The Next Level - March 21, 2011

Rounding up the performances of Michigan natives in Division 1 ball.

Air Force 8, Loyola 6

• Tommy McKee (Holt) - Scored 1 Goal on his only shot. Also picked up 1 GB.

Bellarmine 9, VMI 8

• Ted Avendt (Brother Rice) - Took 3 Shots.
• Andrew Bulgarelli (Troy Athens) - Won 3 of 7 Faceoffs, collecting 2 GBs in the process.
• Patrick Ellis (UD Jesuit) - Committed 1 penalty for 1:00.

Bellarmine 10, Robert Morris 18

• Ted Avendt (Brother Rice) - Scored 1 Goal on 4 Shots. Also picked up 1 GB.
• Andrew Bulgarelli (Troy Athens) - Won 7 of 11 faceoffs, collecting 4 GBs.
• Patrick Ellis (UD Jesuit) - Committed 1 penalty for 1:00.
• Devin Peurach (Brother Rice) - Scored 1 Goal on his only Shot.

Detroit 13, VMI 9

• Brandon Davenport (Grosse Point North) - Won 1 of 9 faceoffs.
• John Dwyer (Detroit Catholic Central) - Caused 1 turnover and picked up 1 GB.
• Nick Garippa (Notre Dame Prep) - Caused 1 turnover, and collected 3 GBs. Also committed 2 penalties for 1:30.
• Matt Gregson (Flint Powers) - Started, and scored 1 Goal on 5 Shots. Also recorded an assist, and caused 1 turnover.
• Scott Harris (Saline) - Scored 1 Goal on 9 Shots, and recorded 2 Assists. Aso committed 1 penalty for 0:30.
• Jamie Hebden (Brother Rice) - Started, and caused 3 turnovers, picking up 3 GBs in the process.
• Brad Janer (Detroit Catholic Central) - Caused 3 turnovers and picked up 1 GB.
• Tim Lehto (North Farmington) - Started, and took 5 Shots. Caused 1 turnover and picked up 2 GBs.
• Matt Lining (Troy Athens) - Played, but did not accrue any statistics.
• Joe MacLean (Country Day) - Won 3 of 15 faceoffs, collecting 1 GB. Also forced 1 turnover and committed 1 penalty for 0:30.
• Chris Nemes (Detroit Catholic Central) - Scored 3 Goals on 8 Shots.
• Adam Nolan (AA Pioneer) - Picked up 1 GB.
• John Nowicki (De La Salle) - Scored 1 Goal on 3 Shots.
• Tim Shoemaker (Rochester) - Started, and picked up 1 GB.
• Max Zwolan (Ann Arbor Pioneer) - Played, but did not accrue any statistics.

Georgetown 14, Providence 5

• Stu Shannon (Country Day) - Took 3 Shots.
• Grant Fisher (Brother Rice) - Played, but did not accrue any statistics.

Maryland 15, UMBC 6

• Joey Fontanesi (Brother Rice) - Played, but did not accrue any statistics.

Maryland 11, St. Joseph's 5

• Joey Fontanesi (Brother Rice) - Played, but did not accrue any statistics.

Mercer 17, Carthage 13

• Anthony Seling (Detroit Catholic Central) - Recorded 1 Assist.

Mount Saint Mary's 9, Drexel 15

• Conor Carey (UD Jesuit) - Played, but did not accrue any statistics.
• Brendan Rooney (UD Jesuit) - Committed 1 penalty for 1:00.

Penn State 8, Massachusetts 7

• Danny Henneghan (Brother Rice) - Won 6 of 17 faceoffs, collecting 2 GBs in the process.

Quinnipiac 9, Hartford 10

• Mike Gast (Forest Hills Central) - Took 1 Shot.

Sacred Heart 12, Denver 13

• Tom Sardelli (ND Prep) - Recorded 1 Assist. Also caused 1 turnover and picked up 1 GB.

Stony Brook 9, St. John's 4

• Graham Adams (Brother Rice) - Scored 1 Goal on 2 Shots.

Stony Brook 8, Towson 9

• Graham Adams (Brother Rice) - Played, but did not accrue any statistics.

If you want to share stats from any other divisions (or if I've forgotten anyone), feel free to do so in the comments.

Detroit 13, VMI 9

Detroit 2-5 (1-0 MAAC).

The Titans got back into the win column yesterday afternoon by knocking off VMI in the MAAC conference opener. UDM got balanced scoring, with 9 different players finding twine.

The win give the Titans a good start in conference play, and keeps NCAA Tournament hopes in the "realistic possibility" category.

Tempo-Free

From the box score, your tempo-free breakdown.

VMI
VMI		Detroit
Faceoff Wins	20	Faceoff Wins	4
Clearing	11-17	Clearing	13-17
Possessions	41	Possessions	29
Goals	9	Goals	13
Offensive Efficiency	.220	Offensive Efficiency	.448

As I predicted in the game preview, the Titans were killed on faceoffs by a very good VMI faceoff man in Stephen Robarge. Brandon Davenport actually didn't take the majority of the draws for UDM, as Joe Maclean went 3/15.

The Titans sliiightly made up for the struggles on faceoffs by doing a pretty good job on the ride, holding the Keydets to a 65% success rate. However, Detroit didn't win this game because they were able to have about the same number of possessions.

They won it, in fact, because they were brutally efficient on offense, scoring on almost half of their possessions. Considering VMI had 59% of the possessions in the game, holding down their efficiency (they scored on fewer than a quarter of the possessions) was a big key as well.

Notes

As noted above, the scoring was spread across several UDM players. Chris Nemes led the team with 3 goals, and Ty Maruyama and Shayne Adams had two apiece - with Adams also contributing a pair of assists to lead the team with 4 total points. Scott Harris had a goal and a pair of assists.

Jamie Hebden and Brad Janer led the team with 3 caused turnovers, and LSM Jordan Houtby was the GB king with 6 ground balls. In goal, AJ Levell went the distance saving 14 shots and allowing 9 goals.

As noted above, I predicted Detroit would struggle on faceoffs, and they came through for me. Brandon Davenport went 1/9 and Joe Maclean won 3/15 draws. Without seeing the action, it's tough to say whether wing play or the faceoff specialists are behind the struggles.

Elsewhere

The official site's recap lives here, and the boxscore is here. A couple postgame videos. Coach Holtz:

Player of the game Ty Maruyama

Usually such videos aren't posted until much to late to make the recap. Hopefully this new trend will hold up.

Up Next

The Titans will travel to Jacksonville to take on the Dolphins on Saturday. JU is 3-5 on the year, and opened conference play with a 12-8 victory over Canisius.

Detroit Weekend Preview: VMI

The Titans return to action tomorrow, opening up conference play against Virginia Military Institute. Everybody is 0-0 in MAAC play, so an NCAA Tournament bid is still possible for the Titans, despite a disappointing start to the season.

VMI

Saturday 1PM, Titan Field
Record: 2-4 (0-0 MAAC)
Rankings: #46 (Computer).
Common Opponents: Mercer (W 15-3), Bellarmine (L, 8-9).
Previous Meeting: 2010 Regular Season (11-8 UDM win).

