Offensive Preview Video
Ticket Information
 
DETROIT (1/26/2015) --  In less than two weeks, the University of Detroit Mercy men's lacrosse team will open the 2015 season at home against Ohio State on Saturday, Feb. 7, at Ultimate Soccer Arenas in Pontiac.
 
The Titans are a young team with just 16 upperclassmen on its 47-man roster, but most of those upperclassmen are the accomplished playmakers on the squad.
 
On offense, Detroit returns four of its top six goal scorers from a year ago, including its top attackman in senior Shayne Adams and the entire midfield line of seniors Brandon Beauregard, Mike Birney and Scott Drummond.
 
Adams will have to lead a young attack unit that has just one real experienced player returning and that is when Beauregard moves upfront. The rest of the attack will feature sophomore Kyle Beauregard – who played in seven games last season – as well as sophomore transfer Connor Maks, redshirt freshmen Alec Gilhooly, Kyle Pedwell and Adam Susalla and true freshmen Mark Anstead, Brady Gagner and Jeff Fernandes.
 
"We are moving forward as a unit," said first year head coach Chris Kolon '09 (MBA). "We have a lot of kids working hard at it and we are focusing as a unit. It is one team, one family and that's what we are."
 
"We pride ourselves on showing up to work everyday," said assistant coach and offensive coordinator Graham Adams. "We are looking for the guys to stay present, come to practice everyday, work hard and give good effort."
 
Adams is a three-time All-MAAC honoree who set a school record with 42 goals and 49 points last season. He has a school record 120 goals in his career and is second with 139 points, both numbers ranking in the top 10 among active players entering the 2015 campaign.
 
"Shayne is a great leader. He scores a lot of goals, but he is part of a unit. He is going a great jop in that unit and I am sure with his experience, he will help our team score," added Coach Kolon.
 
UDM might have the top midfield unit in the MAAC with the three seniors in Beauregard, Birney and Drummond.
 
Beauregard has played in 44 games with 30 starts at both attack and midfield and has tallied 22 goals, 28 assists and 50 points. Birney is a two-time All-MAAC Second Team selection who has totaled 52 goals and 71 points in his career, while Drummond is coming off a career year in goals (17), assists (15) and points (32) en route to Second Team All-MAAC accolades, and has 42 goals and 78 points in his first three seasons.
 
"Very strong," said Coach Adams on the Titan midfield. "We have a lot of faith in Beauregard, Birney and Drummond. We think they are great players, great individuals, but we are also getting a lot out of our second line."
 
The depth at midfield runs very deep too with experience in seniors Alex Wilson and Tyler Harper and junior Andy Hebden along with a host of first and second year Titans who will all vie for playing time.
 
The faceoff unit will be a key to the Titans offensive success and Detroit will have a couple of returning FOGO's in the mix in junior Damien Hicks and sophomore Ben Gjokaj as well as sophomore transfer Greg Marzec.
 
"We are very confident in our faceoff unit this year," said assistant coach Jeff Turner. "We have very good competition there. They have all been competing hard and they have all had their good days and days they have struggled, but we are confident in them and their development."
 
Hicks dealt with some injuries last season to post a 48.2 winning percentage (85-of-193), but when healthy, he showed what he could do as a redshirt freshman in 2013 winning 52.3 percent (104-of-199). Gjokaj saw limited action winning 5-of-12 and Marzec also saw limited time as a freshman at Boston University last season.
 
Detroit should enough weapons to help it replace some of the key people on its record-breaking power play that scored at a 70.8 clip (34-of-48), and with the experienced talent on the roster and the senior leadership in place, the Titans have a chance to be very exciting on that side of the ball.