Detroit 7, Robert Morris 11

Detroit couldn’t bounce back from the loss to Michigan, falling in its second rivalry game in five days. There were signs of life, but the team has some improvements to make to return to the NCAA Tournament.

Tempo Free

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

We were expecting a bit of a warp-speed game, and that really didn’t turn out to be the case. The offenses were a little off, thanks in part to pretty good defense and in part to a slightly windy day, so the shooting was both less frequent and less effective than you’d expect in most contests.

The Detroit offense struggled in particular. The Titans have enough firepower that a .314 defensive efficiency should be enough to win. They just couldn’t work an effective offense most of the day.

Notes

Let’s start with that offense, which was led by a very nice day out of Shayne Adams. He scored five first-half goals, with four of them coming on what appeared to be the same play (one of those was on the EMO, so it could easily have been a variation). Another attackman would find room just above GLE close to the crease, find Adams across the way uncovered, and he’d dunk it in for the finish. Robert Morris adjusted at halftime and didn’t give up that play, shutting down the UDM offense.

The other three goals included one more highlight from Adams, who had a nice toe-drag dodging from the wing and finished. Alex Maini had a first-half goal of his own, and the only score of the second half was a finish from Brandon Beauregard. Maini and Tom Masterson each had three assists (Maini on Beauregard’s goal, the others all found Adams). While UDM rode the money play to great effect in the first half, they’re going to need more to consistently score this year.

Of course, another issue with Detroit’s offense revolved around getting shots off at all, with 19 turnovers committed (six by Maini), and getting them on cage when they did shoot. Only 18 of 44 shots were on goal. Mike Birney was a culprit with ZERO shots on goal among the 10 total he launched (he added three turnovers), as were Masterson (2/7 on goal) and Scott Drummond (1/4). Detroit has weapons, but they need to be able to hit spots to score, it’s as simple as that.

Defensively, the Titans started a little shaky (11 shots on goal allowed), but tightened things up after that. Chris Kelly started in goal and stood on his head in the first quarter before settling in to a solid performance – but one not good enough to win. Detroit caused only eight turnovers all game, so they were playing the more conservative style to a degree, but it didn’t pay off in making things easier on the keeper.

Clears were about even percentage-wise between the teams, but Robert Morris had more opportunities thanks to the turnovers committed by UDM and the poor shooting on the day.

Detroit still managed to stay even in possession (the way I calculate them – there were some midfield turnovers that add noise there) thanks to a nice day on faceoffs. Damien Hicks went 14/19, an outstanding day, while Tyler Corcoran and Nick Garippa combined to lose three attempts. Hicks coaxed five violations out of the Colonials as well, so it’s fair to assume that UDM will be a pretty good faceoff team this season.

Robert Morris had balanced offense, with nobody notching more than four points (Jacob Ruest with two goals and two assists) and every offensive starter getting at least two. They attacked from every spot on the field.

Defensively, Sean Meagher accounted for six caused turnovers (I’d have to re-watch, but I believe most of those were caused shortly after Detroit faceoff wins when he was playing one of the wings). Goalie Brian Bohn saved 11 shots and allowed seven goals.

Elsewhere

Boxscore. Detroit recap. Robert Morris recap.

Up Next

Detroit should have a good opportunity to get back to .500 this weekend with a trip to perennially-moribund VMI. This is no longer a conference game (the Keydets moved to the Atlantic Sun), but is still a familiar opponent.

VMI’s generally bad at everything – except faceoffs when they had Stephen Robarge, but he’s gone – so Detroit should be able to work out some of its kinks before its first true Titan Field home game against Bellarmine.