That Air Force turned out to be a pretty good team (this game came on the heels of a win over Duke, for example) makes this result impressive… but you’re judged on wins and losses, not moral victories. Close, but no cigar.
Tempo Free
From the official box score, a look at the tempo-free stats:
| Air Force 2016 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Air Force | Detroit | ||
| Faceoff Wins | 11 | Faceoff Wins | 4 |
| Clearing | 17-17 | Clearing | 19-21 |
| Possessions | 30 | Possessions | 25 |
| Goals | 7 | Goals | 5 |
| Offensive Efficiency | .233 | Offensive Efficiency | .200 |
Detroit’s faceoff struggles against anyone with a pulse continued, putting the Titans into a possession disadvantage. Pair that with very poor offense, and even solid defense isn’t going to be enough to spring an upset.
Notes
About those faceoffs… four different Titans took a turn on draws, with only one – longpole Jordan Yono – having any sort of success (2/4). While other specialists had spurts of success earlier in the season, Ben Gjokaj (0/2), Greg Marzec (1/3), and Mike Sforza (1/6) didn’t have great days. It was pretty clear by this point in the season that some overall change in strategy on faceoffs was needed (and as we’ll see in the next few game recaps, it appears that a change did come).
UDM, by the nature of the game, did have more clearing attempts than Air Force to even out the possession game a bit, and they cleared pretty well on this day (.905), their fourth-best of the season behind only perfect outings against Siena and Marist and a .958 against Marquette in a game where they needed basically all of them. That was balanced out a bit by 14 total turnovers (a TO in the offensive end is ultimately the same result as a TO on the clear), only four forced by the Falcons.
Given only five goals – only three of them assisted, including the game’s lone EMO tally – this wasn’t a day with sterling offensive performances. Only Mark Anstead, with a goal and an assist, was a multi-point scorer. The Titans didn’t even get that many shots off, 23 for the game, with 14 of them on-goal.
After most of a year in which the Titans had moved away from a force-the-issue defense, they appeared to be pretty aggressive in this one, forcing eight turnovers among Air Force’s 17 total TOs committed. Paul Bitetti, Charlie Hayes, and Jason Weber each forced a pair.
Speaking of Weber, the goalkeeper had another nice game between the pipes. He saved 10 shots while allowing seven goals, helping build toward a top-20 save percentage in the nation. Facing 17 shots isn’t a ton, but Weber did a solid job against a good offense.
Elsewhere
Boxscore. Detroit recap. Air Force recap. Re-watch the whole darn thing on ESPN3.
Up Next
Detroit would come even closer, but fail to close the deal against Siena.