Schedule

The Keydets have started 2011 2-4, with the lone wins coming over a pair of completely hapless programs in Mercer and Presbyterian. Most of their losses, on the other hand, have come against very good competition (aside from an 8-9 loss to Bellarmine).

The problem is, aside from the Bellarmine loss, the Keydets haven't really been competitive in any game. They lost 8-14 to Navy, 6-12 to Army, and 6-22(!) to Virginia. Based on what we've seen out of this team so far, they are not very good.

Personnel

Keith Long is by far the most important player to the VMI offense. He has 20 points, leading the team in both assists (11) and goals (9). Tied atop the goal standings is Leonard Drew, with 9 of his own, but only 3 assists. The team's third-leading point-getter is Mickey Hofmeister, who only has 2 goals, but has dished out 9 assists - in only 3 games.

Defensively, Rory Dillon is a key player for VMI. He leads the team with 10 caused turnovers this season, though he only had 12 ground balls to go along with that. Kyle Hofstetter and Chris Kitchen have also started every game. Hofstetter is something of an enforcer, leading the team in penalties committed.

In goal, Kelly McMinn has started every game, and played all but about an hour between the pipes. He sports a .521 save percentage, and allows 11.5 goals per game.

Faceoffs are a strong point for VMI, as everybody who's taken even a single draw for the Keydets has won more than half of his attempts. Stephen Robarge has taken the most faceoffs, and has won nearly 65% of them.

Predictions

Detroit hasn't been a terribly inefficient team with their possessions this year, and it seem like VMI is a pretty weak squad defensively, and just OK offensively. There should be the opportunity for Shayne Adams and Scott Harris (the conference's reigning Offensive Player and Rookie of the Week, respectively) to find twine a few times. The defense should be able to, at the very least, keep a non-potent offense in check enough to give the team a chance to win. While we're talking Adams and Harris, check out a Titans video interview with Scott:

It's not efficiency that's killed UDM in most games this year, however, it's getting possession. VMI is an excellent faceoff team, though they haven't yet faced a team winning at a greater than .500 clip this season (nor will they against the Titans). That makes the ride/clear game very important, and the Keydets are bad on the ride, and quite good on the clear.

Taking advantage of the clearing game and not getting obliterated on faceoffs are going to be huge keys for Detroit in this game. Finishing the opportunities they do get shouldn't be an issue with the talented offensive players.

I think Detroit will emerge victorious, 13-9.

Lacrosse Waxing, Waning

Be forewarned: Some of this is only tangentially related to the state of Michigan.

If you've ever been around a lacrosse community on the internet (or even in real life), you're well-aware that most people firmly believe lacrosse is on the upswing at the varsity level in college. Well, that's not always the case. Within the past week, two schools have announced that they'll be shuttering their NCAA programs soon.

Going Down

I'll go in reverse chronological order, with NCAA Division-2 Grand Canyon ending its lacrosse program. The problem for the 'Lopes (yes, the abbreviated version is their official team name) is that they're between divisions:

The decision to eliminate men's lacrosse came amid discussions by the university to initiate a transition to the NCAA Division I level... "There is just really nothing out west in the Division I market besides the University of Denver and the Air Force Academy, so there was a really depleted field of competition for us," said Baker.

It's a shame that a school trying to go Division-1 would cause them to have to drop a lacrosse program, but it is what it is until there are more programs west of the Mississippi, much less the Rockies. As a new entrant to the lacrosse community (first season: 2008, as an MCLA program), hopefully a smooth transition to Division-1 will be followed by another shot at lax - as of now, they're exploring fielding a partially-funded MCLA program.

The other school dropping its lacrosse program is Division-1 Presbyterian. Though most lacrosse fans are focused on D-1 expansion, contraction is a real factor as well.

Presbyterian College is a member of the Big South Conference, which does not include men's lacrosse as a conference sport and, according to officials, is not expected to add it in the future. This was the overriding reason that the college decided to drop men's lacrosse as a varsity sport, Reese said.

That's disappointing, especially since there had been lots of recent talk about restructuring conferences in Division-1 to form a sort of Southern Conference, with the likes of Jacksonville, Mercer, High Point, Bellarmine, and VMI combining with Presbyterian to form a geographically-sound league (High Point and VMI also happen to be Big South-affiliated schools).

Presbyterian's current players will continue to receive their grants-in-aid until the end of their now-hypothetical NCAA eligibility, or they will be free to transfer to another Division-1 institution without penalty.

Coming Up

On the other end of the spectrum, there is still expansion happening (i.e. Marquette) and possible (Nobody in particular) in Division-1. The coach of one of Division-1's most recent additions, Detroit's Matt Holtz, took part in an Inside Lacrosse podcast about program-building.

In it, he talks about what it was like for the Titans as they started their program, the response from the community, and how it feels to be the new kids on the block (Not Those New Kids On The Block). There's also some good discussion on growth in the midwest and Michigan specifically. I would be remiss not to mention what Holtz says about the potential of Michigan joining the ranks of Division-1 in the near future:

Holtz: "It'd be absolutely phenomenal for the sport in the State of Michigan. You're right, I am a Michigan State guy; I'd love to see Michigan State bring back their NCAA program, but [Michigan going varsity] is a first step."

"For us, we're excited: I think it'd be great. You know, I think Coach Paul's done a phenomenal job with his MCLA team down there, and you know, he deserves it, and it's just a matter of 'can they pull the trigger,' can they get the money together is the biggest issue right now. And obviously adding another... adding a BCS school would be phenomenal. The last BCS school to add was Notre Dame."

While I'm on my podcast-linking game: of course Michigan coach John Paul talking about the potential for the very same thing (relevant portion transcribed here). In other IL podcasts relating to nascent programs, the head men of Jacksonville and High Point Universities talk about what it's like to be new programs - not unlike Holtz's interview.

Don't forget, of course, that Marquette will expand the sport's footprint in the midwest, starting with the 2013 season.

The Next Level - March 14, 2011

I'll be following these guys over the course of the year. I'd love to cover all divisions (and even the MCLA), but there are only so many hours in the day. If you want to share stats from other divisions, feel free to do so in the comments.

Air Force 4, Fairfield 6

• Tommy McKee (Holt) - Started, but only committed one turnover.

Air Force 6, Hofstra 11

• Tommy McKee (Holt) - Scored 1 Goal on 1 Shot.

Bellarmine 8, Maryland 12

• Ted Avendt (Brother Rice) - Scored 1 Goal on 3 Shots.
• Patrick Ellis (UD Jesuit) - Picked up 1 GB.
• Andrew Bulgarelli (Troy Athens) - Won 4 of 5 faceoffs, and committed 1 penalty for 1:00.
• Devin Peurach (Brother Rice) - Recorded 1 Assist and took 1 Shot. Also picked up 1 GB.

Bellarmine 10, Harvard 21

• Ted Avendt (Brother Rice) - Took 2 Shots, picked up 2 GBs, and caused 1 turnover.
• Patrick Ellis (UD Jesuit) - Played, but did not accrue any statistics.
• Andrew Bulgarelli (Troy Athens) - Won 6 of 14 faceoffs, collecting 3 GBs. Also caused 1 turnover.
• Devin Peurach (Brother Rice) - Scored 2 Goals on 7 Shots, and picked up 1 GB.

