Detroit 11, Monmouth 6

This may just be a lopsided win against one of the country’s worst teams (which will close its inaugural campaign without a single win), but the Titans only needed a win and they got it. They also got the help they needed to extend the season.

Tempo Free

From the official box score, a look at the tempo-free stats:

The slow pace of the game (the Titans’ slowest of the season by a country mile) obscures that this was something of an offensive explosion for a team that really needed one. That allowed UDM’s good-not-great defensive performance against Monmouth to be more than enough.

Of course, there was also the possession advantage by Detroit, thanks to their ability to score goals rather than give up clearing attempts. Be more efficient while winning possession, and by definition you can’t lose.

Notes

Since the Detroit EMO has been lethal this year, it’s time for me to give it top billing in a postgame. 3/3 on the day, and while that was against one of the country’s worst teams (as most of the games have been against the second-easiest slate in the nation), you can’t fault that unit for the schedule. They get it done week-in and week-out.

If you ignore a quarter-long stretch from the end of the first quarter to the end of the second quarter, Shayne Adams didn’t have a very good game. A mere one-goal, one-assist outing is not what we’ve come to expect of him. Fortunately, he scored five straight during the aforementioned stretch, giving him a huge game after all. Six of 11 Titan goals (and an assist on one more) will certainly do.

With Adams hogging all the production, only… uh… five other Titans had multi-point days. Not only was this a quietly excellent offensive performance, UDM also managed to spread the wealth. Mike Birney had two goals and two assists (and he wasn’t volume shooting , either, launching only five shots). Alex Maini and Tom Masterson each had two assists, while Scott Drummond and Brandon Beauregard had a goal and an assist apiece.

The one thing that went really poorly for Detroit was turnovers. They had 27 on the day. And 11 goals. In a game where they only had 31 possessions. There’s always a bit of room for statistical noise in the boxscore, but I can confidently state that Monmouth’s Sports Info team needs to be, like, taught how to keep stats before next season starts. They’re doing it wrong now. Coincidentally, Monmouth also had 16 caused turnovers (so probably it’s an integrity lesson, not rule interpretation lesson, that needs to be taught). Alex Maini and Mike Birney are credited with seven and six turnovers, respectively, and while they probably has a couple apiece, I’m not holding it against them when there’s simply no way the stats are right.

Defensively, Jason Weber had another excellent day – if he’s not the first-team goalie on the all-freshman team, I’ll eat my hat – and while a bit of that could be inflation of Monmouth’s shot statistics, I’m more apt to believe it. .750 (six goals allowed, 18 saves) will win you some games. He good.

In front of Weber, Chris Shevins had a very nice day with five ground balls, but UDM was only credited with two caused turnovers all day (one by Adams, one by Joe Gifford). That statistical profile – combined with Weber’s day and what I assume to be a really low talent level on Monmouth – seems to imply there was heavy implementation of zone by UDM, but since I didn’t see the game and haven’t yet bothered to ask, I can’t say for certain.

Tyler Corcoran took every faceoff, just clearing the 50% mark at 11/21. He picked up seven ground balls himself, so it was a nice day that was self-created, not endowed upon him by his wing players. With a bit of junk time (two goals were scored by the time the game was clearly decided instead of just functionally decided), I would have liked to see Damien Hicks in there to stay fresh in case he’s needed in the MAAC Tournament, but that one’s not a big deal.

Detroit didn’t ride Monmouth hard, even though the Hawks have one of the country’s worst clears. I don’t have a complaint there, because Detroit simply hasn’t been a hard-riding team this year. You do what you’ve been doing and let them mess it up for themselves, or simply allow them to stagnate when they do get to the settled offense.

Elsewhere

Detroit recap. Boxscore. Monmouth recap. Photo gallery. Weber and Adams earn weekly honors.

Up Next

The big result for Detroit was less about their own victory – basically a foregone conclusion from the outset – but more about the help they needed in order for this section to not say “crap, season’s over.” They got that help with Marist winning, creating a five-way tie(!) for second place in the conference. After many tiebreaking procedures, the Titans earned the third seed in the MAAC Tournament.

That earns them a date with Marist, the team that earned UDM a bid, and the one that the Titans beat 12-11 on the road just a couple weekends ago. The tournament is held in Poughkeepsie, so Detroit will have to beat the Red Foxes twice on their own field this season to have any hopes of extending for one more game – and a shot at the MAAC automatic bid.