DETROIT (10/17/2018) -- Senior Carly Fiorido helped deliver a massive upset victory and kept the Titans' Horizon League tournament hopes alive Wednesday afternoon as her goal in the 64th minute powered the University of Detroit Mercy women's soccer team past Cleveland State, 1-0, at Titan Field.

It was Fiorido's career and team-high fifth goal on the season and her third game-winner in 2018. Freshman Julie Ann Piechocki picked up the assist Wednesday with a long pass into the box.

Detroit Mercy (6-7-3, 2-4-1 Horizon League) and Cleveland State (9-5-1, 5-1-1 HL) were deadlocked in a scoreless first half. Both teams had four shots and two saves before halftime. But the Titans made the most of their chances out of the break and Fiorido fought off a defender and snuck a shot into the back of the net.

Senior Marina Manzo made three saves in the victory and now has 97 on the season. She is two saves shy of moving into the top five in a single season at Detroit Mercy.

The Titans had the edge offensively with 10 shots and six on goal. Fiorido, Piechocki, Kelli Doyle and Caitlin Carroll each had two shots for the Titans. Cleveland State settled for eight shots, three that landed on net, but had a 6-2 edge in corner kicks.

The red, white and blue have now won three consecutive games, all via the shutout, after posting road victories at Northwood and Green Bay. 

The Titans will look to improve their postseason odds Sunday as they host Youngstown State for Senior Day. Game time is set for 1 p.m. at Titan Field.

First Half:

• Detroit Mercy wasted little time finding a scoring opportunity as a corner kick at 5:42 resulted in a shot that landed wide of the net
• Cleveland State's first shot attempt was blocked in the 16th minute, and less than three minutes later, it couldn't produce a shot on a corner kick
• The Vikings had another corner kick in the 27th minute but was for naught
• Manzo made her first save of the contest late in the 32nd minute with a strong slide into the shot, and earned another two minutes later
• Cleveland State's fourth shot of the half went wide with six minutes until halftime
• The Titans pieced together a last-minute effort, but Piechocki's shot in the 44th minute was corralled by Cleveland State goaltender Stevie Holbrook
   

Second Half:

• Cleveland State came out firing, earning corner kick a corner kick in the 45th minute
• Three minutes later, the Vikings took aim at Manzo with a pair of shots. The senior keeper stopped the first one, but the second was wide off a corner kick
• Detroit Mercy took its first shot of the second half in the 57th minute off a corner kick, but senior Molly Kane's header was saved by Holbrook
• The Titans continued to apply the pressure with a four-minute run starting in the 60th minute. Carroll and senior Elizabeth Gonser's shots were corralled but Fiorido's attempt landed successfully to break open a scoreless affair
• Cleveland State had two shots the rest of the way but both were off the mark, sealing the upset for the Titans
   

Game Notes:

• Detroit Mercy leads the all-time series, 10-4-2, and is 8-0 against Cleveland State in the Motor City
• Cleveland State entered the matchup eyeing a potential regular season Horizon League title, but needed to win out to pull off the feat
• Fiorido now has sic in her career and that was the first in Horizon League play
• Manzo has now posted three-straight shutouts and now has 23 in her career, tied for second in school history with Katie Fortenberry (2004-08) and Alisson Dube
• Manzo also passed Fortenberry (2007) to move into eighth place on the Titan single season list with 97 saves on the season
• Piechocki had not scored a point in three-straight games until the game-winning assist to Fiorido
• Fiorido now has game winners winners against Central Michigan, Madonna and Cleveland State on the year

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