Women's Lacrosse 05.03.24

Titans To Meet Robert Morris In #MACtion Championship On Saturday

Women's Lacrosse 05.03.24

Titans To Meet Robert Morris In #MACtion Championship On Saturday

The Titans will look to win their first-ever conference championship

DETROIT (5/3/2024) -- For the fifth time in program history and the first since 2016, the University of Detroit Mercy women's lacrosse team will play for a conference title and a NCAA bid as the Titans battle Robert Morris in the Mid-American Conference Championship on Saturday.

Game time is set for Noon at Central Michigan and will be broadcast live on the MAC Digital Network. A live stats feed will also be available.

The fourth-seeded Titans reached the title game after ousting top-seeded Central Michigan, 11-10, in the semifinals. Senior Cat Kopchia had five points on three goals and two assists and scored the game-winner off a rebound from the post with six seconds left. Junior Leah Bodnar tallied four goals and junior Meredith Leavell recorded a career-high 18 saves.

The Titans have been on the doorstep of the NCAA Tournament on four occasions, making four straight trips to the Atlantic Sun Championship game from 2013 to 2016. They fell in double overtime to Old Dominion in 2016 and to Jacksonville in 2013, 2014, and 2015.

Robert Morris - the second seed - edged Eastern Michigan, 12-11, in the other semifinal game for its third-straight win and is 7-11 on the year. RMU finished 4-2 in the regular season, but the red and white defeated the Colonials 12-9 on the road.

POSTSEASON HISTORY

Detroit Mercy is 10-12 all-time in the postseason throughout the years, but had not played in a playoff game since the Southern Conference semifinals in 2019.
UDM just ended a three-game postseason drought with its upset win over Central Michigan. Prior to that, the Titans' last triumph in the postseason was in the 2016 Atlantic Sun Championship as they downed Mercer in the quarterfinals and top-seeded Jacksonville in the semifinals before falling to second-seeded Old Dominion in overtime in the title contest.

CONGRATS

Madeline Dugan was named the MAC Coach of the Year, while senior Cat Kopchia was selected the league's Offensive Player of the Year and First Team All-MAC.
The All-MAC Second Team included graduate senior Kiah Nuessgen, juniors Maddy Camm and Leah Bodnar, and sophomore Alyssa Jarvis.

VS. ROBERT MORRIS

The Titans - who just ended a seven-game losing streak to Central Michigan - stopped a six-game slide to Robert Morris during the regular season as they topped the Colonials, 12-9, on the road.
Robert Morris still leads the all-time series, 9-2, but this is the first time the teams have played on a neutral field.

TAKE IT AWAY

Detroit Mercy has posted 131 caused turnovers on the year, the 10th most in school history for a single season.
UDM had a season-high 10 at Duquesne, at Pittsburgh, against Marquette, at Canisius, at Lindenwood, and against Kennesaw State.
In fact, the Titans saw Duquesne turn it over 24 times, Lindenwood 19 and KSU 19 times and Pittsburgh, Marquette and Xavier had 18.
Detroit Mercy is second in the MAC and 64th in DI with 7.88 takeaways per game.

HIGH RANKS

Detroit Mercy is currently second in the league and 24th in the country in free position percentage (.532), second in the MAC and 52nd in the nation in ground balls (16.2), second in the league and 30th in the country in save percentage (.460).
The Titans also average 26.4 shots per game and 19.7 shots on goal per game, which is second in the MAC in both stats.
UDM is fourth in the conference in scoring offense (10.1) and defense (13.1), but it is allowing just 10.0 goals per game in MAC battles, which is the third least in the conference.

NINE LIVES

Senior Cat Kopchia just tallied her 14th hat trick of the season and 22nd of her career with the five-point effort on three goals and two assists in the ousting of top-seeded Central Michigan. She also had the game-winner with just six seconds left in the contest as she picked up a ground ball and got one past the MAC Goalkeeper of the Year.
She tops the team with 66 points - second in the MAC - and 58 goals - second in the league and 29th in the nation. Both stats are career highs as her goals are sixth in school history.
In MAC play, her 26 points and 23 goals were second only to Kent State's Jackie Wolford (35, 27).
She has scored a goal in all 17 games, with 16 at two or more, 14 with three or more, seven with four or more, three with at least five and a career-best six at Butler. She also has seven games with at least five points.
Kopchia is 11-of-18 on the free position after starting the year 1-of-6, but has converted on eight straight over the course of the last seven games.
She had four goals and five points against Kent State, a team-high four goals against Eastern Michigan and four goals and five points at Robert Morris.
She posted five goals against Youngstown State and recorded five goals and six points at Lindenwood.
Kopchia is now seventh in school history with 154 points on 119 goals and 35 assists, sixth in school history in goals and seventh in assists.

