FORT WAYNE, Ind. (9/20/2017) -- Freshmen Rachel Russo scored three second-half goals as the University of Detroit Mercy women's soccer team blanked Fort Wayne, 3-0, on the road on Sunday. The hat trick was the first By a Titan since 2013 and believed to be just the second in school history by a freshman. She also accomplished the task taking just three shots Three different Titans (1-0-1) earned assists on the day in seniors Rachel DeLuca and Phylisha Drayton and freshman Olivia Parra and junior Marina Manzo recorded five saves as Fort Wayne (0-2) attempted 16 total shots on the day. Detroit Mercy will return to action on Wednesday, Aug. 23, when the red, white and blue hosts Lawrence Tech at 3 p.m. Quotes: Head Coach Mike Lupenec "I am very proud of the team and the coaching staff. This was a total team effort as we are dealing with some injuries and I am dealing with a family matter. We had a lot of kids step up today with the big one being Rachel (Russo). All road wins are great, and I can't say enough about the job of my coaching staff in Jamie (Huff), Mike (Sheehy) and Jennifer (Borawski). They deserve a lot of credit for today and everything they do for this program." "We should call our backline the iron curtain because they really don't allow anything. They deserve a lot of credit. We withstood some chances by them, especially in the first half, but they played great. If they give up an early goal, who knows, it could be a totally different game." First Half Neither team had a lot of strong scoring opportunities despite the Titans being outshot, 8-3. Both teams had one corner kick and each goalie had one save in the stanza. Second Half The Titans struck early as Russo took a pass from Drayton and put it in near the left post just 50 seconds into play. Russo's second goal came just 1:03 later as DeLuca set her up and she was able to tap it in against on the left post. Manzo recorded three of her five saves in the game in a 13-minute span. First, she stopped a header at 49:44. She then denied a shot at 61:35 and again at 61:41 to keep the red, white and blue in front 2-0. Russo then connected on the magical third goal with less than a minute left as fellow freshmen Olivia Parra set her up and she beat the keeper from just outside the six-yard box. Key Stats Russo is the first Titan to score three goals in a game since Alyssa Riley '15 had three against Marygrove on Aug. 31, 2001. She is also the first Titan freshman to net a hat trick since Tanya Tiselj '03 had three in 1999 against Bowling Green. Manzo is now sixth in school history with 187 saves, just four behind Kristi Elliott '00 for fifth place. It is just the second time the Titans have started the season with a pair of shutouts joining the 1997 squad that defeated Green Bay, 5-0, and Washington State, 4-0. Detroit Mercy is now 10-1-1 and 6-1 on the road all-time against Fort Wayne. The Titans have also now posted seven shutouts in the series and have now allowed a Mastodons' goal in the last 312:36 minutes of play. Head coach Mike Lupenec missed his first game in 25 years as the Titan head coach due to family reasons.