DETROIT (4/24/2024) -- It will be a festive day before the game, and tensions will be high throughout the contest as the University of Detroit Mercy men's lacrosse team looks to clinch a spot in the postseason when the Titans meet Cleveland State on Saturday. 

Game time is set for Noon at Titan Field and will be streamed live on ESPN+. Live stats will also be available.

Prior to the game, the Titans will honor five seniors in Harrison Albano, Kyle Loken, Luke Majick, Noah Martin and Masen Powless. 

Detroit Mercy stayed alive for the ASUN Championship with an 18-10 win at Bellarmine, but will need one more victory to qualify for the postseason. If the Titans defeat Cleveland State, they will secure a spot in the playoffs as at least a sixth seed, but a win coupled with a Robert Morris loss to Air Force will have UDM climb to the fifth seed and a rematch with Bellarmine in the first round. A triumph by the Titans and a Robert Morris win would give the red, white, and blue the sixth seed and they would meet the third seed in the opening round, which is still to be determined between host Air Force, Utah, or Jacksonville. At the same time, a loss would eliminate the Titans from the postseason.

Detroit Mercy's 18 goals last week were season-high and the most since netting 20 against Bellarmine in 2020. Three Titans tallied hat tricks as Majick and junior Chase Mahabir posted four goals and an assist, while junior Aidan Bishop had three goals and an assist. Junior Ryan Richters made 18 saves in net and continues to lead the ASUN and is third in the nation with 14.7 saves per game. 

Meanwhile, Cleveland State comes into the game at 7-7 overall and 4-4 in league play. A loss by CSU would leave the Vikings scoreboard-watching, as they would need RMU to lose to keep their season going. 

The entire Atlantic Sun Championship will be held at Air Force, April 30-May 5, with the first round games on Tuesday, semifinals on Friday and the title game on Sunday.

ALL-TIME SERIES

• Cleveland State leads the all-time series, 3-2, but the last three games have been decided by two goals or less. 
• UDM is 2-0 at home with a 12-6 triumph in 2018 and a 13-12 victory in 2022, as Majick netted a pair of goals with less than a minute left in the game. 

EXPLOSIVE

• The Titans are coming off a season-high 18 goals at Bellarmine, the most they have scored since registering 20 against the Knights in 2020.
• The 18 goals also included a school-record 10 straight at one point and a man-down goal by Luke Majick to finish the game. 

THE MAGIC MAN

• Graduate senior Luke Majick recorded his eighth career hat trick with four goals and five points in a big road win at Bellarmine. 
• He had back-to-back games with four points on two goals and two assists against Queens and at Lindenwood, and also had four points on two goals and two assists against Mercer. 
• He has scored a goal in 11 of the 12 games this season and 32 of his 42 career games as a Titan. 
• He leads the team with 34 points, tied for the team lead with 21 goals and second with 13 assists. He ranks 11th in the ASUN with 2.83 points per game and 12th with 1.75 per contest. 
• Majick is now seventh in school history in points (98) and eighth in goals (60).
• Majick started the year honored by his conference peers as he was named to the Preseason All-ASUN Team as a midfielder after a poll by the league's head coaches. 

WEARING THE BIG "C"

• Detroit Mercy will have a trio of outstanding leadership this season as the Titans announced that graduate seniors Kyle Loken and Luke Majick as well as senior Noah Martin will have the honor of wearing the capital 'C' this year. 
• "These men have demonstrated to the team and the coaching staff how much they care about their fellow teammates and the program and continue to showcase what we have built this program on," said head coach Chris Kolon '09 (MBA). 
• Loken - just the fourth Titan to be named a team captain three times - has seen action in 48 games as a defensive midfielder and has recorded 24 caused turnovers and 76 ground balls to go with 10 goals and three assists. He had a pair of caused turnovers against Mercer and a takeaway and three GB's against Queens. Last year, he tied for fourth on the team with a career-tying 24 ground balls and fifth with a career-high eight caused turnovers, scoring two goals. 
• Majick returns as captain for the second straight year. The midfielder has played in 42 games as a Titan and has posted 60 goals and 38 assists.
• Martin - a first-time captain - has played in 43 games, tallying 34 caused turnovers and 66 ground balls. He had two caused turnovers against Jacksonville, two more and three GB's against Mercer and a takeaway and three ground balls against Queens.  
• Last season, he tied for the team lead with a career-best 13 caused turnovers and was second with a career-high 34 GB's.

WE HAVE OUR DREW

• Sophomore Drew Kessenich tallied his fifth career hat trick, putting in three markers against Jacksonville. He is coming off four points on a goal and three assists at Bellarmine, posted three goals and four points against Queens and added two markers at Lindenwood. He recorded a season-high six points on a career-best five assists and a goal at Robert Morris. 
• The five assists were the most since Matthew Van Galen had five at Marist in 2019 and one shy of Van Galen's school-record six at Bellarmine, also in 2019, while the seven points were the most by a Titan since Luke Majick had seven on four goals and three assists last year at Mercer.  
• He is second on the team with 29 points, tops the team with 14 assists and is fourth with 15 goals. Kessenich ranks ninth in the ASUN with 1.17 assists per game. 
• He has registered a point in 11 games and scored a goal in nine contests this season.
• Last year, he was named to the Atlantic Sun All-Freshman Team after tying for the team lead with 31 points and finishing second with 21 goals. He also topped the squad with five man-up goals.

