DETROIT - The IUPUI men's soccer team secured a hard fought road point on Saturday night (Sept. 24) as the Jaguars played Detroit Mercy to a scoreless draw at UDM's Titan Field. Junior goalkeeper Lucas Morefield faced 11 shots and collected four saves to anchor the defensive effort. Both teams finished with 11 shot attempts each, but were only able to put a combined five attempts on target as the collective defenses won the evening. 

"(Detroit) is always a hard place to come play. They're very well organized - very well setup defensively," head coach Sid van Druenen said. "They're strong in the counter and I think we did a good job controlling their counterattack most of the game. We created enough (opportunities) maybe to sneak away with a win, but I think at the end of the day, a tie is a fair result. 

"A clean sheet is a massive positive. On the road, that's never easy, so that's a big, big thing for us to build on. I feel pretty good about the result tonight."

Detroit Mercy's physical nature continually disrupted the IUPUI offensive rhythm while the Jaguars have continued to build defensive cohesion as the season has progressed. 

"Tonight was definitely a big test for us defensively and we did what was required in a tough environment," Morefield said. "We proved to ourselves that we can put in a defensive shift like that - now we just need to couple it with a good offensive display."

On Saturday, Detroit Mercy had the better opportunities early, forcing Morefield to make two early saves, followed by a flurry of corner kicks in succession. The Jaguars slowly tilted possession in its favor and saw Logan Finnegan and Lukas Hackaa eventually get shot attempts later in the half. Finnegan just missed a back heel attempt wide of target in the 30th minute after Josemir Gomez barrelled through the UDM defense to setup the play. 

IUPUI finished the first half with a 7-4 shot advantage, but none of the seven attempts were on frame. 

Play was limited largely to the midfield for much of the start of the second half before things began to open up with roughly 20 minutes to play. IUPUI earned a flurry of corner kicks, getting five in a three-minute stretch, but were only able to get Ethan Vermillion and Ethan Miller attempts off the restarts. Late in the match, IUPUI staved off some late restarts to help secure the result. 

IUPUI's lone shot attempt of the contest came in the 88th minute when Medard Mikobi hit a drive right at UDM goalkeeper Jonathan Kliewer. 

Finnegan had three shot attempts for the Jaguars and Mikobi and Hackaa had two each. UDM's Samory Powder had a game-high four shot attempts. 

IUPUI will return home to host Cleveland State on Wednesday night (Sept. 28) at 7:00 p.m. at Michael A. Carroll Stadium.
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