HOBOKEN, N.J. (February 23, 2019)  – Junior Brendan Monteleone and sophomore Ryan Gebhardt combined for seven goals as No. 12/No. 11 Stevens Institute of Technology opened a seven-goal halftime lead en route to a 17-6 victory over Endicott College Saturday in a non-conference contest at the DeBaun Athletic Complex. The game marked Stevens' home opener and Endicott's season opener.

Senior Max Bailey scored twice and had three assists and classmate Eric Radbourne added two goals and two assists for the Ducks, who improved to 2-0. Stevens opened with victories in its first two games for the fourth straight season. 

Will Clark and Neal Perry each scored twice for Endicott, who dropped its fourth consecutive season opener. The Ducks have defeated the Gulls in each of the last four meetings.

"I thought we played a strong, balanced game today," said head coach Gene Peluso. It was an even ground ball game and they beat us at faceoffs, but we clearly did a good job on both ends of the field."

"I love the game we got from Jason Coyle, Shawn Coulter and Craig Stockfeder on the defensive end of the field," Peluso continued. "Carson was strong in the cage and we did a great job setting the pace again."

Freshman Brendan Sullivan had a goal and two assists and sophomore Ryan Caplis scored twice as the Ducks scored the first three goals of the game to seize control of the game early in the opening quarter. Junior Max Ranaldi also found the back of the net, as did sophomore Nico Ipeker and freshman Hunter Brogan. The marker was the first of Brogan's collegiate career. Sophomores Roman Bellisari and Sean Kunz joined freshman Craig Stockfeder and Tyler Ryan in handing out an assist to round out Stevens' scoring. The helpers by Stockfeder and Ryan were the first of their collegiate careers.

"Very balanced scoring again today from our group," Peluso offered. "I thought our attack did a great job riding the ball back."

Senior Carson White made 10 saves to earn his second victory of the season. Junior Jack Braswell and sophomore Danny Tierney also saw time in the cage for the Ducks, who totaled 11 saves on the afternoon. Patrick Dean made 13 saves in defeat for Endicott.

Although Endicott won the opening faceoff, it was Stevens that took the first shot of the game after Yannone threw the ball away near midfield. Radbourne made an individual move in the attacking third and fired the ball past Dean for his second goal of the season on Stevens' first shot of the game. The Guelph, Ontario, Canada native scored 36 times one season ago. 

Gebhardt, named to the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association's Division III Team of the Week earlier this week after scoring five times in Stevens' season-opening victory, continued his blistering start by converting a Radourne feed near the crease into an 'Up' goal to give the home team a two-goal lead. Bailey extended the run to three with his first goal of the season, before Kenneth Speak scored with 76 seconds remaining in the opening period to put Endicott on the board. The Ducks outshot the Gulls 13-6 in the first quarter.

Stevens took advantage of their opportunities in the second quarter with Gebhardt and Sullivan scoring in a two-minute span to open a 5-1 lead before Clark found the back of the net to briefly slow down the Ducks' offensive momentum. Monteleone answered with his first of the day less than sixty seconds later to spark a run of six unanswered goals to put the game out of reach. The Mountain Lakes, New Jersey native has collected a hat trick against Endicott in each of the last three seasons.

"Brendan Monteleone had a great day riding and attacking on offense," Peluso commented.

Clark finally ended the long run with his second of the game before Bailey and Endicott's Hayden Souza alternated goals to close out the third period with Stevens holding a 12-4 advantage.

Monteleone opened the final stanza with back-to-back goals to complete his hat trick. Brogan beat Dean midway through the period for his first career goal to open a 12-goal lead. Parry brought a little life to the visiting sidelines with consecutive goals, before Ipeker found the back of the net to provide the game's final margin. Endicott allowed more than 14 goals just once last season.

Stevens outshot Endicott, 47-30 on the afternoon, including a 30-17 margin in shots on goal. Gebhardt recorded a game-high nine shots, while Monteleone and Caplis each fired seven as the Ducks saw 13 different players take a shot. Clark paced the Gulls with seven.

Defensively, sophomore Sean Scadden matched Endicott's James Loughran with a game-high three caused turnovers. Stevens forced Endicott into 28 turnovers on the day, while the Ducks committed 16. Scadden led Stevens with five ground balls, while the Gulls' Derek Yannone led all players with 13. Yannone won 15 faceoffs on the day, as Endicott went 17-8 against Stevens in the 'X'. Senior Nicholas Carnovale collected four of Stevens' eight wins, while junior Connor Murphy and sophomore Trevor Kiessling each earned two. Each team also picked up 30 ground balls.

Stevens went 16-for-18 on clears, while Endicott went 11-for-15. Stevens scored on one of its three extra-man opportunities, while killing off all three of its penalties.

Stevens extended its winning streak in home openers to 11.

Up Next: No. 12/No. 11 Men's Lacrosse heads to Massachusetts for a non-conference game against Springfield College. The Ducks are 9-5 all-time against the Pride, including two victories last season.

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