MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. (5/1/2025) -- Junior Libby Cuckler tied her career high with four goals, but it was not enough as the University of Detroit Mercy women's lacrosse team dropped a 13-9 decision at top-seeded Robert Morris on Thursday afternoon.
Detroit Mercy concludes the campaign at 6-9 overall as it made the postseason for the second straight year.
Senior Maddy Camm tallied three points on a goal and two assists to go with a caused turnover, two ground balls, and three draw controls. Senior Meredith Leavell made seven saves, and freshmen Jaeda Jensen and Gabrianna Vasquez registered a goal and an assist.
In a rematch of the 2024 MAC title game, Detroit Mercy (6-9) and Robert Morris (8-10) played close all day long, as the game was tied four times, with neither team taking more than a three-goal advantage until very late in the contest.
Cucker tied it at 1-1 midway through the first, and she scored again with 1:12 left in the period as RMU was in front 3-2. Jensen knotted it at 3-3 a little more than a minute into the second, and Cuckler again found the back of the net at the 12:20 mark to square it at 4-4.
The Titans jumped in front, 5-4, as they took advantage of a RMU turnover, and Camm eventually found freshman Sophia Schwab for the marker with 8:34 left.
The Colonials scored two in a row after that for a 7-5 lead, but Cuckler's fourth strike made it a 7-6 game at the break.
Detroit Mercy pulled within one two more times, the first at 8-7 after Camm's goal in the third and 9-8 early in the fourth when Vasquez went through the defense and fired one in.
Robert Morris scored two in a row for an 11-8 lead when Jensen fed junior Alyssa Jarvis for another tally with 7:24 remaining, but the red, white and blue could not get any closer.
The Titans were outshot, 29-21, and lost the ground ball battle, 23-10.
Jarvis ended with a goal, a caused turnover, two ground balls, and two draw controls, and senior Leah Bodnar had an assist, a caused turnover, three draws, and three GBs.
Following the conclusion of the event, Camm and Cuckler were named to the All-Tournament Team.
The game was the final for a seven-member Senior Class in Bodnar, Camm, Leavell, Katie Bilello, Sophie Davis, Vanessa Evans, and Brooke Parrillo, who helped the Titans to back-to-back trips to the postseason for the first time since 2018-19.
Game Notes:
- Detroit Mercy is now 10-14 all-time in the postseason throughout the years and 1-8 in true postseason road games, coming up with that lone victory last year when they ousted top-seeded Central Michigan 11-10 in the MAC semifinals
- Robert Morris leads the all-time series, 12-2, including 6-1 at home
- Cuckler finished the season leading the team with 47 points and second with 30 goals and 17 assists
- Cuckler also had four goals at Kent State and at Furman
- Jarvis ended the year with a career-best 30 goals - tied for the team lead - and a team-high 61 draw controls, eighth in school history, and is now tied for fifth in school history with 146 career draws
- Camm's 20 assists on the year are the seventh most in school history
- Camm ended her career with 107 points on 61 goals and 46 assists, fifth in school history with those helpers
- Camm also tallied 83 career caused turnovers, third in school history, 136 draws for ninth and 121 ground balls for 11th in the record book
- Bilello ended her career with 41 caused turnovers and 81 ground balls
- Leavell finished her career with 166 saves for seventh in school history, a year after she broke the single-season mark with 187
- Leavell tallied 554 career saves for third among Titans and is also third with 9.55 saves per game, second with a .447 save percentage and fourth with a 13.75 goals-against average
- Bodnar ended her career with 79 goals, 32 assists, 111 points - 11 shy of top 10 in school history - 69 ground balls, 66 draw controls, and 36 caused turnovers, collecting 14 hat tricks.
- Davis posted 20 caused turnovers and 17 ground balls in her career and was the President of SAAC this season
- Jensen has tallied 16 goals in the last 13 games on just 33 shots
