ROCHESTER, N.Y. (April 11, 2009) – The Stevens Institute of Technology men's lacrosse team gave up 11 second-half goals, and Rochester Institute of Technology was able to overcome an 8-3 halftime deficit to defeat the Ducks 14-11 on Saturday afternoon in Rochester, N.Y. The score was tied at nine after three quarters, but the Tigers netted five goals in the final 15 minutes to get the win. Senior attackman Matt Keating led Stevens with six points on three goals and three assists as the Ducks fall to 8-4 overall and 4-1 in the Empire 8.
The Ducks came out strong, scoring five of the game's first six goals. Sophomore midfielder Brandon Faubert tied the score at one 5:01 into the first and 4:14 later, senior captain Alex Heckman gave Stevens a 2-1 lead thanks to a feed from senior Eric Smith. Freshman Kevin Rose tallied goal three for Stevens, and Keating gave the Ducks a 4-1 edge 1:16 later with a man-up score. Freshman Alex Hofrichter found net 31 ticks after Keating to give the Ducks a 5-1 lead after one.
After the Tigers made it 5-2 1:25 into the second quarter, Keating recorded his second goal thanks to a nice pass from sophomore Jake Messimer. Each team scored again before the half ended to make the score 8-3, and it looked like Stevens was in total control.
Senior J.R. Oreskovich gave the Ducks a six-goal lead with 11:11 to go in the third, but that would be the final Duck goal for the rest of the quarter. RIT was able to rip off six-straight scores over span of 4:42 of game time to knot the score at 9-all with 3:07 to go in the third. Six different players scored in the rally.
Hofrichter tallied 1:22 into the fourth quarter thanks to a Keating assist, but the Tigers (7-2, 2-2 Empire 8) got goals from David Burke (Fairport, N.Y.) and Adam Lehmann (Rochester, N.Y.) to take an 11-10 lead with 7:08 to play. Keating was able to tie the score with 5:12 left after a nice look from Heckman, but RIT took the lead for good with 3:37 to play after senior Billy Walton (Syracuse, N.Y.) scored for the first time on the afternoon.17 seconds later, the Tigers went up two goals to seal the win. They also scored on an empty net with 2:12 left for the final margin.
Sophomore Zach McHugh led the Stevens defense with three caused turnovers and seven ground balls as Messimer also picked up seven ground balls. Hofrichter, Heckman, Rose, and Keating all recorded multiple points in the loss.
Sophomore Dave Decker made a season-high 20 saves for Stevens and his counterpart, sophomore Robert Tonnessen (Ridgefield, Conn.), stopped 10 shots.
RIT ended the game with a slight edge in face-offs and finished with a 43-37 advantage in ground balls. The Ducks commited 35 turnovers compared to 29 for the Tigers who also converted four man-up chances into tallies. Each team struggled on clears, with the Ducks converting 16-of-24 and RIT 20-of-26. The Tigers also ended with a 50-38 advantage in shots.
Stevens will return to action at Nazareth College on April 19 at 12 p.m.
