Rich Benson had season-highs of five goals and seven points in Stevens' 16-4 win over New York Maritime. |
HOBOKEN, N.J. – Freshman attack Rich Benson (Nassau, Del./Cape Henlopen) scored a season-high five goals and added two assists to lead Stevens Institute of Technology to a 16-4 win over SUNY-Maritime on Saturday night in a Knickerbocker Lacrosse Conference game at DeBaun Field.
Stevens won its seventh straight game to improve to 10-4 overall. The Ducks finished 7-0 in Knickerbocker play for the third straight season as they earned their third straight conference title and automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championship. New York Maritime falls to 2-10 overall and 1-6 in Knickerbocker play.
Stevens was never threatened in the game as Benson scored off an assist from Brian Lalli (Cranbury, N.J./Princeton) just 53 seconds into the game. Senior attack Mike Baumbach (Long Valley, N.J./West Morris Central) followed with a pair of unassisted goals in a span of 1:07. Sophomore midfielder Kyle Kenney (Cedarhurst, N.Y./Lawrence) found the net with 8:04 left in the first quarter and Benson finished off a pass from Lally 58 seconds later as the Ducks jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead.
Joe Coughlin scored for New York Maritime off an assist from Bill Martino with 34 seconds left in the first quarter. Stevens scored six straight goals in the second quarter to build an 11-1 lead at halftime. Benson added two goals and two assists in the quarter while freshman midfielder Jay Wells (North Bennington, Vt./Mt. Anthony Union) also scored twice.
Stevens extended its lead to 16-2 late in the third quarter. Lalli, who assisted on three of Benson’s goals, scored twice in a span of 57 seconds midway through the third quarter.
New York Maritime scored the final two goals of the game. Tom Souhrada scored with six seconds left in the third quarter while Bill Martino scored the only goal of the fourth quarter – an extra-man goal with 3:04 left.
Stevens held a 62-26 advantage in shots. Juniors Matt Cannon (Bridgewater, N.J./Bridgewater-Raritan) and Chris D’Urso (Long Valley, N.J./West Morris Central) split time in the Stevens net with each playing a half. Cannon stopped three shots while D’Urso stopped 11. Chris Maro made 24 saves for New York Maritime.
Stevens closes out the regular season on Wednesday, April 30, with a 7 p.m. game at Union. Pairings for the NCAA Championship will be announced on Sunday, May 4.
