Horizon League pacesetter Milwaukee came to Titan Field Friday afternoon, and while the University of Detroit(w) Mercy women’s soccer squad held the Panthers well under their conference scoring average of five goals per game, the Titans were unable to pull off the upset and suffered a 2-0 setback.

Milwaukee (8-5-3, 6-0-0 HL) failed to reach five goals for only the second time in six conference games, and the Titans managed to hold the high-octane Panther offense, which tallied 37 shots in each of its wins last weekend, to only 13 on the day.

Both of UWM’s goals came off the foot of sophomore Sarah Hagen, who increased her season total to 18, tops in the HL. The first came at the 27:27 mark when Kate Megna sent a crossing pass into the box where a diving Hagan was able to head it into the back of the net. The second came nine minutes later when Hagan settled a crossing pass, once again from Megna who upped her total to 13, and was able to sneak it past the Titans keeper, sophomore Madeline Franko (Dearborn, MI/Dearborn).

Franko, who was making her first career start against Milwaukee, made a career-high five stops. Four of those stops were made in the second half and helped to keep the Panthers off the board for the last 53 minutes of the game.

“Madeline did a good job today under tough conditions,” said Detroit head coach Mike Lupenec. “She did exactly what she needed to do and she gave us a chance.”

Offensively, the Titans were led by senior Trina Kochanski (Royal Oak, MI/Kimball) and junior Selena Stanski (Tecumseh, ON/St. Anne’s Secondary). Each player recorded two shots in the contest, and Kochanski put both of hers on goal. Sophomore Lauren Roffey (West Bloomfield, MI/West Bloomfield) had Detroit’s only other shot on goal of the contest and freshman Janae Paveglio (Flushing, MI/Flushing) also had one shot.

“We did some good things today and I’m proud of the way we played,” said Lupenec. “You’re never happy with a loss, but (Milwaukee) has outshot teams by 20 or more shots at times this year and we were able to hold them a bit, and we had some chances ourselves. We just didn’t take advantage of some of the set pieces that we had, and we’ve got to convert on those if we want to win games.”

UDM held a 2-0 advantage in corner kicks over Milwaukee but came away empty on both chances, and the Titans also had several opportunities after fouls near the Panthers’ goal but were turned away.

Detroit will look to defend Titan Field again on Sunday, hosting Green Bay in a game with serious conference tournament implications.

“Green Bay is one of the teams we’re competing with for a spot in the conference tournament, so it would be huge for us to get three points in the league standings with a win,” said Lupenec.

Green Bay entered its contest on Friday afternoon with a 4-8-2 record, including a 2-2-1 mark in the HL, putting them in fifth place. Last season in Green Bay the Titans held an early 1-0 lead, but the Phoenix scored a pair of unanswered goals to scrape out the 2-1 victory.

The Titans and the Phoenix will kickoff at noon on Sunday, and the action can be followed with Gametracker.