ONEONTA, N.Y. (April 27, 2019)  – Senior Max Bailey totaled three goals and four assists and sophomore Ryan Gebhardt netted his 11th hat trick of the season as No. 10/No. 10 Stevens Institute of Technology men's lacrosse clinched its third straight Empire 8 Conference regular-season title with an 18-6 victory over Hartwick College Saturday at Wright Stadium.

Senior Dean Peluso had a pair of goals and two assists and junior attackman Brendan Monteleone added three goals for the Ducks, who won their 12th straight to improve to 15-2 on the year and a perfect 8-0 in league play. Stevens extended its conference winning streak to 18 and the team's 12 consecutive wins are the most for the program since the Ducks won 12 straight to open the 2011 season. 

"It was great to get a win against another team that is an Empire 8 playoff team," said head coach Gene Peluso. "We played well and I am glad to see a lot of players contributing on both ends of the field."

The regular-season championship is the fourth for the Ducks since joining the Empire 8 for the 2008 season. Stevens has reached the conference tournament in 11 of its 12 seasons in the league. The nationally-ranked Ducks will take on Nazareth in the Empire 8 Conference semifinals on Wednesday May 1. The Golden Flyers defeated Alfred 16-4 to clinch a spot in the postseason tournament. Hartwick will take on St. John Fisher in the other semifinal, with the winners meeting on May 4 for the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

"[I'm] proud of our guys for securing the regular-season title for the third year in a row," Peluso offered. "Our focus now is on a tough Nazareth team that played really well today to secure their spot in the playoffs. They are playing very well of late and are a very well-coached group."

Sophomore Nico Ipeker added two goals and an assist and freshman Brendan Sullivan had a goal and two assists for the Ducks, who finished with 289 goals and averaged 17 goals per game, which, if the season ended today, would set a new program record. Freshman Michael Burns and senior Eric Radbourne each collected a goal and an assist, while sophomore Ryan Caplis also found the back of the net for Stevens, who defeated the Hawks for the 14th straight meeting. Junior Connor Murphy and sophomore Sean Kunz each dished out an assist to round out Stevens' scoring.

Dylan Ferguson scored three times for the Hawks, who dropped their second straight to close out the regular season with a 10-4 record. Hartwick earned the third seed in the postseason tournament with a 6-2 record in E8 play.

Senior Carson White drew the start and made seven saves to earn his 14th victory of the season. Junior Jack Braswell and sophomore Danny Tierney relieved White and combined to play the final 15 minutes, totaling six saves, with Braswell making a season-high four and Tierney stopping a pair of Hartwick scoring attempts. C.J. Alesandrini made 13 saves in defeat for Hartwick.

Bailey's three-goal afternoon pushed the prolific scorer to 102 goals for his career, while Peluso's four points pushed the reigning Empire 8 Conference Player of the Week across the 100-career point mark. Bailey is currently tops among active Division III players in career assists (195) and fifth in career points (297). 

"Many players had a great game offensively, but notably, it is great to see Bailey get his 100th career goal and Peluso get his 100th career point," Peluso commented.

Stevens opened a 5-0 lead in the opening quarter. Senior Nicholas Carnovale won the opening faceoff and Bailey fired a shot that missed the net. Hartwick took possession on the restart, but Monteleone forced Alesandrini to cough up the ball and the Ducks reclaimed possession. Stevens held onto the ball for the next 2:19, firing five shots before the Hartwick netminder was able to prevent a rebound.

Hartwick successfully cleared the ball, but junior defenseman Bubba Brennan turned Tim Watson over and began Stevens' counterattack. Gebhardt fired high in transition, but the Ducks maintained possession, leading to Bailey feeding Burns in the slot, who beat Alesandrini for his fifth of the season.

Carnovale won the ensuing faceoff and with Hartwick down a man after a slashing penalty, Stevens quickly converted, with Bailey teaming up with Peluso for a man-up goal helping each player reach their career milestone. Carnovale won the ensuing faceoff, leading to Caplis beating Alesandrini for his 13th of the year to make it three goals in under 90 seconds.

Gebhardt would net a pair of goals to push the lead to five before Sam Ferguson put Hartwick on the board with his 26th of the year. The Baldwinsville, New York native finished the day with 54 goals, which is tied for fifth on the single-season scoring list. Joe DiPompeo holds the program record with 61 goals in 1997. The Ducks would go on to score three more times over the final 104 seconds of the quarter to take an 8-1 lead into the second stanza.

Mike Majchrzak beat White to open second-quarter scoring, but the Ducks scored the final five markers of the period to take a 13-2 edge into the intermission. Ferguson netted his first of the day to open scoring in the third quarter, but Monteleone, Peluso and Sullivan each found the back of the net over a four-minute stretch to push the lead to 13. The teams alternated the final five goals of the day to provide the final margin.

The teams combined for 86 shots, with Stevens taking 55 attempts, while Hartwick fired 31. The Ducks held a 31-19 edge in shots on net, including a decisive 13-1 advantage in the first quarter as Stevens built its 8-1 lead. Gebhardt fired off a game-high 14, which included eight on goal. Chris VanDemark led Hartwick with seven attempts, although only two registered on net.

Kyle Peterson caused a game-high two turnovers as Hartwick forced Stevens into 19 miscues. Five different players each caused a turnover for the Ducks as Stevens forced 16 Hawk turnovers for the day. The teams combined for just nine turnovers in the first half.

Carnovale had a tremendous day in the 'X', matching a career high with 19 victories and passed Jay Wells for second place on the career faceoff wins list. Murphy added four victories and sophomore Trevor Kiessling added one as Stevens won 24 of 27 faceoffs on the day. The advantage in the 'X' helped the Ducks achieve a 53-24 margin in ground balls, with Carnovale scooping up a season-high 16 to lead all players, while Gebhardt picked up six. In total, 20 different Ducks picked up at least one ground ball. Derek Chandler led Hartwick with five.

Stevens was successful on 13 of its 20 clearing attempts, while holding Hartwick to success on 18 of its 23 attempts.

The Ducks converted both of their extra-man opportunities with Bailey and Radbourne netting power-play goals. Radbourne's second-period tally drew the Guelph, Ontario, Canada native one shy of 100 career goals. Stevens successfully killed off both of its penalties.

Up Next: No. 10/No. 10 Men's Lacrosse welcomes Nazareth to the DeBaun Athletic Complex for the Empire 8 semifinals on Wednesday, May 1. The game is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. and live stats and video links are available on StevensDucks.com.

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