ITHACA, N.Y. (April 29, 2015) – The third-seeded Stevens Institute of Technology men's lacrosse team dropped its Empire 8 Conference Championship semifinal game to second-seeded No. 17 Ithaca College Wednesday, 11-9.
 
The loss ends Stevens' season at 9-8 while Ithaca (13-4) will advance to the championship game this weekend.
 
Senior Andrew Scrutchfield and sophomore Nick Hammell led the Ducks offensively with two goals each, while defensively senior Paul Romens picked-up five ground balls. Junior Austin Boyd added 12 saves in net.
 
As a team, the Ducks forced 17 Ithaca turnovers and went 12-18 on clears.
 
Hammell grabbed the early lead for the Ducks with an unassisted goal four minutes into the game before junior Matt Ferentini made it 2-0 with a man-up goal five minutes later. Ithaca bounced-back with two unanswered to close the first quarter, but Scrutchfield put the Ducks back on top in the second quarter's opening minutes.
 
After going back-and-forth over the next five minutes, the Ducks built back a two goal lead off a score from sophomore Connor McKeon with eight minutes remaining in the half. Ithaca was once again able to answer however, scoring twice over the final seven minutes to tie the game at six going into the break.
 
Ithaca grabbed the one goal lead four minutes into the second half, but freshman Boutureira evened things up with an unassisted goal less than one minute later.
 
The tie would prove to be as close as the Ducks would get the rest of the afternoon however as Ithaca closed the game on a 4-2 run to clinch the semifinal win.
 
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