Bellarmine 9, Hartford 14

• Ted Avendt (Brother Rice) - Took 2 Shots.
• Patrick Ellis (UD Jesuit) - Caused 1 turnover and picked up 3 GBs.
• Andrew Bulgarelli (Troy Athens) - won 5 of 13 faceoffs, picking up 6 GBs. Also took 1 Shot and recorded 1 Assist.
• Devin Peurach (Brother Rice) - Scored 1 Goal on 2 Shots.

Detroit 8, Mount St. Mary's 12

• Nick Garippa (Notre Dame Prep) - Played but did not accrue any statistics.
• Scott Harris (Saline) - Started and scored 4 Goals on 12(!) Shots. Also recorded 1 Assist.
• Matt Lining (Troy Athens) - Collected 1 GB.
• John Nowicki (De La Salle) - Started and took 1 Shot.
• Brad Janer (Detroit Catholic Central) - Lost his only faceoff, but collected 2 GBs. Also recorded 1 Assist and took 1 Shot.
• Joe MacLean (Country Day) - Lost his only faceoff.
• Tim Shoemaker (Rochester) - Played but only committed 1 turnover.
• Jamie Hebden (Brother Rice) - Started and picked up 6 GBs. Also caused 4 turnovers and committed 1 penalty for 1:00.
• Matt Gregson (Flint Powers) - Scored 1 Goal on 2 shots, and recorded 1 assist. Lost all 3 faceoff attempts, and picked up 1 GB.
• Tim Lehto (North Farmington) - Scored 1 Goal on 4 Shots, and recorded 1 assist. Also picked up 1 GB.
• Brandon Davenport (Grosse Point North) - Won 4 of 15 faceoffs, collecting 2 GBs. Caused 1 turnover and committed 1 penalty for 1:00.
• Max Zwolan (Ann Arbor Pioneer) - Started, but only committed 1 turnover.
• John Dwyer (Detroit Catholic Central) - Caused 2 turnovers and picked up 1 GB.
• Chris Nemes (Detroit Catholic Central) - Started and recorded 4 Shots. Picked up 1 GB.

Detroit 13, Robert Morris 14 (OT)

• Nick Garippa (Notre Dame Prep) - Took 1 Shot.
• Scott Harris (Saline) - Started and scored 1 Goal on 7 Shots, and recorded 3 Assists. Caused 3 turnovers and picked up 2 GBs.
• Matt Lining (Troy Athens) - Scored 1 Goal on 3 Shots.
• John Nowicki (De La Salle) - Started and scored 1 Goal on 2 Shots, and recorded 1 Assist.
• Brad Janer (Detroit Catholic Central) - Caused 1 turnover and picked up 3 GBs. Also committed 1 penalty for 0:30.
• Joe MacLean (Country Day) - Caused 1 turnover and picked up 2 GBs.
• Tim Shoemaker (Rochester) - Caused 2 turnover and picked up 1 GB.
• Jamie Hebden (Brother Rice) - Started and picked up 3 GBs.
• Matt Gregson (Flint Powers) - Scored 1 Goal on 4 shots, and recorded 1 assist. Lost his only faceoff attempt. Caused 1 turnover and picked up 3 GBs. ALso committed 1 penalty for 0:30.
• Tim Lehto (North Farmington) - Score 3 Goals on 12(!) Shots, and recorded 1 assist. Also picked up 1 GB.
• Brandon Davenport (Grosse Point North) - Won 16 of 29 faceoffs, picking up 2 GBs. Scored a Goal on 1 Shot.
• Max Zwolan (Ann Arbor Pioneer) - Started and caused 1 turnover.
• John Dwyer (Detroit Catholic Central) - Caused 2 turnovers and picked up 4 GBs. also committed 1 penalty for 1:00.
• Chris Nemes (Detroit Catholic Central) - Started and recorded 1 Shot.

Hofstra 11, Air Force 6

• Michael Hamilton (Brother Rice) - Caused 1 turnover and picked up 1 GB. Also committed 1 penalty for 0:30.

Maryland 12 Bellarmine 8

• Joe Fontanesi (Brother Rice) - Played, but only committed 1 turnover.

Maryland 8, Towson 4.

• Joe Fontanesi (Brother Rice) - Played, but did not accrue any statistics.

Mercer 7, Sacred Heart 17

• Anthony Seling (Detroit Catholic Central) - Took 2 Shots and picked up 2 GBs.

Mercer 5, Duke 18

• Anthony Seling (Detroit Catholic Central) - Took 1 Shot.

Mount Saint Mary's 12, Detroit 8

• Brendan Rooney (UD Jesuit) - Started and picked up 3 GBs.
• Conor Carey (UD Jesuit) - Took 3 Shots.

Mount St. Mary's 16, Jacksonville 9

• Conor Carey (UD Jesuit) - Took 2 Shots.

Notre Dame 10, Denver 9

• Jake Marmul (Detroit Catholic Central) - Won 9 of 14 faceoffs, collecting 3 GBs.

Ohio State 11, Lehigh 7

• Conor David (Brother Rice) - Played, but did not accrue any statistics.

Ohio State 9, Albany 11

• Conor David (Brother Rice) - Caused 1 turnover and picked up 2 GBs.

Penn State 5, Villanova 17

• Nick Dolik (Brother Rice) - Recorded 1 Assist and took 3 Shots.
• Danny Henneghan (Brother Rice) - Won 5 of 20 faceoffs, collecting 2 GBs.

Penn State 11, Rutgers 6

• Nick Dolik (Brother Rice) - Took 3 Shots,
• Dany Henneghan (Brother Rice) - Started and won 12 of 21 faceoffs, collecting 8 GBs.

Sacred Heart 11, Manhattan 6

• Tom Sardelli (ND Prep) - Took 1 Shot and picked up 2 GBs.

Stony Brook 14, Delaware 9

• Graham Adams (Brother Rice) - Took 2 Shots and picked up 1 GB.

Villanova 17, Penn State 5

• Joe Payne (Brother Rice) - Played but did not accrue any statistics.

Georgetown 8, Syracuse 9 (OT)

• Stu Shannon (Country Day) - Recorded 1 Assist and took 3 Shots.

Georgetown 15, Harvard 16

• Stu Shannon (Country Day) - Started, and scored a Goal on 3 Shots, also recording an assist. Caused 1 tunover and picked up 1 GB.

Robert Morris 14, Detroit 13

The Titans continue to show serious signs of a breakthrough, with a pair of 1-goal losses (including one to ranked Ohio State) on the season. However, as they say, close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. You don't play for the moral victory, you play to win the game. Unfortunately, I was unable to make it out to this game, although I had been planning to do so.

The Titans almost pulled off the feat against Robert Morris, coming from three goals behind in the fourth quarter to tie the game with more than seven minutes to go. However, they squandered opportunities to end the game in regulation (including a 2-man advantage), and allowed a Colonial goal with 1:35 left in overtime to end the contest.

I get the feeling that this is going to be a particularly painful tempo free section...

