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.