Whew. Kudos to those of you who managed to make it through the many, many words of mine in the season preview to let you know that this year has some pretty high stakes. We'll find out how well positioned the Buckeyes are to meet expectations at the opening whistle on Sunday. Nothing can stop the season now. We’ve got a wild ride ahead of us. And an opener that is likely to be a bit of a snoozer.
The first preview of the season is always a challenge, as there’s not really much to work with in terms of data points. I don’t follow every team as religiously as I do the Buckeyes, so I couldn’t an offseason breakdown of Detroit Mercy if I tried. What I can tell you is that the Titans are in a bit of a jam as they buckle up to face Ohio State. There’s a lot of question marks for the team from that state up north, after most of their significant contributors last season moved onto to their professional lives outside of lacrosse. That means this preview will be a little lighter than most, because we just don’t know what to expect.
Last season was a bit of a bipolar one for Detroit Mercy. In the first half of the year, the Titans really struggled. A string of losses, including a 144 defeat to Ohio State, marred February and most of March.
Immediately after that, the Titans rattled off a string of surprising victories, including one over new offensive coordinator James Purpura’s VML that drove them to the NEC playoffs. Robert Morris ended Detroit Mercy’s season in the NEC title game, making the year a remarkable success given the struggles early on. With that loss, a significant portion of the squad ended their college careers.
Offensively, the most dangerous player on Sunday, by far, is going to be Marcus Thundercloud (#1). An excellent attackman, Thundercloud was the most efficient player for the Titans, scoring 22 goals on 62 shots.
Thundercloud is a threat to shoot pretty much anywhere from his lefty attack slot. He was Detroit Mercy’s second-leading scorer despite playing 3 fewer games than every other contributor. Detroit Mercy’s leading scorer, best dodger, and most valuable offensive player was a midfielder who has moved on and won’t suit up on Sunday. That’s going to be seriously difficult for Detroit Mercy to replace this season.
Especially since the opening game is going to be against the defending Big Ten champions.
Defensively, the Titans lose their starting goalkeeper, but return most of the defense intact. The most experienced goalie sported a .286 save percentage last year in extremely limited time, so there is plenty for the Buckeye offense to work with when it comes to putting the ball in the net.
At faceoff, Detroit Mercy was under 50% collectively last year, and returns their starting FOGO who took 221 of the 305 faceoffs last season. Canton Lanham #46) was right at 49% for the season, which is respectable enough. This is probably the biggest matchup to watch on Sunday, as it’s likely the closest Detroit Mercy will have to an even playing field against a loaded, experienced Buckeye squad.
On special teams, Detroit Mercy was terrible in 2025 on both sides of the coin. On Man Up, they converted just 28.6% of their opportunities, while allowing opponents to score 40% when on Man Down. That’s bad, and they should feel bad about it.
Overall, watching some of their highlights, Detroit Mercy is not what I would call a tricky team schematically. The Titans were leaky on defense last year, even against teams like Wagner. Offensively, Detroit Mercy likes to invert, likes to dodge shorties (who doesn’t?), and will work to get Marcus Thundercloud open for uncontested shots via the skip pass.
It’s pretty standard offensive work. A lot of shots were contested and outside of 12 yards, which should be pretty good for Medium Tasty (Fyock’s taking his athleticism more seriously this season) to put up a gaudy save percentage again. There’s not really much else to say.
Ohio State should roll quite easily, I predict they will roll, and Ill have a little more to say about the Buckeyes’ next opponent, Cleveland State. The Vikings play Denver tomorrow, which will give us all a lot to think about going into February 7.
Final prediction: Ohio State 17, Detroit Mercy 5. Go Bucks!
Game is at 2 p.m. EST on B1G+.
