Detroit 13, Manhattan 7

Detroit 4-8 (3-1 MAAC)

I managed to make it out to my first Detroit Mercy game of the season on Saturday, and was rewarded by witnessing a 13-7 victory for the Titans on a gray, cool day.

Before getting into the details, let’s check out the…

Tempo Free

From the box score, your tempo-free breakdown:

So, for the majority of the year, I’ve been saying thins like “Brandon Davenport has the highest win% on faceoffs, he should be taking nearly all of them except in garbage time.” Some commenters disagreed with that, but the stats are what they are. Well, now I think I’m starting to understand where I was wrong. Sure, he was just 2/7 on the day, which doesn’t help, but he also lost a lot of draws cleanly, or almost cleanly, giving the Jaspers some good 6-on-5 chances. If I recall correctly, both of his wins were on procedure violations by Manhattan’s faceoff specialist.

The faceoffs for Detroit’s team on the whole were sketchy (as I’ve been talking about all year), even though they managed to pull close to within 50% on the game. Without knowing too much about the backgrounds of the players, it seems like a lot of them just aren’t that experienced at the position. Manhattan’s specialists knew the tricks of jumping just before the whistle (without getting called), and seemed all-around more comfortable. As Detroit’s program develops a bit more, it shouldn’t be a long-term problem.

In the clearing game, Detroit had some bad plays, but I was still shocked to see 9 failed clears, while Manhattan had only 3. Some of those were late in the game with the score out of reach, so the numbers may not be as bad as they looked.

In all, a slightly higher number of possessions with a considerable advantage on the final scoreboard is going to mean a much better efficiency number, and the calculations bear that out.

Notes

This is more of a general thought, but Detroit was a much, much better team than Manhattan was. The players were more skilled, the defense more capable of getting 1-on-1 stops, and overall the talent level didn’t even seem close. For that reason, it was frustrating to see possessions wasted, because the pure talent difference between the teams was more than the 13-7 score indicated. Going forward, I think a solid foundation for the program has been built, and Detroit will be ready to take big steps in coming years.

I already mentioned faceoffs above, so I won’t go into too much detail, but I was impressed by the Titans’ #13 Joe MacLean. He seemed more willing to scrap for the ball than either of the other UDM players who took draws, and also had the most consistent sustained success.

It should come as no surprise given some of the accolades they’ve gotten this year, but from my vantage point, it seemed like AJ Levell, Jordan Houtby, and Shayne Adams were the best three players on the field. Although Alex Maini had a career day, Adams seemed to be more smooth offensively, which I guess is what you expect from a Canadian player.

When the UDM athletics site posted last week that the Titans lead the NCAA in caused turnovers, I was a little skeptical, especially given the team’s overall record at the time. Level of competition, differences in record keeping, etc., could have been the cause. However, I was really impressed by their ability to play on-ball defense, and get some key checks.

AJ Levell was credited with an assist on a Scott Harris goal, but I’m a little skeptical about the stats there. He threw the ball downfield on a Gilman clear, and Harris got it maybe 10 yards past the half line and took it into the goal, beating at least one defender on the way. Can’t fault giving credit to a goalie for an offensive play though.

When the Titans were up 10-4 late in the third, and then let Manhattan get within 11-7, I started to get a little nervous. However, they managed to put in the game’s final two goals and shut the door on a comeback bid.

One final observation in the “general” category: Detroit’s players seem to have pretty inaccurate shots. They have plenty of power, but even their time-and-room attempts seem more likely to miss the cage than not, once they get out of the are right in front of the net. If they had more shooting accuracy, this could be a potent offensive team (or at least one that forces the goalie to make more saves).

Elsewhere

Official site recap. Postgame with UDM coach Matt Holtz. Postgame with Alex Maini:

Jim Davenport’s photos.

Up Next

Detroit hosts Canisius on Saturday at 3:00PM. This is UDM’s senior day, and will take place as the second part of a double-header on Titan Field.