Tempo-Free

From the official box score, your tempo-free breakdown:

Robert Morris
Robert Morris		Detroit
Faceoff Wins	14	Faceoff Wins	16
Clearing	16-24	Clearing	18-22
Possessions	42	Possessions	46
Goals	14	Goals	13
Offensive Efficiency	.333	Offensive Efficiency	.283

Actually, that wasn't truly painful at all. Where the Titans have been getting owned on possession all year long, they managed to have the advantage both at the faceoff X and in the clear/ride game. The only place they lacked was efficiency, but in a 1-goal game, the small-ish sample size is going to make the stats look much more skewed than they actually are. Had the Titans gotten the goal in overtime, they would have had an efficiency advantage.

In such an evenly-matched game, nothing is going to jump out from the raw efficiency numbers (aside from from the fact that Detroit didn't get destroyed in a few of the metrics), but the pace of the game was pretty quick, especially since both teams had pretty good success on the clear.

Notes

Scott Harris and Shayne Adams (predictably) led the team in scoring, along with Tim Lehto. All had 4 points, with Adams and Lehto doing it on 3 goals, whereas Harris had 3 assists. A much more well-rounded offensive production than we've seen in the past couple weeks. 7 other Titans had a single goal each.

Defensively, Jordan Houtby caused the most turnovers for UDM, which we're accustomed to seeing by this point. He caused 4 Colonial turnovers, and scooped up an outstanding 10 GBs. Harris was the only other Detroit player to cause multiple turnovers, with a career-high 3.

AJ Levell went the distance between the pipes, making 11 saves and allowing 14 goals in 62:25 for the overtime loss.

The Titans should continue riding Brandon Davenport on faceoffs, as he was a pretty good (for the low expectations, at least) 16/29. He's going to keep struggling when he faces top competition, but there probably won't be too much of that from here on out.

Elsewhere

Official site recap. Box score. Robert Morris site recap.

Up Next

The path becomes much easier for Detroit from here on out, as they enter MAAC play. They'll take on VMI on Saturday at home to kick off conference play.

Penn 7, Lafayette 6

I was in Philadelphia last weekend, so although I wasn't able to cover the world of Michigan lacrosse, I was able to tae in my first-ever Division-1 game. Allow me a self-indulgent post for some pictures and thoughts.

On a cold night at Franklin Field on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania, the Quakers took on Lafayette. The boys from the Ivy league built a decent lead in the first couple quarters (I believe it was 6-2 at one point) before Lafayette made a comeback, and kept the game close in the end.

Franklin Field is such a cool facility - it's the former home of the Philadelphia Eagles and current home of Penn's 1-AA football team - though I'd been there before, so that was no surprise. It's not going to win any awards for modern or efficient design, but considering that it was built in 1895, I won't nitpick. Couple interesting notes: 1) The game was free, and I'm certain that the security guard was confused as to why I was asking him where to put my money 2) The press box is open not only to the elements, but also the upper concourse on the West side. I'm sure Eagles fans were throwing batteries at their least favorite journalists back in the 60s (pictured at right).

There were fewer people at this game than your standard (or even sparsely-attended) Michigan game, though I'm sure the chilly weather had something to do with that. Still, when the opponent is less than 1.5 hours away driving, I'd expect a little more fan presence.

As for what I noticed about the players, I was surprised to see a top-25 team (Penn was ranked #9 at the time) composed almost entirely of players that were smaller than most of Michigan's guys.

Size isn't everything, of course. Every short stick had better stick skills than all but the best of Michigan's guys - and maybe even better than some of them. Also, basically every player on Penn's team had a harder shot than all but the best (for my money, it's Carroll) on Michigan's team.

The athletic ability was about even with Michigan's team, I'd say. Their quickest guys weren't the tiny jitterbug types that Michigan's are, so they maybe had a better size/speed combo at some positions.

In all, a fun experience.

Mount St. Mary's 12, Detroit 8

Detroit 1-6. Photo from Official Site.

The Titans went down early, but showed moxie to mount (no pun intended) a comeback on the road, bringing the game to a 6-all tie in the third quarter at The Mount yesterday afternoon.

However, it was all Mountaineers from there, as they closed out the third with three straight goals, and outscored UDM 3-2 in the fourth to earn their first win of the season.

As MSM hadn't won a game on the year, and is far behind Detroit in Laxpower's computer rankings even AFTER the win, this can be qualified as nothing less than a bad loss at this point in the season.

Without further ado,

Tempo-Free

From the official box score, your tempo-free breakdown:

Mount St. Mary's
Mount St. Mary's		Detroit
Faceoff Wins	18	Faceoff Wins	4
Clearing	10-15	Clearing	12-19
Possessions	40	Possessions	28
Goals	12	Goals	8
Offensive Efficiency	.300	Offensive Efficiency	.286

By now, you know the story. Especially in recent games, the Titans have been adequate or better on the efficiency margins, but have been absolutely destroyed in terms of possession.

The faceoff spot, which looked like it would be at least decent to start the year, has devolved into a horrorshow against competent competition. Prior to this game, Mount St. Mary's was winning at a .521 clip. They won 81.8% against Detroit. That is not good enough to win lacrosse games.

The clear game is also a weakness for UDM, particularly lately. That needs to turn around if they want to get wins against competent opposition (and I imagine they do).

Fortunately, good competition will be scarce for the rest of the year, so there's a good chance to pad the win column, especially in-conference against MAAC teams.

Notes

Scott Harris did the Shayne Adams thing, pouring in goals (4), and also notching an assist. For his own part, Adams scored a single goal on 8 shots. Matt Gregson and Tim Lehto each scored a goal and an assist for multi-point performances.

Brandon Davenport got killed on faceoffs, but unlike the other four guys who took a draw, at least he won 1 (all the way up to 4!). Something is just not right with faceoffs. They've tried cycling through a few FOGOs, does something need to be done on the wings? Anything?

Jamie Hebden led the team defensively with four caused turnovers and 6 ground balls. Jason McDonald caused 3 turnovers and picked up 1 GB. Jordan Houtby tied for the team lead with 4 caused turnovers, but also led the team with 4 penalties for 4:00. I've never seen anyone foul out of a lacrosse game, but he was close.

No surprise, AJ Levell went the distance between the pipes. He made 7 saves and let in 12. I imagine he wasn't getting a ton of help on D - especially considering 3 Mount St. Mary's goals came on the man-up.

For the opposition, Andrew Scalley had a 6-point day, split half-and-half between goals and assists. 5 other Mountaineers had multi-point games.

Elsewhere

Detroit recap. Mount St. Mary's Recap. Box Score.

Up Next

As mentioned above, the rowing gets a little easier for UDM going forward. They face another Northeast conference team on Sunday, but this time at home. It's another Sunday doubleheader for the Titans, as the women face off at 2.

After Sunday, all of UDM's remaining games are against MAAC competition.

Lehigh 13, Detroit 9

Detroit 1-5.

This game happened more than a couple days ago, so I won't preface it too much: The Titans lost to Lehigh in their home opener. We'll figure out why by starting with the...

Tempo-Free

From the box score, here's your tempo-free breakdown.

