As I said in the preview, this is a game that, ultimately, didn’t mean a whole lot one way or the other for UDM’s season. However, given the way it happened… this was a terrible, horrible loss.
Tempo Free
From the official box score, a look at the tempo-free stats:
| Bellarmine 2012 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Bellarmine | Detroit | ||
| Faceoff Wins | 7 | Faceoff Wins | 14 |
| Clearing | 13-15 | Clearing | 11-16 |
| Possessions | 27 | Possessions | 32 |
| Goals | 9 | Goals | 8 |
| Offensive Efficiency | .333 | Offensive Efficiency | .250 |
Detroit faced off very well in this game, something that they don’t usually do. Considering Bellarmine is juuuust below average nationally, that’s impressive. The Knights’ ride gave UDM some trouble, though it didn’t really kill them.
In efficiency terms, Bellarmine’s late flurry turned what had been a really bad day into a very good one for the Knights’ offense. Detroit’s offensive output was about what you’d expect.
Overall, this was a very slow game, not necessarily what you’d expect out of the country’s fastest team and one that’s above-average in terms of pace.
In-depth tempo-free stuff from TempoFreeLax:
Notes
Just to make sure we’ve got the story straight here, Detroit led 8-4 with 4:06 left in the game. In order to win, Bellarmine had to score four goals in just over four minutes to even get it to overtime. Instead, they scored five goals in just over four minutes, and the game-winner arrived with just 12 seconds to spare in the game. For a Detroit team that dominated the contest up until those final few minutes, the final result is nothing short of an embarrassment.
Faceoffs went really well for the Titans. Tyler Corcoran won eight of 11 draws, Brandon Davenport won five of nine, and Danny Preston even got a chance on senior day, winning his only faceoff. It’s a shame that the strong performance – a rarity for this team – was unable to help deliver a win.
Joel Matthews was out of the lineup once more. Not sure on his status with the team at this point, but he’s still listed on the roster (when Matt Gregson left the team last year, his name was immediately removed from the roster, so that can be telling). It’s unfair to speculate beyond “I wonder if Matthews is going to be back this weekend,” so I’ll refrain from doing anything more.
With Matthews out of the lineup, it should come as no surprise that Shayne Adams carried the offense for Detroit. He scored a hat trick, and even shared the love a little bit, adding an assist on LSM Jordan Houtby’s goal. Alex Maini had two goals and an assist, while John Nowicki and Scott Drummond both had one of each.
Houtby’s performance wasn’t just strong because of the rare goal. He also caused two turnovers and picked up five ground balls during the course of the game. Jamie Hebden was the only other Titan to cause two turnovers (yet another rare occurrence for this UDM team). A.J. Levell went the distance, and saved 14 shots while allowing nine goals. That’s not a bad performance, but for the “L” next to his name on the scoresheet.
This was a tale of two halves, even moreso than a tale of the first 55 minutes and the final five. The Titans outshot Bellarmine 17-13 in the first half (12-4 in the second quarter) and were outshot 22-11 in the final two quarters. Most of the other stats remained pretty even (or even, in the case of faceoffs, s;anted toward UDM), but the shot numbers are pretty telling.
Elsewhere
Boxscore. UDM game story. Senior Day photo gallery.
Up Next
After that gutpunch, UDM travels to Lexington, Va. for what should be a fairly routine win over VMI. This Titan team seems to be dealing with psychological tests at every turn, so they’ll have to buckle down (especially in the instance that Joel Matthews doesn’t play) in order to avoid being upset.
They clinched a spot in the MAAC Championships with weekend losses by VMI and Manhattan, but should be able to improve their seed with a win over the conference’s cellar-dweller. Stay tuned later this week for a MAAC bracketology post.
Why doesn’t Alex Maini get any respect?
He should get more… He has really picked up his game lately, and it is helping to settle the offense down. He’s a solid player with a lot of skill.
