ONEONTA, N.Y. (April 7, 2010) – The Stevens Institute of Technology men's lacrosse team won its third-straight game, defeating Hartwick College, 20-9, on Wednesday afternoon at Wright Stadium in Oneonta, N.Y. Junior midfielder Brandon Faubert recorded seven points on four goals and three assists, and senior midfielder Alex Couture had four goals and two helpers to pace the Stevens offense. The Ducks are now 3-0 in the Empire 8 and 7-3 overall.
Junior Blair Koontz racked up five points on four goals and an assist, while sophomore Alex Hofrichter found the back of the net three times. Junior Taylor Brown, sophomore Kevin Rose, and freshman Hank Couture all recorded one goal and one assist. Brown also picked up seven ground balls.
Senior captain Bobby Steinhauser did a nice job in the face-off “x,” winning 18 of the 27 he took. He was credited with a game-high nine ground balls. Sophomore Jacob Messimer paced the Stevens defense with four ground balls, a team-high two caused turnovers, and he also netted one goal. Junior Tom Iadanza and freshman Brian Seldeen scooped up five and three ground balls, respectively.
Hartwick (3-5 overall, 0-3 Empire 8) took a 1-0 lead 2:37 into the game but the Ducks scored four in a row to a take a 4-1 lead into quarter number two. Hofrichter, Alex Couture, Brown, and Koontz had the Stevens tallies.
Couture opened the second-quarter scoring with a goal 1:35 in but, the Hawks notched two straight to make it a 5-3 game with 10:54 to play in the half. Hofrichter scored 2:05 later to push the lead back to three and just about five minutes later, Faubert tallied his first of the contest to make it 7-3 Ducks.
Faubert scored again 20 seconds after his first, and the two teams traded tallies the rest of the half to send the Ducks into the locker room with a 9-5 edge.
Rose and Messimer scored before a full minute had come off the clock in the third to push the lead to six (11-5), but the Hawks did not quit, getting goals from senior Brandon Wilk (Hillsborough, N.J.) and sophomore Ian Putnam (North Pomfret, Vt.) to make it 11-7 with 3:12 left in the quarter.
That would be the closest Hartwick could get as the Ducks dominated the rest of the way. Faubert pushed the lead back to five with 51 ticks left in the third, and following a Hartwick goal from sophomore Tom Srubinski (West Islip, N.Y.) to open the fourth quarter, the Ducks went on a 4-0 run to put the game away. Couture and Koontz each had a pair in the run.
Freshman Bobby Cassidy (Oceanside, N.Y.) scored with 7:01 remaining to make the score 16-9 Stevens, but Koontz, Faubert, Hank Couture, and freshman Harrison Dorne all netted goals over a span of 5:25 for the final margin.
Stevens was successful on all 13 of its clear attempts on the afternoon and won 20-of-32 face-offs. The Ducks outshot the Hawks, 41-38, and picked up 44 ground balls compared to 33 for Hartwick.
Junior goalkeeper Dave Decker earned the win in goal for Stevens, making eight saves. Senior Ryan Twardowski (Emmaus, Pa.) took the loss in net for Hartwick. He too made eight stops.
Hartwick was led by two goals apiece from Putnam and Wilk. Senior Kevin Miller (Wantagh, N.Y.) picked up a team-high seven ground balls.
Stevens will return to action on Saturday at Empire 8 rival St. John Fisher College. The 1 p.m. start will be broadcast live at www.PennAtlantic.com/main.php.