Lehigh
Lehigh		Detroit
Faceoff Wins	18	Faceoff Wins	6
Clearing	9-12	Clearing	10-26
Possessions	46	Possessions	35
Goals	13	Goals	9
Offensive Efficiency	.283	Offensive Efficiency	.257

The Titans seem to have found some things that work on the offensive and defensive ends of the ball. They're improving in efficiency, and doing so against teams that are not only competent, but actually good.

So, it's the possession that sucks. Detroit got pasted at the faceoff X, and put up what is probably the worst clearing rate I've seen in a single game (Michigan games against the Purdues of the world notwithstanding). They managed 11 fewer possessions in a game played at only slightly above-average pace.

As previously noted, they did almost as well with those possessions as Lehigh did. You can't win games if you can't control the ball.

Notes

Brandon Davenport was pretty bad on faceoffs, winning only 5 of 16... but that made him the best of the 6 guys who took one (aside from maybe Matt Gregson, who won 1 of 3, but sample size definitely comes into play there). I think it might have been a mistake to go away from him, and almost certainly a mistake to cycle through so many guys instead of trying to let your #1 play into form.

Shayne Adams has emerged as an excellent scoring threat, putting in 4 goals against Lehigh. Having a regularly dangerous offensive threat will help the Titans pull themselves out of the depths of terrible efficiency.

Defensively, Jamie Hebden and Max Zwolan each caused 2 turnovers, but Hebden more made up for it by committing 4 of his own. It seems like he was a big part of UDM's troubles clearing.

A lot of the reason the game was close had to do with Lehigh taking its foot off the gas (the Titans scored 5 of the final 6 goals), so don't read toooo much into an ultimately competitive score.

Elsewhere

Detroit Recap. Lehigh Recap. Box Score. Also: I recently noticed this, so apologies for not doing so quicker. UDM has a Youtube channel. NO highlights from this game up yet, but there is an interview with Jordan Houtby and Shayne Adams after their MAAC player of the week honors from a week ago.

Up Next

The Titans next played Mount St. Mary's (last night). Recap forthcoming ASAP.

The Next Level - March 7, 2011

Light on content early this week, as I'm out of town. Hopefully I'll get caught up with the weekend's MCLA/NCAA action when I get back home.

Air Force 16, Manhattan 10

• Tommy McKee (Holt) - Led the team in scoring with 6 Goals on just 7 Shots. Also collected 5 GBs.

Air Force 7, Jacksonville 10

• Tommy McKee (Holt) - Started and recorded 1 Shot. Also picked up 2 GBs.

Bellarmine 6, Loyola 9

• Ted Avendt (Brother Rice) - Started and took 1 Shot. Also picked up 1 GB.



• Patrick Ellis (UD Jesuit) - Picked up 2 GBs and committed 1 penalty for 30 seconds.



• Andrew Bulgarelli (Troy Athens) - Won 5 of 9 faceoffs, picking up 1 GB.



• Devin Peurach (Brother Rice) - Played, but only committed two turnovers.

Detroit 9, Lehigh 13

• Nick Garippa (Notre Dame Prep) - Committed 2 penalties for 1:00.



• Adam Nolan (AA Pioneer) - Played, but did not accrue any statistics.



• Attack Scott Harris (Saline) - Started, and scored a Goal plus 2 Assists. Caused a turnover, picked up a GB, and committed 1 penalty for 0:30.



• Matt Lining (Troy Athens) - Scored 1 Goal on 1 Shot. Also picked up 1 GB.



• John Nowicki (De La Salle) - Started and took 1 Shot on goal. Also picked up 1 GB.



• Tyler Corcoran (South Lyon) - Took (and lost) one faceoff.



• Brad Janer (Detroit Catholic Central) - Recorded 1 Assist and 1 Shot. Also picked up 3 GBs.



• Joe MacLean (Country Day) - Took (and lost) one faceoff. Also picked up 2 GBs and recorded 1 Shot.



• Tim Shoemaker (Rochester) - Took (and lost) one faceoff. picked up 1 GB.



• Jamie Hebden (Brother Rice) - Started and led the team with 6 GBs. Also caused 2 turnovers and committed 1 penalty for 1:00.



• Matt Gregson (Flint Powers) - Won 1 of 3 faceoffs, picking up 1 GB. Also took 2 shots (both on goal).



• Tim Lehto (North Farmington) - Scored 1 Goal on 4 Shots. Caused 1 turnover.



• Brandon Davenport (Grosse Point North) - Won 6 of 16 faceoffs, collecting 3 GBs.



• Max Zwolan (Ann Arbor Pioneer) - Started, and caused 2 turnovers. Also picked up 2 GBs.



• John Dwyer (Detroit Catholic Central) - Caused 1 turnover.



• Chris Nemes (Detroit Catholic Central) - Scored 1 Goal on 5 Shots.

Mercer 1, Yale 22

• Anthony Seling (Detroit Catholic Central) - Picked up 1 GB.

Mount Saint Mary's 3, Towson 11

• Brendan Rooney (UD Jesuit) - Caused 2 turnovers and picked up 1 GB.



• Jonathan Marsalese (UD Jesuit) - Took (and lost) 1 faceoff.



• Conor Carey (UD Jesuit) - Took 2 Shots.

Notre Dame

• Jake Marmul (Detroit Catholic Central) - Won 3 of 5 faceoffs, collecting 2 GBs.

Ohio State 6, Penn State 5 (3OT)

• Conor David (Brother Rice) - Caused 1 turnovers and picked up 2 GBs.

Penn State 5, Ohio State 6 (3OT)

• Nick Dolik (Brother Rice) - Started and scored 1 Goal on 7 Shots. Also picked up 2 GBs.



• Danny Henneghan (Brother Rice) - Won 6 of 17 faceoffs, collecting 4 GBs.

Sacred Heart 7, Dartmouth 9

• Tom Sardelli (ND Prep) - Took 2 Shots.

Stony Brook 13, Marist 7

• Graham Adams (Brother Rice) - Started, scoring 1 Goal and 1 Assist.

Detroit Weekend Preview: Lehigh

The Titans open their stadium against Lehigh tomorrow at 2:00, the second half of a double-header (and part of a can drive organized by team parents), as the women take on UC-Davis at 11AM. The Titans technically had a home game in their 19-3 win over Mercer last weekend, but it took place at Ultimate Soccer in Pontiac.

Following the game against Mercer, freshman attack Shayne Adams and sophomore LSM were named the MAAC offensive and defensive player of the week, respectively.

The Schedule

The Mountain Hawks have started out 2-1, losing the game they were expected to, and winning the two games against lesser competition. Alas, there are very few schools out there for whom Detroit does not qualify as "lesser competition."

Lehigh started off with a 16-7 victory over St. Joe's (winless on the season), before falling on the road at Villanova, by a narrow 8-9 score. Villanova is a pretty strong team out of the Big East, so the close margin is encouraging for Lehigh.

In their most recent game, the Mountain Hawks beat a 1-3 Navy team at home, by a 14-10 score. The Midshipmen's three losses are all against good competition, and all by close scores.

Players to Watch

Lehigh is led in scoring by sophomore attack Dante Fantoni, with 7 goals and 6 assists on the year. Not far behind is senior midfielder Jonathan Stmupf, with 5 goals and 4 assists on the season.