I have to lay this one at the Titan staff’s doorstep…Finishing a game is all coaching..You have timeouts at your disposal to settle your team down and instruct them on what you want…the clock was the opponent, not Bellermine, yet unbelievably, Detroit was trying to score rather than pull the ball out…Clearly, Bellermine took advantage of Detroit’s incompetance down the stretch, but the Titans beat themselves in this one, and it would have been a nice win, however they got it done. Will they ever play a complete game? Once they got up by 4 goals, you could see them relax and take their foot off the gas. Hard to believe this late in the season when wins are at a premium they would need to learn that lesson… Other observations: Up to the 4th Quarter debacle, the offense was playing well, and AJ and the defense were playing a solid me. Like you said, faceoffs were a pleasant surprise on Saturday…Spoke to a parent in the crowd who said Detroit passed out season honors at their banquet, and Shayne got offensive MVP, Hebden defensive MVP and AJ was MVP… I was more than shocked that Houtby got nothing… He leads the nation in cuased turnovers, he’s in the top 10 in the country in ground balls… How is he not your MVP or defensive MVP??? As shown on Saturday, the guy is quite unique, and a total weapon for UDM a hell of a lacrosse player…Mathews was not missed on Saturday, and even though he’s a talent, it sounds like he has to get his act together.. Detroit still had some dumb turnovers, that came back to haunt them, as well as some ill advised penalties…Some folks after said it was a bizzare ending with freak and unlucky goals being scored… But not when you manage the game the whole way through… This team has some talented players and they play hard, but they need their coaches to get on the stick and lead these guys with a solid game plan that forces them to play 60 minutes… Little things matter and the attention to detail by the Detroit staff can work wonders. Another chance to tune up for the MAAC Play offs with a game at VMI… The Keydets will be playing for pride, and will be at home… If Detroit waltzes in and thinks they will will win on talent alone, they will be upset, if they treat this with a high energy approach and a pre- play off mentality and throw out the records type of game, they will really gear up for the games at Marist…You can’t just turn it on for the play offs, especially this team… Good Luck Titans… Finish strong!
They have, bar-none, the worst coaches in NCAA division 1. I did not understand what qualified any of these coaches for their current jobs when they were hired; and after seeing their sideline performances, I still don’t understand. From what I understand, the coaches also play a great deal of politics which lead to Houtby not receiving any awards.
As everyone has said, face-offs were a pleasant surprise. The team just has to learn how to close out games now.
Get your act together Detroit, you have a title to win.
l somewhat agree with John the coaching at the end of the game was a little puzzling….should have taken a time out. l was also puzzled why Adams came out with 3 minutes left his lacrosse iq and his lack of not turning the ball over would have made a huge difference… pretty sure the guy they put in turned the ball over twice…live and learn i hope…And as for Maini getting no respect what kind of respect are you looking to get for him being totally honest he is the 3rd or 4th best attack man on the team if you include Harris in the Mix. He has stepped up his game but the facts are the facts..Hoping to see Matthews back this weekend or for the MAAC weekend at the latest…On a side note heard a rumour that Davenport separated his shoulder l hope this is not the case as it would be a huge loss for Detroit as he has been much improved the last half of the season….Good luck Detroit against VMI…
Taking Adams out of the game (especially with Matthews, your other talented attackman, unavailable) is crazy. I hadn’t realized the coaching staff did that. I’d be very interested to hear them explain their end-of-game strategy. Obviously it failed spectacularly, but there had to have been some sound reason they made the choices they did.
They put in d-middies at the end of games and opt to go for speed, John Nowicki replaced shayne Adams with 4:00 minutes left. It failed against JU but luckily aj saved the game. It failed bad against BU.
They put in d middies at attack to kill the clock? Or are you saying d middies were in at midfield in case of a turnover so you wouldnt need to sub and could stop transition?
I would think you would still keep shayne in though since he is attack, unless his stick protection is bad and prone to turnovers (which would surprise me).