Detroit Weekend Preview: Marist

All of a sudden, this becomes the biggest game in Titan program history. Well, that may be an overstatement, as UDM has already locked up a berth in the conference tournament (and a chance to make the NCAA tourney), but this would clinch a regular-season conference championship and the #1 seed in the conference tourney. For MAAC playoff scenarios, check out this post.

Marist

Saturday 1PM, Poughkeepsie NY
Record:
Rankings: 50 (Computer).
Common Opponents: @ Delaware (L 7-8), Siena (L 10-12), @ Canisius (L 5-7), VMI (W 13-7), @ Jacksonville (W 9-8 OT), @ Manhattan (W 8-7)

Schedule

These two teams have many opponents in common – no surprise, as this is the last conference game of the year. Marist performed better against non-conference opponent Delaware in addition to Jacksonville. However, every opponent that they’ve played a bit later in the season has been a bigger victim of the Titans than Marist.

In other non-conference games, Marist has wins over Albany, Lafayette, Rutgers, and Holy Cross, with losses to Sacred Heart, Stony Brook, and Binghamton. The Red Foxes have also won 7 of their last 8 games, so they’re on a roll lately. Their lone loss was at Canisius (who the Titans beat in overtime this week).

Personnel

The Red Foxes have a trio of players over 20 goals and 30 points. Sophomore Jack Doherty plays in both the attack and midfield, and is the team’s leading goal-scorer with 29 on the year. He only has 7 assists, and is used mostly as a finisher. The other two, attackmen Connor Rice and Corey Zindel, are both finisher and feeders, with 21 goals apiece and 24 and 20 assists, respectively. Marist uses the attack as feeders and the midfield as finishers, as middie Jim Marks is next on the team in points, but he only has 4 assists on the year.

Defensively, Nick Armstrong is the stalwart, as the senior has started every game and leads the team in caused turnovers and ground balls (among non-faceoff specialists). Junior Zach Baddaluco has also started every game, and even tried his hand on some faceoffs. Sophomore Ethan Fox is the other starter.

In goal, sophomore Brendan Price has started all but one game (5-7 freshman Craig Goodermote got the nod in the most recent game against Holy Cross). Price sports a .516 save% and is allowing 8.82 goals per game.

Faceoffs have been an adventure for Marist, as every player who has taken more than one is under 50% on the season. Sophomore Matt Dugan has taken the majority, winning 99 of 200 draws, while freshman Kenny Tomeno has won 26 of 62.

Predictions

Despite Marist’s higher Laxpower rating and home-field advantage, I came into this preview expecting to predict a Titan win, based on Detroit’s great form over the past several games (including Siena’s first home conference loss in a million years). However, the Red Foxes are on a little run of their own, winning 7 of their last 8. The teams have identical adjusted efficiency margins, and the homefield advantage, along with higher stakes, tips the game in Marist’s favor. I think it will be a close game, but an 11-9 Titan loss.