Next, the Mountain Hawks have a trio of players who are primarily finishers, in junior attack Adam Johnston (7 goals, no assists), sophomore attack David DiMaria (6 goals, 1 assist), and junior midfielder Cameron Lao-Gosney (5 goals, 1 assist).

Defensively, Lehigh is led by senior Richard Bradley and sophomore Baxter Lanius, tied for the team lead with 3 caused turnovers. Bradley is joined by junior Blaise Fullen and Freshman Ty Souders on the starting D.

Sophomore Dan Carr is the primary starter between the pipes. He has a .469 save percentage on the year, and has played all but 44 seconds for the Mountain Hawks.

Lehigh is an excellent faceoff team, with sophomore Ryan Snyder (not that Ryan Snyder) winning an incredible 73.9% of his draws. He should abuse UDM's faceoff men all game.

Predictions

Though the on-campus home opener might provide an emotional boost for the Titans, the competition they're facing is much better in almost every facet. They will get destroyed on faceoffs, and perform worse than the Mountain Hawks in the clear/ride game, too.

On top of that, Lehigh has some very skilled players on offense, as well as a solid defense. They should be a more efficient team than the Titans as well.

In the end, I see Detroit doing well early in the game, but as the excitement of the home opener wears off, they'll struggled, and eventually be dominated. 14-6 in favor of Lehigh.

Michigan Updates

First things first, collegelax Oregon cult hero BHSvideodad has put up his video recap of the Michigan-Oregon game:

Oregon vs Michigan Lacrosse 2011 from Claude Lyneis on Vimeo.

From the looks of things, the Ducks were beneficiaries of a couple goals that you could either consider "lucky" or "soft" in the second quarter. The Michigan D was giving a whole lot up, and a couple less-than-staller shots from the porch managed to find their way into the net.

The Michigan comeback looked a lot like business as usual. My lack of extreme concern following the game seems to be warranted.

Equally important News

I shared this on Twitter, but the Michigan-Chapman game (definitely the biggest non-conference away contest of the regular season) will be streamed like on collegelax.tv tomorrow at 1PM PST. That's 4:00 real-life time, which means if you're posted up on your couch watching the Michigan State-Michigan basketball game, fire up the laptop when it's over and see a marquee MCLA contest.

Apparently Also Important News

The team got new helmets last night:

As a non-gear dude, I'm all like "whateva," but according to 412 Lax, this is A Big Deal. The main thing I noticed is that the side vents screw up the iconic winged pattern:

I guess I'm just no fun. Hey, the team apparently really likes them (per the Twitter machine), so more power to them.

Etc.

On my way out of town last night, I ran across the Michigan State lacrosse team waiting to board their flight to Portland. I fired off a quick "beat Fraser," but I think those who heard me were mostly surprised that someone at the airport 1) knew who they were and where they were going and 2) would wear a block-M jacket and also wish them luck. They were in the process of getting onto their plane, and I was magically floating past them on a moving walkway, so I didn't get a chance to stop and chat.

Potentially going to my first-ever Division-1 game tonight (Lafayette @ Penn), so I'm pretty excited for that.

Poll Watchin' - March 1, 2011

Detroit is (rather obviously) not included in the Division 1 polls (Nike/Inside Lacrosse and USILA Coaches'), but a couple opponents are:

Team	Nike/IL	USILA
Ohio State	14	12
Maryland	3	3

UDM lost to the Buckeyes by a slim 3-4 margin, and Maryland blew the Titans out 4-16. Those are the only opponents, past or future, listed, so UDM will likely have an easier go of things as the season goes on.

Onto the MCLA polls. This is a little kinder to teams from Michigan. The adidas MCLA Lax Mag poll has the Wolverines at #1 and Michigan State at #7. The Prodigy MCLA Poll (the one used to determine the field for the MCLA tournament) has the teams in the same order.

There's some (legitimate) griping about Oregon's inclusion on 412 Lax. The Ducks moved into the top-25 thanks to losing competitive game to Michigan and Chapman - probably not the way things should work.

Detroit 19, Mercer 3

Detroit 1-4. Photo from Official site.

As I said in the preview, this game ending in anything other that a Titan win would have been very bad news for UDM. They did me one better though, blowing out first-year program Mercer at Ultimate Soccer in Pontiac.

It was a day of many records for UDM. Freshman Shayne Adams set a Detroit record with 7 goals in the game, and the team's 19 scores were the most in the program's brief history. Mercer's 3 goals were the fewest ever allowed to an opponent. Sophomore LSM Jordan Houtby set a program record with 11 ground balls.

It was an all-around pasting, so let's get straight to the...

Tempo Free

From the official box score, here's your tempo-free breakdown:

Mercer
Mercer		Detroit
Faceoff Wins	10	Faceoff Wins	16
Clearing	19-24	Clearing	19-22
Possessions	37	Possessions	43
Goals	3	Goals	19
Offensive Efficiency	.081	Offensive Efficiency	.442

Before looking at the box score, I had assumed that the Titans completely dominated possession, both at the faceoff X and in the ride/clear game. So, to look up the stats and see that this was not the case (they had only a slight advantage in possessions), but rather the Titans were ridiculously efficient in both ends of the field is a surprise.

Of course, just like it's expected for a nascent program to have problems in the possession game, poor efficiency is also a common characteristic of young teams. So, Mercer... yeah, they had that. Even as inefficient as Detroit was, they never even approached an efficiency of .100, much less well below that.

Notes

I mentioned the record-setting day in the opening paragraphs, but it's important to give credit where it is due: Shayne Adams and Jordan Houtby both had excellent individual days, leading to the best game ever played by a Detroit team. But yes, strength of competition plays a big role in that as well.

Aside from Adams, multiple-goal scorers for the Titans included Alex Maini (3), Scott Harris (2), and Chris Nemes (2). The Titans continue to score a lot of their goals unassisted, as only 8 of their 19 tallies came on a helper. Harris and Ty Maruyama were the only multiple-assist guys with 2 apiece.

The Titans broke out of a poor shooting streak by putting 37 of their 51(!) shots on the cage, and scoring on 19 of those, for a very good .373 shot percentage.

Remember, the Titans are without their best two offensive players from last season, who are sitting out this spring to focus on academics. If Joel Matthews and Tyler Staruch were available... would this actually be a kinda-good team? A horrifically inefficient performance against Ohio State probably could have swung the Titans' way with a couple more weapons.

Three goalies saw time in net for UDM, with AJ Levell getting the start and the win, allowing all three Mercer goals. Danny Kransberger came in at halftime, saving all 6 shots on goal he faced, and Mike Brown had 1 save in the 2 minutes of the game.

Up Next

The Titans are in action again next Sunday in their true home opener. They'll face Lehigh at 2PM, the second part of a double header, as the women take on UC Davis at 11AM. Lehigh beat Detroit 21-9 last season.

Detroit Weekend Preview: Mercer

The Titans have started 2011 0-4, and look to turn things around against first-year Division-1 program Mercer at Noon Saturday at Ultimate Soccer in Pontiac. The Bears have had struggles of their own early this season, as they've lost lopsided games to Ohio State, VMI, and Bellarmine, no titans of the sport themselves (though the Buckeyes impressed in a victory over North Carolina last weekend).

