Detroit 8, Siena 15

So, uh, yeah. Not the best two-game stretch in UDM history. The Titans had a chance to grab ahold of the MAAC race, and now the remainder of the season will be to guarantee the second/third seed in the MAAC tournament instead.

With remaining conference opponents (Jacksonville and VMI) in the bottom half of the conference, that shouldn’t be a huge issue, but the Titans are not at peak form this season.

Tempo Free

From the official box score, a look at the tempo-free stats:

This game was pretty fast – fitting for the two fastest teams in the country – but that was more a matter of Detroit’s inability to stop Siena from scoring that anything.

The Titans actually held their own on faceoffs – which will be a welcome surprise any time it happens – and weren’t too far behind in the clearing game. That led to only a small deficit in possession.

The big problem was a mediocre-to-bad offensive effort and an awful defensive effort. Regardless of how good your team is in the possession game, that efficiency deficit is going to be difficult to overcome. Given that the Titans are a below-average possession team, that’s the kiss of death.

Notes

Brandon Davenport (7/13) and Tyler Corcoran (6/13) should be commended for their effort on draws (Nick Garippa took a single faceoff and lost it). Although Siena isn’t a good faceoff unit, that hasn’t stopped the Titans from being dominated in some past games. Especially in a contest where the team result didn’t turn out the right way, they did a good job. Unfortunately, allowing Siena to win six of eight in the third ultimately put the game out of reach.

Although the defense wasn’t good by any stretch, I think the offense was just as big a story. Joel Matthews returned, but wasn’t up to his usual stat-stuffing form, with a single goal and no assists on six shots. Siena has been a decent defense this year, but not this good. Overall, the Titans launched only 29 shots in 39 possessions, and put only 17 on goal. Only two of the eight UDM goals were assisted. It was just not a solid offensive effort.

As for positives on offense, Alex Maini was the only multi-point scorer for the Titans, with two goals and an assist. He was joined by Chris Nemes as the only players on the team to put all their shots on the cage as well.

I’ve already mentioned that the defense was really poor, but that didn’t prevent a couple of Titans – guess who! – from having decent days. Jamie Hebden caused four turnovers and picked up three ground balls, while Jordan Houtby had three of each. Both had a turnover and a penalty, but that wasn’t the huge issue.

Detroit is a penalty-prone team, but that really wasn’t their big problem on Saturday. During the third quarter – in which Siena made their big run – there was only one Titan penalty (although it did lead to the game’s only EMO goal). The three final Detroit penalties could be a problem going forward, though. Shayne Adams was nailed for slashing, and then unsportsmanlike conduct. Joel Matthews was ejected for fighting. That should mean Matthews is out next week, and we’ve seen Detroit struggle against lower-caliber teams without him.

A.J. Levell got shelled in this game, facing 28 shots, and did an admirable job just to save 13 of them. His defense wasn’t doing him tons of favors, clearly, and that will have to tighten up going forward.

Elsewhere

Official box score. Detroit recap. Siena recap. Jim Davenport photo gallery. LaxUnlimited photos.

Up Next

The Titans have just three games remaining, with a visit from the Jacksonville Dolphins up next. A win in this one is necessary to stay on pace a spot in the MAAC Championships, forget about a top-half seed now.

It’s still a little early to break out the bracketology, but UDM is verging on win-or-go-home territory in the final two conference games, surrounding a non-conference contest with Bellarmine. Fortunately, one of those games is against hapless VMI, so this weekend’s game is the most important one left on the schedule.