John Dolny had three goals and two assists in the Ducks' win over RPI. |
TROY, N.Y. (March 25, 2006) – Trailing 8-6 with less than 13 minutes to play in the game, the Stevens Institute of Technology men’s lacrosse team exploded for four straight goals in the span of 2:41 en route to claiming an 11-10 victory over Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on Saturday afternoon in Troy, N.Y. With the win, the Ducks improved to 4-2 on the year while the Red Hawks fell to 3-3 overall.
Rensselaer, which opened the fourth quarter with a 7-6 lead, grabbed a two-goal cushion as senior midfielder Chris Sherman (Newark, Del.) connected with 13:07 remaining. Sophomore attack J.R. Oreskovich (La Costa, Calif.) answered for Stevens as the Ducks closed to within 8-7 at the 12:16 mark. Exactly one minute later, sophomore attack John Dolny (Mountain Lakes, N.J.) scored an unassisted goal to tie the game at 8-all.
Just 24 seconds after Dolny’s goal, junior midfielder Mark Bielicky (Bridgewater, N.J.) found the back of the net to give the Ducks the lead. Stevens opened a 10-8 advantage with 9:35 to play when junior midfielder Matt Althauser (Bellevue, Wash.) scored in transition off a pass from Bielicky following a successful clear attempt by the Ducks.
RPI responded as Sherman scored his second goal of the game to pull the Red Hawks within 10-9 with just under nine minutes remaining. Bielicky tallied what proved to be the eventual game-winning goal with 7:47 left on the clock as he scored on a feed from junior midfielder Joe Van Sickle (Amherst, N.H.). Bielicky’s goal was the Ducks’ fifth in the span of 4:29 as they took control during the fourth quarter.
Dolny led the team in scoring with three goals and two assists for five points. He also had five ground balls in the game. Bielicky added two goals and two assists (four points). Oreskovich also posted two goals and two assists to go along with a team-high six ground balls. Sophomore attack R.J. Ancona (West Islip, N.Y.) added two goals for the Ducks.
The Red Hawks were led senior midfielder Adam LoGiudice (Massapequa, N.Y.), who totaled two goals and three assists for five points. Sherman finished with two goals and two assists. Sophomore midfielder Alex MacDiarmid (New Hartford, N.Y.) scored two goals as well. MacDiarmid was 12-for-20 in faceoff opportunities for RPI.
Tied at 2-2 midway through the first quarter, Ancona scored off an assist from Van Sickle with 7:11 left in the period. The Red Hawks controlled play in the second quarter as they scored three straight goals to grab a 5-3 lead. LoGiudice tallied his first goal of the game with eight seconds remaining in the half as RPI took a 6-4 lead into intermission.
Stevens was able to pull out the victory despite being out-shot 36-32 in the game. The Red Hawks also owned a 26-19 advantage in ground balls. The Ducks did convert on 13 of 15 clear attempts.
Sophomore goalkeeper Corey Vaillancourt (Lincoln Park, N.J.) started in net for the Ducks. Vaillancourt made four saves and allowed five goals in 24 minutes of action. He left with Stevens trailing 5-3 with just over five minutes remaining in the first half. Junior goalkeeper Jack Dunderdale (Ridgefield, Conn.) relieved Vaillancourt and made seven saves over the rest of the game. Dunderdale earned the victory to improve to 3-2 on the year.
Stevens will be back in action on Wednesday when it hosts Kean University at 7 p.m.