All told, this should be the easiest win of Detroit's entire season (fingers crossed). Neither team is particularly good at lacrosse, but Mercer is far, far worse.

Personnel

The Bears are led offensively by Alex Baird (4G), Cole Branch (3G, 2A), Brett Eisenmann (3G), and John Avent (2G, 1A). Branch has scored his 3 goals on 16 shots (.187 shooting percentage) which is pretty awful, but much better than teammate Joey Ugast who has just one goal on the same number of shots (.062).

On faceoffs, the Bears are terrible. Shockingly bad. They are winning a god-awful 22% of their draws. I... I can't even describe how bad that is. Jake Polo has emerged as their best man at the X, winning 40% (he also leads the team with 13 GBs). With Detroit's competence on faceoffs, they should win a comfortable number against Mercer.

Justin Bateman has gotten the lion's share of time between the pipes, but Dillon Volk is coming on strong, and has better numbers than Bateman three games into the year. He played the entire second half against Bellarmine, and don't be surprised if he gets his first start on Saturday.

Predictions

So, in case I haven't made it clear, Detroit should win this game. If they don't, they're getting deeeeep into "fire the coach" territory, and I'm very much not a "fire the coach" kind of guy. That's how embarrassing this loss would be. Titans should earn their first victory of the season, and I think they'll do it by a 12-7 score.

Michigan in the Media

The Wolverines have gotten some mention on not only local radio lately, but also national TV. ESPNU's The Experts: College Lacrosse spent a few minutes in its season premiere discussing the possibility of Michigan going varsity in the (possibly near) future, and what impact that michigan have on the Division-1 landscape. Since I have no way to capture the video, here's a transcript of the relevant portion:

Paul Carcaterra: I'm waiting for that signature school to get a men's lacrosse program. A Michigan - there's been rumblings about that stuff... [The existing recent additions to D-1 lacrosse] are all great, and I think Joe Amplo is a fabulous hire, he's going to do a great job at Marquette.

Matt Ward: And with the way the high school game is booming, where kids are playing all over the country now. More talent everywhere in the country, it's a great time for these programs to go, because they're going to be able to start being able to develop these players and maybe a lot of kids going D3 are playing in the MLL now, [will instead go] to a Marquette, or at a Michigan.

Sounds like ESPN's experts are among those openly stumping for Michigan to join the ranks of D-1 varsity lacrosse.

The Wolverines also got some talk on Ann Arbor's very own Sports Talk 1050 WTKA on Monday's morning show. TKA's Ira Weintraub (a Maryland native) fielded a question about whether Michigan's team could compete against the "big boys" of D-1. You can listen here by clicking through to the podcast page on WTKA. Ira calls it a "Brian Cook question" which I find hilarious because I cover lacrosse for him. Next time they talk lacrosse, I'll try to chime in.

My take (with which you'll become very familiar if you're a regular reader) is that Michigan, should they form a varsity Division-1 program, would be in a better position to compete than most programs, because the club program is well-structured, has pretty good institutional support, and has more talent than any other club in the country.

This is something I talk about a lot, so I'll keep it brief today.

The Next Level - Feb 21, 2011

Your weekly roundup of how players from Michigan performed in Division-1 lacrosse.

Mercer 9, VMI 15

• Anthony Seling (Detroit Catholic Central) - Recorded 1 Shot and picked up 1 GB.

Bellarmine 20, Mercer 6

• Ted Avendt (Brother Rice) - Scored 1 Goal on 2 Shots. Caused 1 Turnover and picked up 1 GB.
• Andrew Bulgarelli (Troy Athens) - Scored a Goal on 2 Shots. Went 6-7 on Faceoffs, collecting 5 GBs. Caused 1 turnover.
• Patrick Ellis (UD Jesuit) - Played but did not accrue any statistics.
• Devin Peurach (Brother Rice) - Scored 2 Goals on 3 Shots. Caused 2 Turnovers and recorded 2 GBs.

Mercer 6, Bellarmine 20

• Anthony Seling (Detroit Catholic Central) - Played but did not accrue any statistics.

Detroit 4, Maryland 16 - Game recap.

• Tyler Corcoran (South Lyon) - Won 1-6 faceoffs, and collected 1 GB.
• Brandon Davenport (Grosse Point North) - Won 4-17 faceoffs. Picked up 1 GB, and committed 1 Penalty for 1:00.
• John Dwyer (Detroit Catholic Central) - Played, but did not accrue any statistics.
• Nick Garippa (Notre Dame Prep) - Caused 1 Turnover and picked up 3 GBs.
• Matt Gregson (Flint Powers) - Started, and scored 1 Goal on 1 Shot.
• Scott Harris (Saline) - Started and took 4 Shots. Also picked up 1 GB.
• Jamie Hebden (Brother Rice) - Started, and caused 2 Turnovers. Also picked up 3 GBs.
• Brad Janer (Detroit Catholic Central) - Won his only faceoff, and committed 1 Penalty for 1:00.
• Danny Kransberger (Forest Hills Central) - Played 7:59, and gave up 1 goal. Picked up 2 GBs.
• Tim Lehto (North Farmington) - Started, and took 2 Shots. Also picked up 1 GB.
• Matt Lining (Troy Athens) - Took 1 Shot.
• Joe MacLean (Country Day) - Caused 1 Turnover.
• Chris Nemes (Detroit Catholic Central) - Scored 1 Goal on 3 Shots.
• Adam Nolan (AA Pioneer) - Played but did not accrue any statistics.
• John Nowicki (De La Salle) - Took 1 Shot and collected 1 GB.
• Tim Shoemaker (Rochester) - Started and picked up 1 GB. Also committed 1 Penalty for 1:00.
• Max Zwolan (Ann Arbor Pioneer) - Picked up 1 GB.

Sacred Heart 6, Hofstra 10

• Tom Sardelli (ND Prep) - Took 2 Shots and picked up 1 GB.

Ohio State 13, North Carolina 8

• Conor David (Brother Rice) - Caused 1 Turnover and picked up 2 GBs.

Penn State 9, Binghamton 7

• Nick Dolik (Brother Rice) - Scored 1 Goal on 8 Shots. Also picked up 8 GBs.
• Danny Henneghan (Brother Rice) - Won 16-19 faceoffs, collecting4 GBs. Took 2 shots.

Villanova 9, Lehigh 8

• Joe Payne (Brother Rice) - Committed 1 penalty for :30.

Air Force 6, Siena 10

• Tommy McKee (Holt) - Started and took 2 Shots. Also picked up 4 GBs.

Notre Dame 12, Duke 7

• Jake Marmul (Detroit Catholic Central) - Won 6 of 11 faceoffs and picked up 1 GB.

Maryland 16, Detroit 4

Detroit 0-4. Photo from Detroit Website.

Detroit's 3-game head start on Maryland paid dividends early for the Titans, as they scored the game's first goal and even carried a 2-1 lead into the second quarter. After that, it was all Terps, as Maryland scored all seven goals in the second quarter, and outscored UDM 8-2 in the second half to emerge with a comfortable 16-4 victory.

This outcome was... well, not that far off expectations. Maryland is an established program in a hotbed for talent, and we're all familiar with where Detroit is as a program. The Terps eventually dominated in nearly every statistical measure, and that's one way to win a ballgame.

