Philippi, Maroon Combine for Thirteen Points but No. 4 Stevens Falls to No. 11 Tufts, 18-14
Justin Lutes
HOBOKEN, N.J. (March 16, 2013) – The nationally ranked No. 4 Stevens Institute of Technology men’s lacrosse team dropped a tough 18-14 decision to No. 11 Tufts University on Saturday at the De Baun Athletic Complex. Adding to the intrigue of the contest, an unexpected snow storm crossed over Hoboken towards the end of the first quarter and produced near whiteout conditions for the remainder of the game.
Stevens falls to 5-2 on the season with the loss, while Tufts earns its first victory after two losses to begin the season.
The Jumbos wasted no time to take the lead, which they never gave up, by scoring just 1:31 into the contest. Barely a minute later, Tufts capitalized on its first man-up chance of the showdown and went up 2-0 with 12:04 left in the first quarter.
Freshman
Connor O’Shea (Ridgewood, N.J.) put the Ducks on the board with his lone goal of the game off a pass from sophomore
Michael Maroon (Virginia Beach, Va.) at the 10:31 mark to cut Stevens’ deficit in half. Maroon finished the afternoon with a team-best seven points on a career-high seven assists.
Tufts seemed poised to post a blowout victory after running off four straight scores over the next 6:22 of the first period and built a 6-1 lead before the Ducks could get back on the board. Seniors
Nicolas Philippi (Mullica Hill, N.J.) and
Rich Dupras (Hillsborough, N.J.) hooked up for the Ducks’ second tally of the game on a man-up opportunity with 1:58 left, but the Jumbos were given an extra man chance on the ensuing possession to void the Stevens goal and close out the opening 15 minutes with a 7-2 lead.
As the second quarter got underway, Tufts pushed its edge out to six goals at 8-2 with 13:29 left on the clock. Stevens then ripped off three straight scores over a 6:32 span to bring the game back to an 8-5 Tufts advantage. Sophomore
Michael Frasco (Spring Lake, N.J.) registered an unassisted goal with 8:52 to go, and then two minutes later, junior
Charlie Cronin (Northampton, Mass.) also posted an unassisted tally.
Stevens’ last marker of the first half came man-up on the second goal by Philippi which was assisted by Maroon with 2:20 to go in the second. Philippi posted a career day with six goals on 18 shots (16 on goal). The Jumbos would have the last say on the scoreboard in the second period, as Chris Schoenhut took a pass from Cole Bailey with 13 ticks left on the clock and staked Tufts to a 9-5 advantage at the break.
Schoenhut and Bailey combined for 11 points for Tufts.
After another Philippi goal opened the third quarter after four minutes elapsed, Tufts went on another four-goal run to build the largest lead of the game at 13-6 just over midway through the period. Beau Wood highlighted the run with two of his four goals in the match. Wood also finished with seven points.
The Ducks had an answer to Tufts’ run as they reeled off five scores of their own over the next 11 minutes of action. After an unassisted score by Cronin that capped off the third with 3:45 left, Maroon assisted on the next four tallies Stevens. Senior
Harrison Dorne (Morristown, N.J.) picked up his first goal in a hat trick just 54 seconds into the final period which brought the game back to a five-goal differential at 13-8. Philippi then added his fourth goal with 11:33 to go before Dorne recorded his second at the 9:18 mark.
Tufts committed a penalty on the Dorne goal and Stevens wasted no time to bring the game back to a 13-11 difference 42 seconds later on the man-up try by Dupras.
The Jumbos pushed their lead back out to four over the next two minutes, 15-11, but Stevens showed resiliency and came back with the final two scores from Philippi with 4:49 left in regulation.
With the score now 15-13 in favor of Tufts and momentum on Stevens’ side, the Jumbos erased the comeback attempt with a pair of scores over the next 2:20.
Maroon found Dorne for the Ducks’ final goal on the game at 1:45, and turned the scoreboard to a 17-14 game, but Tufts responded 44 seconds later to account for the final tally of the contest.
A true difference maker in the match was Jumbos goalkeeper Patton Watkins, who made 19 saves, including 12 in the second half (seven in the third period and five in the fourth).
Stevens’ sophomore goalkeeper
Matthew Deiner (Millstone Twp. N.J.) stopped 11 shots of his own in all 60 minutes but was dealt the loss.
Despite the slow first quarter for the Ducks, in which Tufts outshot them 16-6, Stevens took 44 shots to just 25 for the Jumbos over the final three quarters. Tufts also dominated groundballs in the first half, scooping up 30 to just 18 for Stevens. The final numbers for the game were 45-39 in favor of Tufts.
Stevens did however win the battle at the faceoff “X”, winning 21-of-36, led by 14 from freshman
Brett Incollingo (Yardley, Pa.) in 25 tries. Incollingo and junior
Tim Culloty (Mahwah, N.J.) picked up six groundballs apiece, while Culloty also won four-of-seven faceoffs.
Stevens will be back in action next Wednesday night at 7 p.m. against Montclair State University for the final non-conference game of the season before Empire 8 Conference play begins. The Ducks defeated Montclair, 15-7, last season.