Box Score

HOBOKEN, N.J. (March 29, 2014) – The Stevens Institute of Technology men's lacrosse team opened up Empire 8 Conference play with an 18-9 rain-soaked victory over Alfred University on Saturday at the De Baun Athletic Complex. Stevens has now won three consecutive games and is 4-5 overall and 1-0 in the Empire 8, while Alfred falls to 2-5, 0-2.

The Ducks jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the first quarter after Alfred opened the contest with an early 1-0 advantage. The Saxons scored just 45 seconds into the game, but Steven answered with a man-up goal from senior Charlie Cronin (Northampton, Mass.) at the 12:39 mark off a pass from classmate Sean Scrudato (Westfield, N.J.). Midway through the quarter, sophomore Andrew Scrutchfield (Lewes, Del.) took a pass from Cronin to give the Ducks their first lead of the game before sophomore Matt Ferentini (South Salem, N.Y.) ended the opening 15 minutes with his 18th goal of the season with 1:11 to go which was assisted by sophomore Anthony Raposo (Tewksbury, N.J.).

Alfred fought back in the second with a pair of goals in the first 3:11 to knot the game up at 3-3. Scrutchfield put Stevens back in front with a man-up tally with 7:39 left off another assist from Cronin. The Saxon answered with their own man-up advantage in the final two minutes for another deadlock at 4-4, but sophomore Michael Serrante (Bridgewater, N.J.) found the back of the net with just 16 seconds remaining to send the Ducks into the locker room with a 5-4 edge.

Stevens outshot the Saxons, 24-14, in the first half and doubled up Alfred in groundballs, 20-10. The Ducks also won eight of 11 faceoffs.

Both teams stepped up on offense as the third quarter got underway as there were a combined 10 goals scored in the period (five for each). Alfred struck first in the stanza after over four minutes burned off the clock for a 5-5 tie. Just 1.36 later, Cronin put the Ducks back ahead, 6-5, but Alfred came right back with two straight goals in a nine-second span to take the lead for the first time since 1-0. Scrutchfield registered the next two markers of the period at 7:18 and 6:26 to put the Ducks back up by one. The Saxons responded 2:10 later for an 8-8 stalemate and then junior JP Giroux (Ashburn, Va.) notched his lone goal in a five-point outing with 3:17 to go off a feed from Maroon. Alfred refused to go away and picked up its final goal of the period – and game – with 2:31 on the clock to knot the game back up at 9-9 – which was the eighth tie on the day. Cronin sent the Ducks into the fourth quarter with a 10-9 led from Giroux in the waning seconds of the frame.

Stevens imposed its will in the fourth quarter with eight consecutive goals to turn a tightly played game at 10-9 to an 18-9 lopsided victory.  Ferentini scored three times in the quarter, Scrudato and Cronin notched two goals and Maroon picked up the final tally. Two of the eight goals were of the man-up variety.

Cronin led the Ducks with seven points on five goals and two assists, Scrutchfield posted six points with four goals and a pair of assists and Giroux had five points. Ferentini (4G), Maroon (3A, G) and Scrudato (2G, 2A) all added four points. Those six combined for 30 total points in the win.

Sophmore Brett Incollingo (Yardley, Pa.) won 10-of-13 tries overall at the faceoff "X" with four groundballs, while classmate Jeff Wyckoff (Summit, N.J.) was successful on 11-of-18 attempts. Sophomore Tim Fair (West Deptford, N.J.) played lockdown defense all afternoon with five caused turnovers and five groundballs, as did senior Tim Culloty (Mahwah, N.J.), with five groundballs and four caused turnovers.

Freshman Kevin Rafferty (Bay Shore, N.Y.) stopped nine shots for his fourth win on the year with a pair of groundballs.

After the final horn sounded, Stevens took 24 shots in the fourth quarter to just one for Alfred which resulted in a 60-22 disparity. The Ducks scooped up 43 groundballs to 27 for the Saxons and forced 13 of Alfred's 24 turnovers.

Stevens travels to Hartwick College on April 2 at 4 p.m. for its next Empire 8 game.

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