Balanced Scoring Keys Stevens to Win over Eastern Connecticut
HOBOKEN, N.J. (February 25, 2015) – The Stevens Institute of Technology men's lacrosse team improved to 2-1 with a 16-7 win over Eastern Connecticut State University Wednesday night at the De Baun Athletic Complex.
Five different players had three or more points on the night as the Ducks were led by three goals and three assists from junior attack
Andrew Scrutchfield and four goals and one assist from sophomore midfielder
Connor McKeon.
ECSU (0-1) was paced by five points from junior attack Tim Reilly and 14 saves from goalies Brendan Gillotti and Blake Smaldone. Stevens'
Austin Boyd made 12 stops to earn the win in goal for the Ducks – his second-straight double-digit save effort.
The Ducks were comfortably in front throughout, winning 15-of-25 faceoffs and holding a 44-32 margin in shots. The Ducks were also plus-10 in ground balls (38-28).
Junior midfielder
Colin Sawula, senior midfielder
Michael Maroon and McKeon scored the first three Stevens goals as the Ducks took a 3-0 lead with 6:56 to play in the opening period. ECSU scored late in the first to get on the board, but two-straight tallies from Scrutchfield and a score from sophomore attack
Tim Leahey pushed the hosts' lead to five (6-1) with less than 10 minutes to go in the first half.
The two teams traded scores, before junior midfielder
Michael Serrante found the back of the net with 16 seconds on the clock, sending the Ducks into the locker room leading 8-3.
The lead quickly expanded to eight (11-3) as Leahey, sophomore midfielder
Connor Towne and McKeon all rang the bell just 3:16 into the third quarter. The Warriors answered with three of their own to get back within five, but a McKeon score thanks to a pretty feed from Scrutchfield sent the Ducks into the fourth and final 15-minute stanza leading 12-6.
Junior midfielder
Matt Ferentini – who tied for the team lead with three assists – found Scrutchfield to open the scoring in the fourth, and after an ECSU goal made it 13-7, Leahey, Maroon and Scrutchfield closed the scoring to send the Ducks to a nine-goal win.
Stevens assisted on 75 percent of its goals (12-of-16) with Scrutchfield and Ferentini each recording three, and senior attack
JP Giroux getting two. Leahey and Maroon each had a trio of goals as Leahey added three ground balls. Scrutchfield had six ground balls to add to his six points, while sophomore midfielder
Jake Krantz and senior defenseman
Paul Romens each caused two turnovers. Krantz added four ground balls to his line in a solid performance, while freshman defenseman
Dallas Creamer picked up two ground balls.
Faceoff specialist
Brett Incollingo led the Ducks with eight ground balls, earning wins on 15 of his 24 faceoffs.
Stevens will take to the road on Saturday for its first true road game of 2015, squaring off against No. 19 Springfield College at 12 p.m. Visit
www.stevensducks.com to follow the action live Saturday.