Bailey's 100th career assist
Charles O'Brien
HOBOKEN, N.J. (March 24, 2018) – Junior attackman Max Bailey collected five points, including his 100th career assist, and freshman Ryan Gebhardt scored a career-high six goals, as No. 17 Stevens Institute of Technology Men's Lacrosse defeated Nazareth College, 20-8, at the DeBaun Athletic Complex Saturday afternoon, in the Empire 8 Conference opener for both schools. The game was a rematch of last season's conference championship, won by the Golden Flyers in overtime.
Bailey totaled three goals and two assists on the afternoon for his fourth consecutive multi-point game of the season. The Millersville, Maryland native assisted on sophomore Brendan Monteleone's early third quarter marker to reach the career milestone. Bailey became just the third player in program history to reach 100 career assists and he sits seven assists shy of matching Stevens' all-time record.
"Stevens has had lacrosse for over 130 years and for Max to have 100 assists and approach the all-time career mark midway through his junior year is impressive," head coach
Gene Peluso said. "There are great players in the career record book and for Max to [reach] 100 assists in two-and-a-half seasons is incredible. He is truly the quarterback of our offense."
Gebhardt, Bailey and Monteleone each recorded hat tricks for the Ducks, who won their fourth straight game to improve to 7-1. The victory snapped Nazareth's two-game winning streak in the all-time series.
Paul Walter and Jon Lippert each scored twice for the Golden Flyers, who fell to 2-6. Nazareth has dropped four of its last five contests.
"Great days [for] Bailey, Monteleone and Gebhardt [offensively]," Peluso said. "Those guys got us going early and often."
Junior Eric Radbourne added a goal and three assists, senior Tommy Dawson had a goal and an assist, senior John Boutureira and freshman Nico Ipeker each had two goals to lead the offense. Freshmen Will Reed and Ryan Caplis each found the back of the net and senior Scott Wedgeworth, sophomore Alec Caseiro and freshmen Jimmy Tovey and Tim Spears each contributed an assist to round out the Stevens scoring. Tovey's fourth-quarter assist was his first collegiate point, while Reed's fourth-quarter goal was the first of his career.
"Nazareth is a great team with some talented players," Peluso reflected. "I credit a focused effort and great execution by our guys [leading to us] getting the win."
Stevens won 20 faceoffs on the day, with Wedgeworth going 18-6 inside the 'X'. The edge in faceoffs helped Stevens gain a 40-17 edge in ground balls. The Ducks went 10-for-12 on clears, while holding Nazareth to 9-of-19. The Ducks were credited with 10 caused turnovers, with Caseiro leading both teams with five. The sophomore also led all players with nine ground balls.
"Credit Scott Wedgeworth for grinding out a 75 percent day on faceoffs," Peluso offered. "A great job by our wing players picking up some great ground balls."
"Dallas Creamer led the defense and really kept our guys focused and made some great plays for us," Peluso added.
The senior defenseman finished the day with four grounds balls and one caused turnover.
Junior Carson White made eight saves to earn the victory. Freshmen Cooper Waymire and Trent Nuzum made their collegiate debuts in the fourth quarter.
Rick Kronenwett allowed six goals to suffer the loss for Nazareth. The Golden Flyers had four different players see time in the cage.
A physical game from the opening faceoff, it was Nazareth that jumped out in front as Lippert found the back of the net just 35 seconds into the game. Walter scored his first of the afternoon two minutes later to give the visitors an early two-goal advantage.
Wedgeworth won the ensuing faceoff and scooped up the ground ball in full stride and raced ahead of the Nazareth defense to find Bailey for his 11th goal of the season. Walter responded for Nazareth before the Stevens offense took over.
Caplis scored his fourth goal of the season to trim the margin to one. The Ducks then scored three goals in a 3:36 span to take a 5-3 lead after one quarter. The offensive burst continued at the start of the second, with Bailey finding the back of the net twice in a 57-second span. Radbourne buried a goal 3:56 into the second stanza to extend the lead to five, before Gebhardt scored consecutive goals to push the lead to seven. Anthony Basile beat White with 30 seconds remaining in the quarter to send the teams to halftime with the hosts in front 10-4.
The potent Stevens offense exploded for four goals in the opening four minutes of the third quarter, before Jeremy Jacob scored with a man-advantage to briefly halt the Stevens run. The Golden Flyers were 1 of 5 with the man advantage on the day, while Stevens was 6-for-11.
Lippert and Boutureira exchanged scores to open the fourth quarter, before three straight 'up' goals from Ipeker, Dawson and Reed gave Stevens a 19-6 advantage. Nazareth registered two of the final three goals of the quarter to round out the scoring. The 20-goal output marked a season high for Stevens.