No. 13 Stevens Opens Season with 21-4 Rout of USMMA
Justin Lutes
HOBOKEN, N.J. (February 19, 2014) – The nationally ranked No. 13 Stevens Institute of Technology men's lacrosse team posted a convincing 21-4 victory over the United States Merchant Marine Academy on Wednesday evening at the De Baun Athletic Complex to open its 2014 season.
Junior
Andrew Scrutchfield (Lewes, Del.) netted the first goal of the season just 1:34 into the contest to kick start an 8-0 run in the first period. Just 1:26 later, sophomore
Matt Ferentini (South Salem, N.Y.) tallied a man-up goal off a feed from senior
Charlie Cronin (Northampton, Mass.).
Senior
Tim Culloty (Mahwah, N.J.), junior
Michael Maroon (Virginia Beach, Va.) and freshman
Connor Towne (San Jose, Calif.) all picked up first quarter goals. Junior
JP Giroux (Ashburn, Va.) and sophomore
Connor O'Shea (Ridgewood, N.J.) handed out assists in the opening frame.
Scrutchfield put home six goals in the contest, while Ferentini scored three times with an assist. Cronin, Maroon and O'Shea all recorded three points for Stevens in the win.
Merchant Marine finally got on the board with 24 seconds left in the first to end the period, 8-1. The Mariners then scored the opening goal of the second quarter, but Stevens rolled off six unanswered tallies to go up, 14-2. Stevens' six-goal run was highlighted by three straight from Scrutchfield and goals from senior
Sean Scrudato (Westfield, N.J.) and freshmen
Jake Gargiulo (Ballston Spa, N.Y.) and
Jake Krantz (East Brunswick, N.J.). Freshman
Scott Smullen (Little Silver, N.J.) picked up an assist in the run.
USMMA ended the streak with 2:13 remaining in the half, but Stevens recorded two more scores in the final 40 seconds to close out the half with a 16-3 advantage.
In the second half, Ferentini, and four other sophomores –
Michael Serrante (Bridgewater, N.J.),
Colin Sawula (Northampton, Mass.),
Anthony Raposo (Tewksbury, N.J.) and
Alex Haubrich (Voorhees, N.J.) all found the back of the net. Maroon, Raposo, sophomore
Michael Ainbinder (Baldwin, N.Y.) and senior
Connor Lynch (Seaford, N.Y.) assisted on the second half goals.
Sophomores
Brett Incollingo (Yardley, Pa.) and
Jeff Wyckoff (Summit, N.J.) each went 10-for-13 at the face-off "X". Incollingo also scooped up nine groundballs to lead the Ducks, while Wyckoff picked up eight.
Freshman
Kevin Rafferty (Bay Shore, N.Y.) earned his first collegiate victory with seven saves in 37:37 of action. Rafferty was replaced by classmate
Anthony Setola (River Vale, N.J.), who stopped six shots in the final 22:23.
Stevens dominated in shots, 69-28, and groundballs, 65-27. The Ducks also went 18-for-19 in clear attempts and caused 15 turnovers.
Up next for the Ducks is Endicott College on February 23 at 1 p.m. at Endicott.