DETROIT (6/16/2014) -- It didn't take that long for the University of Detroit Mercy men's lacrosse team to climb over several hurdles in winning a conference championship and producing a pair of professional lacrosse players.
 
During this past year, two Titans were playing for pay in the National Lacrosse League (NLL) in Jordan Houtby (St. Catharines, Ont./Holy Cross) and Joel Matthews (St. Catharines, Ont./Holy Cross).
 
Houtby was drafted by the Minnesota Swarm in the fourth round (29th overall) of the 2013 NLL Draft, while Matthews was picked by the Buffalo Bandits in the fourth round (31st overall) in 2012.
 
Houtby appeared in six games as a defensemen in 2014 and had two points on a pair of assists along with 15 loose balls. In his professional debut, he collected three loose balls at Vancouver and then added his first career point with a helper at Philadelphia. Later in the year, he posted five loose balls and an assist against Colorado.
 
As a Titan, Houtby was a three-time MAAC LSM of the Year and is still the all-time leader in caused turnovers in NCAA history with 158. He also recorded 289 career ground balls – still a school record – and had 14 points on nine goals and six assists.
 
Matthews saw action in two games for Buffalo and tallied two goals and four loose balls. He made his debut at Rochester and put up seven shots – six on goal – with four loose balls and then the following week versus the Knighthawks, he scored twice on just four shots.
 
He played two years for the Titans and is currently fourth in school history with 87 points and third at 61 goals. He was tabbed All-MAAC Second Team as a freshman in 2010 after leading UDM with 37 goals – most among Division I freshmen - and 48 points, fifth and sixth in the conference, respectively, and ended the campaign 14th in the country with 2.47 goals per game and 36th totaling 3.2 points per game.
 
A number of UDM men's lacrosse players are also competing in the Ontario Junior Lacrosse Leagues this summer and an update on those Titans will be provided in the near future.