Tempo-Free

From the box score, here's your tempo-free breakdown.

Maryland
Maryland		Detroit
Faceoff Wins	18	Faceoff Wins	6
Clearing	20-20	Clearing	15-18
Possessions	41	Possessions	24
Goals	16	Goals	4
Offensive Efficiency	.390	Offensive Efficiency	.167

So. When you get dominated on faceoffs, and don't have a single successful ride all game, you're going to have maaaaany fewer possessions than the opponent. When they're a team as talented as Maryland, they're going to take advantage of them. The Terps scored 16 goals on just 36 shots, while the Titans used 17 shots to score just 4.

As we saw against another top-25 team in Delaware, the majority of Detroit's scoring production came on the man-up, with UDM's first two goals scored on the man advantage. Their other two were at even strength, but both came with the game well in hand for the Terps.

Notes

Four different Titans scored, with Scott Harris, Alex Maini, Matt Gregson, and Chris Nemes each finding twine. Only one goal was assisted, as Chris Nemes's game-opener came from Wes Steen. On the other side, 14 of Maryland's 16 goals were scored. That speaks to not only talent but a smooth-functioning offense. In fact, I'd say the less-talented team should have MORE assists per goal, as they are unlikely to have the athletes to dodge and score.

The Titans had their naughtiest game yet, with 6 penalties for 5:00. Their previous high was 5 infractions for the same amount of time against Ohio State. Elsewhere in sloppy play, they committed 20 turnovers, though most of them (14) were forced by Maryland.

LSM Jordan Houtby was the Ground Ball champion of Detroit with 4. A pair of Terps tied his GB total.

Freshman goalie Danny Kransberger got his first action as a Titan, playing the final 7:59 and allowing 1 goal with 0 saves.

As noted above, Detroit played well in the first quarter before Maryland overpowered them. They were even in shots (6) and almost even in GBs (8-10) in the first frame, but Maryland dominated nearly every stat from there to the end.

Up Next

Detroit will likely get their first win of 2011 on Saturday, and they host Mercer at Ultimate Soccer in Pontiac. Mercer is a first-year program, and the Bears have been on the wrong side of three grisly games, with an average score of 5.6-18.3. If the Titans don't come away with a win (maybe even if they don't come away with a BIG win), that doesn't bode well for this season.

Elsewhere

Detroit recap. Maryland recap.

Bellarmine 9, Detroit 6

Detroit 0-3.

Well, this one is going to sting. Detroit held an early 2-1 lead, but gave up a three-goal run to Bellarmine and never led again. The Titans kept the game close late into the third quarter at 6-5, but Bellarmine scored the first three goals of the fourth, and a last-minute Detroit goal only served to keep the score respectable at 9-6.

In my season preview for the Titans, I classified this game as a toss-up, and honestly, I expected Detroit to come away with the win, even on the road. Playing Ohio State close only upped that confidence, but at the end of the day, UDM will have to wait another couple weeks (4 weeks into their season) for their next realistic shot at a victory.

Tempo-Free

From the box score, here's your tempo-free breakdown.

Bellarmine
Bellarmine		Detroit
Faceoff Wins	8	Faceoff Wins	11
Clearing	12-13	Clearing	9-14
Possessions	26	Possessions	26
Goals	9	Goals	6
Offensive Efficiency	.341	Offensive Efficiency	.231

In a very slow game, Detroit did very well at the faceoff X to level up the number of possessions despite some struggles in the clearing game.

HOWEVA, it's the efficiency, stupid. Detroit's defense was terrrrrrrrrrible, allowing goals on nearly 35% of Bellarmine possessions. The offense actually wasn't too bad, but when your defense is going to struggle to that level, the offense needs to step it up to compensate.

Notes

As hinted above, Brandon Davenport performed pretty well on faceoffs (don't forget, this Bellarmine team handled Michigan on faceoffs just a couple weeks ago), and I think he's probably locked down the starting job there for the remainder of the year.

The Titans had their first multi-goal performer on the year, with attackman Shayne Adams netting a pair (on nine shots, for a .222 shooting percentage). Junior midfielder John Nowicki matched his point total by notching a goal and an assist.

It was a poor shooting day for several Titans, as Matt Gregson found the back of the net once in six shots, while Tim Lehto, Scott Harris, and Dennis Troy all went 0-fer on multiple shots. Harris at least put up an assist to partially make up for his 0/7 shooting day.

LSM Jordan Houtby tied a program record with 10 ground balls on the game.

AJ Levell made 7 saves while allowing 9 goals. I assume a big part of the blame goes on a porous Titan defense, but without seeing the game, it's hard to say for certain.

Bellarmine's 9 goals came on just 27 shots (.333) and Detroit took 33 shots to score 6 goals (.182).

Elsewhere

Detroit recap. Bellarmine recap. Box Score.

Up Next

Detroit serves as a sacrificial lamb at Maryland next Saturday at 1, before likely earning their first win of the season the following week in Pontiac against first-year program Mercer.

Ohio State 4, Detroit 3

Detroit 0-2. Photo from Detroit website.

Coming off a big loss to Delaware on Saturday, Detroit looked to rebound last night against Ohio State. My preseason prediction was a likely loss, so going down by a single goal may be something of a moral victory, but close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, and allowing a late winner on the road is heartbreaking.

Whereas all five of their goals against Delaware came on the man-up, UD's extra man unit was shut out in the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, and the clearing game was a bugaboo for the Titans.

Tempo-Free

From the box score, here's your tempo-free breakdown.

Ohio State
Ohio State		Detroit
Faceoff Wins	6	Faceoff Wins	5
Clearing	20-22	Clearing	14-21
Possessions	35	Possessions	28
Goals	4	Goals	3
Offensive Efficiency	.114	Offensive Efficiency	.107

With such a small sample size, it's hard to say Detroit was thaaaaat much less efficient than were the Buckeyes, and the number of possessions was a bigger factor in the loss for the Titans.

Both teams had a lot of struggles offensively, as Ohio State couldn't hit the broad side of a barn (their .173 shot percentage was lower than any team's season total last year, and only half their attempts were on net), and Detroit couldn't even generate shots in the first place (they only generated a shot on 57.1% of their possessions).

Per Ohio State's stats, Detroit committed 11 turnovers in the 4th quarter, when it mattered most, and that lack of poise in the clutch could have helped cost them the game.

Notes

Faceoffs were NOT a problem for Detroit on this day. Brandon Davenport was shut out in the third quarter, but managed to finish one draw short of .500 at 5-11. It's too early to say the struggles in Delaware were an aberration against a very good opponent, but there's definitely evidence that may be the case.

On offense, it was a dodging day for the Titans, as they had no assists on their three goals. Midfielders Tim Lehto and Alex Maini and freshman attack Alex Maini got on board.

In goal, it's hard to say whether AJ Levell had an excellent day saving 8 of 12 shots, or if the poor offensive play helped by giving him easy looks. I'll side on the side of optimism for the Columbus native, and say WOOO LEVELL.

Elsewhere

Highlights from Ohio State (requires Microsoft Silverlight):

Detroit recap. Ohio State recap.