YES I CAMM CAMM

Junior Maddy Camm posted a team-high two caused turnovers, seven draw controls and four ground balls in the postseason win over Central Michigan.
She now has a caused turnover in every game this season, including nine straight and 13 games with two or more as she leads the MAC and is 17th in the nation with 2.06 per game.
Camm tied her career high for the fifth time this season with three caused turnovers in the finale against Butler.
She tied her career high for the third time this season with three goals against Kent State to go with a team-high six draws, two takeaways and three GB's.
She had three caused turnovers, pulled down five draws and had two assists at Akron. She tallied another two caused turnovers and scored a pair of goals against Eastern Michigan and recorded three takeaways against Arizona State.
Camm tallied four points on a career-tying three assists and a goal, along with two caused turnovers, four draw controls and three ground balls against Youngstown State. She recorded her second-straight hat trick with three goals and a career-high 11 draw controls, two caused turnovers and three ground balls in the win over Kennesaw State after three goals, a team-high three ground balls, two draw controls and a caused turnover at Central Michigan.
She has career highs in every statistical category with 35 points, 21 goals, 14 assists, 43 ground balls, 54 draw controls and 35 caused turnovers, with the 35 takeaways fourth in the Titan record book and three shy of third.
She is fourth in the MAC and 49th in the nation with 2.44 ground balls per game. She also leads the team with 14 assists, is second with 54 draws controls and is third with 35 points and 21 goals.
Camm has 58 caused turnovers - eighth in school history - 83 draw controls, 80 ground balls with 33 goals and 26 assists in her career.

OUR ALL-MAC IS BACK

Junior Leah Bodnar has tallied a hat trick in seven of the last nine and eight of the last 11 games after leading the team with four goals in the win over Central Michigan.
The two-time All-MAC selection now has 11 games in her career with three or more goals as she is currently second on the team with 41 points and 32 goals, third with nine assists, tied for second with 14 caused turnovers and fifth with 23 ground balls, all career highs. Her 78.3 shots-on-goal percentage is also a team-high.
In MAC play, she had 19 points with 17 goals as she had hat tricks in four of the six games.
She tallied three goals with an assist against Kent State and Butler, found the back of the net three times at Akron and helped the Titans beat Robert Morris on the road with four markers. Against Kennesaw State, she tied her career high with seven points on a career-tying five goals, a career-high four takeaways and picked up four ground balls.

OUR WASHINGTON TITAN

Sophomore Alyssa Jarvis, the first Titan from the state of Washington, had a solid rookie campaign last year and has improved in all areas, especially in the draw as she leads the team with 63 and is fourth in the MAC with 3.71 per game.
The 3.71 is eighth in school history for a single season and her 63 total draws are seventh, just two away from sixth.
Jarvis has now scored a goal in 14 games, ranking fourth on the team with a career-high 24 points and 20 goals to go with 24 ground balls, fourth on the squad.
Jarvis had a team-high three draw controls with a goal at Robert Morris. She grabbed six draws with three goals and two GB's against Youngstown State.
She had eight draws, two goals and four ground balls against Kennesaw State after pulling down a career-best 11 at Central Michigan, the most by a Titan since Elise Harder had 11 against Kent State in 2022.
Prior to that, she recorded six draw controls with a goal at Lindenwood and five draw controls in back-to-back games at Xavier and Canisius.
She netted multi-goal games with two markers at New Hampshire and Canisius and picked up a career-best four ground balls with a goal and caused a turnover at Pittsburgh.

ALL 3 BACK AT D

The Titans' starting defensive unit is 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 55 games with 53 starts, posting 31 caused turnovers and 65 ground balls, including eight caused turnovers and a career-high 21 GB's on the year. She had a career-high four ground balls at Butler and against Eastern Michigan and posted two caused turnovers against Kent State and at Pittsburgh.
Bilello as seen action in 45 games with 38 starts and has 25 caused turnovers and 50 ground balls, including nine caused turnovers and 18 ground balls this season. She had a takeaway and three GB's against CMU in the semifinals, against Kent State and Eastern Michigan and had a career-best three caused turnovers against Marquette. Last season, she registered 17 caused turnovers and 34 ground balls.
Davis has appeared in 37 games with 27 starts and tied her career best with a pair of takeaways at Central Michigan. She also had a caused turnover at Xavier, a caused turnover and a ground ball against the Golden Eagles and two ground balls at Lindenwood.

