caused turnovers to go with a team-high four draw controls, three ground balls, a goal and an assist at Pittsburgh and recorded a goal and an assist, two draws, two GB's and a caused turnover versus Marquette.
- She ended with a team-high and tied her career-high with four ground balls, and registered an assist, a draw control and a caused turnover at New Hampshire and tallied two caused turnovers, two GB's, two draw controls and a goal at Duquesne.
- In her career, she has 30 caused turnovers, 38 draw controls, 48 ground balls with 15 goals and 15 assists.
- Last season, 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.
A SCHILL OF A TIME
- Senior Abby Schillinger pulled down a career-best eight draw controls and scored a goal in the season opener at New Hampshire and added four draws at Duquesne and two at Pittsburgh.
- Schillinger had just 15 draw controls in her career coming into this season.
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 and added a third at Pittsburgh.
- She had just one point on an assist as a freshman heading into the season.
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, tied her career high with three points on a goal and two assists at Duquesne and picked up a career-best four GB's with a goal and caused turnover at Pitt.
- 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.
