Central Michigan University
11-6, 4-1SoCon
Detroit Mercy
10-7, 4-1SoCon
Chippewas Fall, Look To SoCon Tournament
4/28/2018 12:00:00 AM | Lacrosse
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
DETROIT - Disappointing? Of course.
Motivating? Absolutely.
The Central Michigan lacrosse team fell to Detroit Mercy, 17-9, on Saturday in what amounted to the regular-season championship game in the Southern Conference.
With the win, the Titans finished 4-1 in league play and claimed the title and will go into next week's league tournament as the No. 1 seed.
CMU also finished 4-1 in the conference, but finished second based on the tie-breaker, head-to-head competition.
"Overall the energy in the locker room was good, but disappointed that we didn't play to our potential," CMU coach Sara Tisdale said. "We're excited to compete again right away and really get back to what has worked well for us the last six games in a row -- playing well as a unit and giving teams a lot to be concerned about and not just one or two players."
The Chippewas are 11-6 overall, while the Titans are 10-7. The league tournament begins on Thursday, May 3, in Macon, Ga. CMU will play third-seeded Furman at 7:30 p.m. Detroit Mercy opens with a semifinal against fourth-seeded Mercer at 5 p.m. The title game is slated for Saturday, May 5, at noon.
Natalie Karlen scored four goals to lead the Chippewas, while Tyra Prince had two. Prince's first, just over three minutes into the game, gave CMU a 1-0.
Detroit Mercy answered with four consecutive goals in four-plus minute span to seize a lead it would never relinquish. The Chippewas trailed, 6-4, with under a minute to play in the first half when the Titans found the back of the net just before the break.
That goal triggered a 7-1 Titan surge after which CMU found itself in a 13-5 deficit near the midway point of the second half. Jessica Snyder scored four goals to lead Detroit Mercy.
"We stared out pretty strong, and for a long time it was 1-0," Tisdale said. "A couple of things didn't go well defensively and we got a little tight; our energy was kind of lost and we really haven't don't that
"I think we were still the better team on the field, but unfortunately we didn't really execute to the level that we needed to."
Detroit Mercy outshot the Chippewas, 44-27, and the Chippewas committed 19 turnovers to the Titans' 10.
CMU goalkeeper Dominique Hamman made 14 saves.