KING ME

• Junior Aidan Bishop is coming off his fourth career hat trick with three goals and four points in the win at Bellarmine. He had a career game with five points on three goals and two assists, along with four ground balls, and caused a turnover at Lindenwood. 
• He now has three hat tricks on the season and has scored a goal in 10 games, with eight featuring at least two markers.  
• He recorded three goals at Robert Morris, had two goals at Marquette and posted four points on two goals and two assists against VMI. He picked up four ground balls at Rutgers and raised his career best to five GB's with two goals and a caused turnover at Ohio State.  
• In his career, he has now played in 36 games with 34 starts and has 39 goals, 11 assists, 60 GB's and 11 caused turnovers. 

NEWBIES

• Freshman Sean Donahue notched his second career hat trick with three goals at Robert Morris and just posted a pair of goals at Bellarmine.
• He had two goals and an assist against Jacksonville. His first career goal was in the opener at Marquette and he tallied his first hat trick with an assist at Ohio State. 
• Freshman Lucas Goeller registered his first assist and point against the Golden Eagles and scored his first goal against Ohio State.
• Freshman Owen Miller scored his first goal against VMI and added another versus Queens, at Lindenwood and at Bellarmine, while rookie Sawyer 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, Jacksonville and at Bellarmine.  

I WILL TAKE A HENIGE

• Junior Sean Henige tied his career mark with three caused turnovers at Utah and had two takeaways and a team-high four ground balls at Bellarmine. 
• He leads the team with 16 caused turnovers, sixth in the ASUN and 49th in DI with 1.33 per game, and is fourth on the team with 24 ground balls. 
• He had a career day with three caused turnovers and seven ground balls against VMI and tied his mark with three takeaways and two GB's at Ohio State.   
• In the opener, he had two ground balls at Marquette and picked up three GB's with a takeaway at Robert Morris.

 
THAT'S RIGHT I SAID OWEN

• Sophomore Eoghan Mullett- pronounced Owen - had a career-high three caused turnovers versus Mercer and picked up three GB's at Lindenwood. He had a caused turnover, three ground balls and scored his first goal at nationally-ranked Rutgers, and added a caused turnover and three GB's at Ohio State. 
• He is now tied for fifth on the squad with 20 ground balls to go with eight takeaways. 
• He led the team with 36 GB's and tied for the team lead with 13 caused turnovers last year.

SHOWING SOME LOVE AT THE FACEOFFS

• Junior Billy Hart has stepped up his play at the faceoffs that have led to the Titans winning three of their last five. 
• Hart won 11-of-25 with a career-tying seven ground balls against Jacksonville and posted a career-best 14-of-22 effort with seven ground balls against Lindenwood. He won 7-of-18 with four ground balls at Utah and claimed 9-of-22 with four GB's at Bellarmine.  
• Hart has now won 161 career faceoffs. 

GUARDING THE NET

• Juniors Jakob Hemme and Ryan Richters are the top two goalies on the roster that features five netminders.
• Richters is coming off 18 saves in a big road win at Bellarmine and now has double-digit saves in all 12 games. 
• He leads the ASUN and is third in the nation with 14.7 saves per game. His 177 saves on the year are fourth in school history for a single season and sixth overall in the Titan record book. 
• Richters had back-to-back games allowing less than 10 goals and as he made 16 saves in a 12-8 road win at Lindenwood and allowed a season-low seven goals with 12 saves in a 12-7 win over Queens. He tied his season-high with 19 saves at Utah and made 19 with six ground balls with a caused turnover against Mercer.
• Richters hails from California and played as a freshman at Grand Canyon and as a sophomore at Concordia in California. Last season, he made 48 saves and posted a 62.3% save percentage, helping Concordia to a MCLA title. 
• He also played for Team Latvia at the 2023 World Lacrosse Championships and was nominated to the All-World Team.
• Hemme ranks fourth in school history with 271 saves and second with 12.9 saves per game. He saw action in 11 games with 10 starts last season and led the team with 137 saves - 10th in school history - including tying a school record with 28 stops at Michigan in 2022. 

 
EVAN DOING A LITTLE OF EVERYTHING

• Junior Evan DeVito has showcased an all-around game this year as a LSM and defenseman.
• He has seven caused turnovers, 20 ground balls, and has scored his first two career goals, while winning seven faceoffs.
• He scored his first goal against VMI and picked up a career-best four GB's with a takeaway and a goal against Mercer and had a caused turnover and two GB's at Bellarmine.  

A WILL TO WIN

• Junior Will Marshall had three ground balls and Lindenwood and a career-high three caused turnovers with a season-tying high three ground balls with a goal against Queens. 
• Earlier in the season, he had two takeaways and three GB's at Rutgers and scored a goal at Utah.  

CHASING YOU DOWN

• Junior Chase Mahabir has registered a point in 10 games this year and a goal in nine, with three hat tricks. He just tallied a career-tying four goals and a career-high five points at Bellarmine. He had three points on a goal and two assists against Queens, recorded four markers at Robert Morris, and notched his first hat trick with three goals against Mercer.
• He came into the season with just four career goals but has 17 on the year, third on the team.