COLUMBUS, Ohio (2/9/2013) -- The Detroit men's lacrosse team had a two-goal lead early, but could not hold on as the Titans saw #18/19 Ohio State pull away in the second half to down the red, white, and blue, 14-8, in their season opener on Saturday afternoon at the Woody Hayes Athletic Complex.
The loss drops the Titans to 0-5 all-time against Ohio State and 0-6 all-time against nationally-ranked opponents.
Sophomore Mike Birney led the Titan offense with his first career hat trick, finishing with a team-high three goals. Juniors Shayne Adams and Alex Maini each had a pair of goals and an assist, while sophomore Brandon Beauregard found the back of the net once.
Logan Schuss – a Third Team USILA All-American last season – started the scoring by notching his first of seven goals on the day and Ohio State had a 1-0 lead a little more than a minute into the game.
Detroit raced in front after that with three-straight goals in a two-minute span. First Maini found Adams at 9:14. Detroit then won the ensuing faceoff and Birney gave UDM a 2-1 lead with 7:49 left in the first. After a timeout, Detroit was able to take advantage of an unforced OSU turnover and Adams struck for his first at the 7:14 mark.
OSU made it 3-2 after one and knotted it up on Schuss' third goal early in the second. Detroit rebounded as Adams had a good look to Birney who put it away for a 4-3 Titan lead.
The Titans would then go in front 5-4 as freshman Ryan Callaghan fed Birney and the second-year midfielder beat Greg Dutton in net with 7:30 left in the second period.
Two goals from the Buckeyes had Detroit behind by one, but UDM took advantage of a holding call and with the man-up, Callaghan collected his second assist as he found Maini for the goal and the game was tied at 6-all heading into the locker room.
Ohio State regrouped at the half and scored the first two goals of the third, but off a caused turnover by senior defenseman Jamie Hebden, Detroit was able to push the ball down the field and Beauregard struck for his lone marker and the Titans trailed by just one, 8-7, at the 7:04 mark of the third.
That is when OSU broke the game open with five-straight goals and the Buckeyes took a 13-7 lead with 12:10 in the game. UDM's last goal was scored by Maini as the Titans won a faceoff and senior LSM Jordan Houtby corralled the ground ball and whipped a pass to Maini, who beat the keeper with just under 12 minutes remaining.
Senior A.J. Levell made 17 saves, two away from his career high, and picked up a team-high five ground balls. Levell saw 47 Ohio State shots as they outshot the Titans, 47-20. Detroit was 16-of-20 in clears and was 2-of-4 with the extra-man attack.
Schuss ended with 10 points in the game for OSU, while Carter Brown had six with two goals and Jesse King netted five.
The Titans will now get ready to face Navy on Friday, Feb. 15, as Detroit visits Annapolis and the Midshipmen. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m.
View more photos from the game here.