SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (3/23/2024) -- Junior
Nolan Graalman and freshman
Sawyer Van Antwerp each had two goals and junior
Ryan Richters tied his season-high with 19 saves as the University of Detroit Mercy men's lacrosse team dropped a 21-9 contest at Utah on Saturday.
The two goals were season-highs for both players.
Junior
Sean Henige tied his career best with three caused turnovers, with a ground ball, and scored his first collegiate goal, while sophomore
Drew Kessenich had a goal and an assist.
Utah (4-4, 2-1 ASUN) took a 3-0 lead before a save led to an offensive possession late in the first and Graalman found the back of the net. The Titans (0-7, 0-3 ASUN) pulled within two on two occasions as junior
Chase Mahabir fed freshman
Sean Donahue and his marker made it a 4-2 game early in the second. Off a caused turnover by Henige, Van Antwerp's first goal had the team down just 5-3 with 10:05 remaining in the half.
Junior
Aidan Bishop scored midway through the third to cut the deficit in half, 8-4. In the final period, the Titans tallied three straight as a faceoff win by junior
Evan DeVito led to Van Antwerp's second strike. A turnover gave UDM the ball back and Kessenich was able to bounce one in, and just 30 seconds later, another turnover saw Henige fire one in to trim it to 12-7 with 11:06 remaining.
Utah answered with four in a row when Kessenich found Graalman for a goal, and the final marker for the Titans came from junior
Will Marshall, who caused a takeaway, picked up the GB, and beat the keeper.
Junior
Billy Hart won seven faceoffs and registered a team-high four ground balls, while junior
Kyle Grant had three GB's.
The Titans were a perfect 26-of-26 on clears and picked up 24 ground balls.
Detroit Mercy will now have a week of preparation as the red, white, and blue host Queens next Saturday, March 30.
Game Notes:
- Utah has won all four meetings in the series, with three of them in Utah
- The last time the Titans were perfect on the clear was in three-straight games last year going 21-of-21 against Robert Morris, 18-of-18 at Queens and 15-of-15 versus Lindenwood
- Graalman had three goals against Utah last year
- Loken has now recorded 24 caused turnovers and 73 ground balls to go with 10 goals and two assists in his career
- Loken's other career assist came against St. Bonaventure in 2021
- Kessenich has 10 assists on the season, matching the 10 he had last year
- Antwerp picked up his first marker at Rutgers and scored another at Ohio State
- Marshall's other career goal was at Marquette in 2022
- Henige also had three takeaways against VMI and at Ohio State
- Richters now has double-digit saves in all seven games and matched his season-high of 19 saves he had versus Mercer
