HOBOKEN, N.J. (February 27, 2019)  – No. 24 Stevens Institute of Technology women's lacrosse travels to nearby Montclair State Wednesday afternoon for the 2019 season opener. 

The contest marks the 19th season in program history and the first under head coach Karen Shaddock.

Game Links: Live Stats | Video

Matching Up With Montclair
Stevens is 14-8 all-time against Montclair State including victories in each of the last two seasons. The Ducks topped the Red Hawks 11-6 in last season's home opener with goals coming from seven different players as Stevens jumped out to a 5-0 lead. 

Despite leading the all-time series, the Ducks are just 5-5 in Montclair and have dropped five of their last seven contests at Sprague Field. 

Stevens has won three straight season openers and 11 of their last 12. The Ducks' lone setback in the stretch came at Sprague Field in 2015 in overtime.

Montclair State is coming off a 14-4 season-opening loss to No. 6 York College (Pa.) on Feb. 24. York's Meghan Fox scored five goals on the day, including three straight as the Spartans scored nine straight times bridging the two halves to break open a tied game. Chelsea Orban had two of the Red Hawks' four goals.

The Red Hawks were selected third in the New Jersey Athletic Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll, behind defending conference champion The College of New Jersey and Rowan University.

What has now become an annual non-conference contest, began as a conference game when both programs were in the Skyline Conference. 

Welcome Back
Coach Shaddock inherits a team that went 14-6 one season ago, reaching the Empire 8 Conference championship game and receiving an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. Stevens returns three of its top five scorers from 2018 in juniors Kyra Bednarski, Emily Shanklin and Hannah Condren in its quest for a third Empire 8 Conference Championship in the program's final season in the league. Bednarski was 15th in the country in total points after setting the program's single-season record with 110 points en route to First Team All-America honors from the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association. Shanklin finished fourth on the team with 46 points and finished second in the conference in draw controls, en route to an Honorable Mention All-E8 selection. Condren ranked fifth on the team with a career-high 43 points.

Among Stevens' seven All-Empire 8 selections, the Ducks will return three: Bednarski, Shanklin and Second Team selection Regan Littell. 

The Schedule
Stevens will again face a challenging schedule with 17 contests on the slate, including four against teams ranked in the IWLCA's Preseason Poll. The Ducks will play eight games in the friendly confines of the DeBaun Athletic Complex, where the team is 32-12 over the last five seasons. 

Beginning with a contest at Utica College on March 23, Stevens will play eight games in the E8 this season, including the final three games of the season. The Ducks will welcome Sage and Hartwick to campus to close out both the 2019 season and Stevens' tenure in the Empire 8 Conference. Over the last five seasons, Stevens is 31-8 during the E8's regular season.

The Ducks will also head south for spring break, traveling to Tennessee for non-conference matchups with Sewanee and Rhodes College. Both matchups will be the first-ever meeting between the programs.

All totaled, Stevens will play five matchups with teams that appeared in the 2018 NCAA Tournament. 

Live streaming and live stats for all regular-season home games will take place on StevensDucks.com.

The 2019 season culminates with the Empire 8 Championship, which will be held on the campus of the league's regular-season champion, May 4-5. The Ducks have made the conference tournament in each of the program's 11 seasons in the Empire 8. Stevens has claimed three regular-season titles and one postseason title during its time in the E8. 

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