Stevens Rallies Past No. 10 Golden Flyers
from press release
HOBOKEN, N.J. – The Stevens Institute of Technology
men's lacrosse team earned a huge win over conference rival
Nazareth College, 10-9, on Saturday afternoon at a packed De Baun
Athletic Complex in Hoboken, N.J. The 10th-ranked Golden Flyers
took an 8-6 lead 7:35 into the third, but the Ducks scored four of
the game's final five goals to get the thrilling one-goal victory.
The win improves the Ducks to 8-5 overall and 4-2 in the
conference, and Naz falls to 11-3 overall and 6-1 in the Empire
8.
Stevens dominated the action early, scoring three goals before 2:57
of game time had elapsed. Sophomore Kevin Rose, junior Brandon
Faubert, and sophomore Alex Hofrichter had the Duck tallies.
The two teams traded goals the remainder of the first quarter and
Stevens took a 5-3 advantage into the second. Sophomore C.J. Estes
(Medfield, Mass.) tallied nine seconds into the second and the
Golden Flyers tied the game 2:56 later.
Freshman Nicolas Philippi scored the Ducks' only goal of the second
quarter but junior Scott Castle (Skaneateles, N.Y.) found the back
of the net with 12 seconds left in the half, and the two teams went
into the break tied at six apiece.
Nazareth took its first lead 1:47 into the second half and took a
two-goal advantage with 8:25 remaining in the third. From that
point on, the Ducks seemed to turn up the intensity and battled
back. Junior Chris Laurita put home a feed from Hofrichter in a
man-up situation to cut the Golden Flyer lead to one. Faubert
tallied with 10:03 left in the game to tie the score and 3:21
later, junior Taylor Brown put the Ducks up 9-8. Laurita recorded
an unassisted goal with 4:28 to play for a bit of insurance and the
Ducks were able to hold on in the end.
Estes pulled Naz within one (10-9) with 43 seconds left, and the
Golden Flyers won the ensuing face-off. However, junior goalkeeper
Dave Decker made a save, the next shot was blocked, and junior Tom
Iadanza picked up the ground ball and cleared the zone.
Decker made 14 saves in goal and earned the win. Sophomore Grant
Williams (Houston, Texas) took the loss.
Naz ended with a 29-28 edge in shots, but Stevens picked up 24
ground balls compared to 20 for the Golden Flyers. Nazareth won
12-of-23 face-offs and Stevens was 2-for-6 on man-up chances.
Brown, Laurita, and Faubert all tallied twice for Stevens. Brown
also had an assist and a caused turnover. Junior Zach McHugh also
had a nice game, picking up four ground balls, scoring once, and
causing two turnovers. Sophomore Jacob Messimer picked up six
ground balls, and caused two turnovers, while senior Bobby
Steinhauser collected a team-high seven ground balls. Iadanza had
three ground balls and a caused turnover.
Senior Mark DeCirce (Binghamton, N.Y.) had a game-high four goals
to lead Nazareth. Estes scored twice and dished out an assist.
Stevens will now turn its attention to Elmira College. The Ducks
and Soaring Eagles will square off on Wednesday afternoon at 4 p.m.