YOU RANG

Graduate senior Marina Butler has scored a goal in 11 games this season after a goal in the win over Central Michigan
She has 19 points on 13 goals and six assists on the season and now has 99 points on 52 goals and 47 assists - fourth in school history - along with 46 ground balls, 25 caused turnovers and nine draw controls.
She notched a goal in the MAC win over Kent State and had a four-point effort with three assists and a goal against Youngstown State. She also had four points on a goal and three assists against Kennesaw State.
Butler had a goal with two caused turnovers and two GB's against Marquette and a goal with another two takeaways at Lindenwood.
Last year, she led the team with 17 assists, was third with 30 points and tied for fourth with 13 goals.

NOT IN MY NET

Junior Meredith Leavell has had another outstanding season between the pipes. She has nine games on the year with double-digit saves and 19 in her career after posting a career-high 18 in the semifinal win over Central Michigan. She made five stops in the first period as the Titans got an early lead and came up with five stops in the fourth quarter.
Leavell is third in the MAC and 18th in DI with 174 saves, third in the league and 17th in the nation with 10.2 saves per game, third in the league and 49th in the country with a .466 save percentage and fourth in the MAC with a 12.9 goals against average.
She has even been up to the tasks on free position shots, picking up 20 saves in the one-on-one situation this year.
Her 174 saves on the season are fifth in school history - eight shy of breaking the school record - while her 375 career saves are third in school history.
She made 17 saves, allowing just five goals, in 45 minutes of action in the win at Butler.
Leavell recorded four games allowing less than 10 goals, including three straught in MAC play with nine at Central Michigan, eight against Youngstown State and nine at Robert Morris.
She made 14 saves against the Penguins - including sixth in the fourth period - and 12 at RMU. She had nine saves with a career-high nine ground balls against Eastern Michigan, the most GB's by a Titan since Allison McDonough's school-record 10 at Stetson in 2017. She made 15 saves against Marquette, registered 12 at Lindenwood, eight versus Kent State and seven at CMU.
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.
Leavell is currently fourth in school history with 8.95 saves per game, second at a .445 save percentage and fourth with a 13.75 goals-against average.
Her mom, Kate, played club lacrosse at Maryland and is now the head women's lacrosse coach for New College of Florida.

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).
She won the Reverend Norbert Huetter Award, given to a student-athlete who sets an example for others by their display of attitude, dedication and leadership.
Meek picked up a career-best seven ground balls with two caused turnovers and a draw control at Xavier.
She had five ground balls and three caused turnovers at Duquesne and matched that effort with three caused turnovers and two ground balls at Pittsburgh and three more takeaways and GB's at Canisius.
She is third on the team with 25 ground balls and tied for second on the team with 14 caused turnovers.
A three-time member of the Athletic Director Honor Roll and a two-time member of the MAC All-Academic Team, Meek 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 last season.
In her career, she has 54 draw controls, 37 ground balls, 17 caused turnovers and 19 points on 14 goals and five assists.

GIVE ME LIBERTY

Sophomore Libby Cuckler tied her career high with four points on a career-best three goals with a helper versus Kent State.
She tallied a career-high three assists against Eastern Michigan and had four points on two goals and two assists against Kennesaw State.
She recorded a goal and an assist at New Hampshire, two goals - both on the extra attacker - at Duquesne, and recorded a goal and an assist at Canisius.
She has 21 points - fifth on the team - on 11 goals and 10 helpers - second on the squad - after accumulating just two goals and three points in 11 games last season.
Cuckler is also 4-for-4 on the free position and 28 of her 37 shots (75.6%) have been on frame.

ONE ELLA OF A TIME

Senior Ella Brandt has 13 points on nine goals and four assists after finding the back of the net twice in the win over the Chippewas.
She had a big game on the road at Akron, posting a career-high six points and four goals, her second collegiate hat trick as she put in three markers last year at Eastern Michigan.
Brandt registered a goal and an assist against Kennesaw State and found the back of the net at Canisius and at Lindenwood.
In her career, she has 23 points and 18 goals.

OFF THE HOOK

Sophomore Angelina Hook has seen increased playing time this season and has posted 14 ground balls and five caused turnovers after coming away with one each in the win over Central Michigan.
She had two ground balls at Butler after a caused turnover and two GB's against Kent State. Hook also posted two GB's and two takeaways at Pittsburgh.
Last year, she played in four games and did not record a statistic.