Stevens Books Ticket to E8 Championship
HOBOKEN, N.J. – The No. 18 Stevens Institute of Technology men's lacrosse team earned a 14-4 victory over Hartwick College in the Empire 8 Semifinals at home on Wednesday night. The Ducks – the tournament's top seed – now sport a 14-4 overall record. Hartwick ends its season with an 8-7 mark.
The game marked head coach
Gene Peluso's 100th win as head of the Stevens program.
"100 wins at Stevens means a great deal to me and my family" said Peluso. "It is the most wins I have at one place and to do it with these student athletes makes it very special. Winning games is hard work. It takes commitment from every staff member and every student- athlete. With the schedule we have here and to win 100 games in eight seasons speaks volumes of the hard work of our student-athletes, the coaching staff and the support of our administration."
Tommy Dawson finished with five goals on Wednesday for Stevens and
Dean Peluso and
Max Bailey both posted hat tricks for the Ducks.
Stevens shut out the Hawks 4-0 in the first quarter and were never truly in danger of being caught. Dawson scored the first and last goals, with Bailey netting the two in the middle.
The Ducks stretched their lead to 9-2 by the midway point. Both Bailey and Dawson had hat tricks and four points by halftime, and
Connor McKeon had three points at the break for Stevens.
Alec Caseiro had four ground balls off the bench for Stevens in the first half.
Matt McCallan and Sam Ferguson of Hartwick scored the first two goals of the second half, and the Hawks kept Stevens off the board for nearly 10 minutes. But Dawson scored two to stop the run and move the Stevens lead back to seven.
Peluso and
John Boutureira added goals in the fourth quarter for Stevens to provide the final margin.
"We are excited to advance!" continued Peluso. "Lots of credit to a scrappy Hartwick team for their fight today. We told the guys that they should be proud of the win and that we are proud to host the championship game here."
Caserio had five ground balls to lead the Ducks.
Scott Wedgeworth won 4-of-7 faceoffs for Stevens. Caserio,
Connor Towne,
Daniel Crotty and
Kevin Louie all caused multiple Hawk turnovers.
"We got a great game from Dawson and Bailey today and we also got a great game from Crotty and Towne on defense"
Note: The start of Wednesday's game was delayed from 4 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Up Next: The Ducks will host three-seed Nazareth College in the Empire 8 Championship Game on Saturday at noon. The Golden Flyers defeated second-seeded Ithaca College 14-13 in overtime in the other Empire 8 semifinal on Wednesday in Ithaca.