HOBOKEN, N.J. (April 24, 2010) – The Stevens Institute of Technology men's lacrosse team earned a huge win over conference rival Nazareth College, 10-9, on Saturday afternoon at a packed De Baun Athletic Complex in Hoboken, N.J. The 10th-ranked Golden Flyers took an 8-6 lead 7:35 into the third, but the Ducks scored four of the game's final five goals to get the thrilling one-goal victory. The win improves the Ducks to 8-5 overall and 4-2 in the conference, and Naz falls to 11-3 overall and 6-1 in the Empire 8.
Stevens dominated the action early, scoring three goals before 2:57 of game time had elapsed. Sophomore Kevin Rose, junior Brandon Faubert, and sophomore Alex Hofrichter had the Duck tallies.
The two teams traded goals the remainder of the first quarter and Stevens took a 5-3 advantage into the second. Sophomore C.J. Estes (Medfield, Mass.) tallied nine seconds into the second and the Golden Flyers tied the game 2:56 later.
Freshman Nicolas Philippi scored the Ducks' only goal of the second quarter but junior Scott Castle (Skaneateles, N.Y.) found the back of the net with 12 seconds left in the half, and the two teams went into the break tied at six apiece.
Nazareth took its first lead 1:47 into the second half and took a two-goal advantage with 8:25 remaining in the third. From that point on, the Ducks seemed to turn up the intensity and battled back. Junior Chris Laurita put home a feed from Hofrichter in a man-up situation to cut the Golden Flyer lead to one. Faubert tallied with 10:03 left in the game to tie the score and 3:21 later, junior Taylor Brown put the Ducks up 9-8. Laurita recorded an unassisted goal with 4:28 to play for a bit of insurance and the Ducks were able to hold on in the end.
Estes pulled Naz within one (10-9) with 43 seconds left, and the Golden Flyers won the ensuing face-off. However, junior goalkeeper Dave Decker made a save, the next shot was blocked, and junior Tom Iadanza picked up the ground ball and cleared the zone.
Decker made 14 saves in goal and earned the win. Sophomore Grant Williams (Houston, Texas) took the loss.
Naz ended with a 29-28 edge in shots, but Stevens picked up 24 ground balls compared to 20 for the Golden Flyers. Nazareth won 12-of-23 face-offs and Stevens was 2-for-6 on man-up chances.
Brown, Laurita, and Faubert all tallied twice for Stevens. Brown also had an assist and a caused turnover. Junior Zach McHugh also had a nice game, picking up four ground balls, scoring once, and causing two turnovers. Sophomore Jacob Messimer picked up six ground balls, and caused two turnovers, while senior Bobby Steinhauser collected a team-high seven ground balls. Iadanza had three ground balls and a caused turnover.
Senior Mark DeCirce (Binghamton, N.Y.) had a game-high four goals to lead Nazareth. Estes scored twice and dished out an assist.
Stevens will now turn its attention to Elmira College. The Ducks and Soaring Eagles will square off on Wednesday afternoon at 4 p.m. at the De Baun Athletic Complex. For those unable to make the trip, the action can be seen live at www.PennAtlantic.com.
