LOUISVILLE, Ky. (4/20/2024) --Three Titans tallied hat tricks and UDM scored a school-record 10-straight goals at one point to secure a much-needed road win and stay alive for the playoffs as the University of Detroit Mercy men's lacrosse team blasted Bellarmine, 18-10, on Saturday.
The win moved Detroit Mercy to 3-5 overall and set up a de facto playoff game against Cleveland State next week as a win and the Titans can get as high as a five seed in the ASUN Championship, while a loss would have them on the outside looking in.
Graduate senior
Luke Majick and junior
Chase Mahabir each had four goals and an assist, a career high in points for Mahabir, and junior
Aidan Bishop had three goals and a helper. Sophomore
Drew Kessenich added three assists and a goal and freshman
Sean Donahue netted two markers.
Junior
Ryan Richters made 18 saves in net, one shy of his season high. Junior
Sean Henige registered two cause turnovers and four ground balls and junior
Billy Hart won 9-of-22 faceoffs and picked up four GB's.
Bellarmine (9-6, 5-3 ASUN) started the game scoring the first three goals until Majick stopped that with a goal. Kessenich had a score, but the Knights opened up a 6-2 lead after the first.
The Titans (3-9, 3-5 ASUN) responded with back-to-back goals by Bishop, helped by two faceoff wins by Hart, to pull within two, 6-4, but Bellarmine scored to make it a 7-4 game at the 12:43 mark.
That is when the red, white and blue went on an offensive fury, scoring 10-0 straight to take control. Off a save, Bishop located junior
Harold Skinner and he beat the keeper for the first of the year. Bellarmine then turned it over and Kessenich found freshman
Owen Miller for the score. Sophomore
Eoghan Mullett then came away with a takeaway and graduate senior
Kyle Loken set up Bishop and the game was tied at 7-7 with 6:59 left.
Hart then won the next two faceoffs and that produced goals from junior
Will Marshall and Mahabir and it was a 9-7 lead with 5:40 remaining in the half. Richters then held onto that advantage with five saves down the stretch, including three on the man-down, for the two-goal lead at the break.
The Titans stayed hot coming out of the half as another faceoff win by Hart led to a goal from Mahabir, and after that, a victory via a faceoff violation got the ball into the crosse of freshman
Sawyer Van Antwerp and he found the back of the net to make it 11-7 just two minutes in. A save by Richters got the offensive back on the field and Kessenich found Majick and he fired one in for a 12-7 lead with 11:42 left. The defense started another scoring opportunity as junior
Evan DeVito caused the turnover and Majick fed Mahabir, and he ripped one for a 13-7 advantage. Hart won the next faceoff and that led to Kessenich finding Donahue and it was 14-7 with 9:46 left.
A tally by Majick with under 10 seconds left made it 15-9 and UDM ended the game with three straight as Mahabir set up Donahue and then he came back to score for a 17-10 lead. Majick then put the finishing touches on the day with a man-down goal.
The Titans were 14-of-16 on clears and held Bellarmine to 0-6 on the extra-man attack.
The Titans and Vikings will meet next Saturday, April 27, on Senior Day as upperclassmen will be honored prior to the Noon start.
Game Notes:
- Detroit Mercy trails the all-time series, 9-6, but is 3-4 on the road.
- The 15th meetings are the most against any opponent in school history, ahead of the 14 versus Marist
- UDM has won two straight games on the road for the first time since 2019 when it downed Marist and Siena
- It was Majick's eighth career hat trick and second on the season
- Majick now has 98 career points, moving past Scott Harris for seventh in school history and six away from a share of fifth place
- Majick's 60 goals are ninth in school history, one away from eighth, while his 38 assists are eighth and two away from seventh
- Majick's man-down goal was the first of his career and the first by a Titan since Ryan Figueiras did it against Robert Morris in 2020
- Skinner had two goals last season at Queens and at Cleveland State
- Martin now has 34 caused turnovers and 66 ground balls in his career
- Loken has seen action in 48 games as a defensive midfielder and has recorded 25 caused turnovers and 77 ground balls to go with 10 goals and three assists
- Kessenich had five assists at Robert Morris earlier in the year
- Bishop now has three hat tricks on the season and four in his career
- Bishop's career high in points is five on three goals and two assists at Lindenwood
- Miller scored his first goal against VMI and added another versus Queens and at Lindenwood, while Van Antwer picked up his first marker at Rutgers, scored another at Ohio State and at Utah, and found the back of the net against Queens and Jacksonville
- Henige leads the team with 16 caused turnovers, sixth in the ASUN
- Hart has 38 of his 60 faceoff wins on the season in the last four games
- Richter has made double-digit saves in all 12 games on the year as he came into the contest leading the ASUN and third in the nation with 14.4 saves per game
- Richters now has 177 saves on the season, tied for fourth in school history, two away from sharing second and 25 away from the Titan mark of 202 by Jason Weber in 2015
- Mahabir also had four goals at Robert Morris
- Mahabir came into the year with four points on four goals but now has 21 points on 17 goals and four assists
