Detroit Mercy Advances To HL Semifinals
DAYTON, Ohio (10/29/2018) -- The stone cold wall of the Titan defense was on display again and two second-half goals sent the University of Detroit Mercy women's soccer team to the Horizon League Championship semifinals as the red, white and blue blanked third-seeded Wright State, 2-0, on the road on Monday night.
With the win, the fifth-seeded Titans will take on second-seeded Cleveland State on Thursday in the semifinals, held at Milwaukee.
Detroit Mercy (9-7-3) won its sixth-straight game - third-longest winning streak in school history - and extended their school-record shutout streak to six in a row as well as the Titans have not allowed a goal in over 590 minutes of play.
Sophomore Kelli Doyle scored the Titans first goal on a header off a free kick from freshman Julie Ann Piechocki in the 69th minute and a little more than two minutes later, the rookie unleashed a shot from outside the box that beat the Wright State (6-9-2) keeper.
Senior Marina Manzo tallied one save on the night to pick up her ninth shutout of the year and extend her school record to 26 in her career. She has been in net for the entire Titan shutout streak.
The defense limited Wright State to just five shots in the game, a season-best for Detroit Mercy, as the Titans had seven, six on net.
The Horizon League Championship semifinals match against Cleveland State will be played at 5 p.m. (EST) and will be streamed live on ESPN+. The Titans defeated the Vikings, 1-0, in the Motor City during the regular season.
First Half:
- Manzo's lone save on the night came in the fifth minute as the HL Offensive and Player of the Year Aaliyah Patten had a shot on net
- WSU had attempts that were wide and high at 14:38 and 19:30
- Senior Carly Fiorido had a shot that was blocked in the 26th minute and that led to a corner kick, but no other shot
- Freshman Nasreen Kobeissi's boot was stopped by the goalie at 34:42
Second Half:
- The Titans started to attack WSU more as Piechocki had a shot that was wide at 63:26 and one that the goalie corralled a minute later
- After a Wright State foul, Piechocki helped get the Titans on the board as her free kick got to Doyle, who headed in the goal at 68:44
- Piechocki would make it 2-0 a little more than two minutes later as she blasted a kick to the top left corner
- WSU had two corner kicks and one shot the rest of the way
Game Notes:
- Wright State leads the all-time series, 14-12-5, but the Titans are 9-5-2 on the road
- The win was the first postseason victory over Wright State on the road as the Titans dropped matches in 2000 and 2008
- The six-match winning streak is the third longest in school history behind the school-record 10 straight in 1996 and the eight in a row piled up in 1993
- The last time the Titans gave up a goal was in the 56th minute of a 1-0 loss to Milwaukee seven games ago
- Manzo came into the game leading the Horizon League in save percentage (.839), a career-high 104 saves and 5.78 saves per game, the latter two ranked 11th and 34th in the nation, respectively
- Manzo's nine clean sheets are tied for the school single-season record with Nora Abolins (2012) and Katie Fortenberry (2005)
- Piechocki is now tied for the team lead with Fiorido at five goals, while her six assists are the most by as Titan since Alyssa Lotito had 11 in 2013
- Doyle has now scored a goal in two of the last three games after not scoring in the first 16 matches
This is the year that they will remember the Titans. Semis here we come #TitanPride pic.twitter.com/Dn6hG1oSwf
— Detroit Mercy WSOC (@DetroitWSOC) October 30, 2018
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