HOBOKEN, N.J. (September 23, 2017) – With early first place in the Empire 8 on the line, the No. 17 Stevens Institute of Technology soccer team knocked off Hartwick College in a 2-1 thriller in Hoboken on Saturday.

The Ducks ran their winning streak to five games with the victory. Julia Panko and Misha Brewster supplied the Stevens offense with goals in the 26th and 74th minute, respectively. Panko's score was set up by an excellent pass from Taylor Schaad over the Hawk defensive line.

Brewster's marker came late in the second half. A pass along the goal line by Kaitlyn Casiano was flicked up by Brewster, clanged off the crossbar and hit the twine for a 2-0 lead.

It was needed, because 30 seconds later Hartwick took possession and Rachel Weir was able to put just enough on the ball to ease it over the goal line to cut the Duck lead in half. But the defense held on and allowed just two shots the rest of the afternoon.
 

• Stevens' Gabby Saade hit the post on what was an incredible re-direction off the outside of her foot midway through the first half that would have been the first goal for either side
• Hawk goalie Cassandra Robataille made an incredible save off Olivia Butera, diving full extension to knock the strike away. Robataille went on to make two more outstanding saves in the first half to keep the Hawks in the contest
• Stevens outshot Hartwick 18-4 in the first half. The Hawks didn't put any shots on goal, while the Ducks had nine.
• In the second half, a header by Saade went over the GK and nearly rolled into the cage, but was cleared away at the last second by a Hawk defender
• Stevens goalie Lindsey Mahnken was only asked to make two saves, but her second came in a 1-on-1 situation with 17:46 on the clock. She came up with the stop at point-blank range to preserve the win.

"Good result for our squad this afternoon and a couple of nice goals in my opinion," said head coach Jeff Parker. "We're still taking steps to becoming a better team and sometimes it's hard to see that in just the 90 minutes of the match. Our student athletes were able to be involved in a tight E8 contest and overall performed pretty well on the day - that's going to help us in the long run. Two good results this week and we'll move onto Drew on Wednesday."

The Ducks will hit the road for a non-conference matchup with New Jersey rival Drew University on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. in Madison.