HOBOKEN, N.J. (Jan. 4, 2021) – Under the leadership of current Director of Athletics Russell Rogers, who just completed his 20th year in the position, the Stevens Institute of Technology Department of Athletics has risen to unprecedented levels of success.

Under Rogers' leadership, Stevens has finished inside the top 45 in the DIII College Directors' Cup standings 11 consecutive years including a program-best 13th-place finish in both 2010-11 and 2015-16. The Ducks also won the Jostens Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) Institution of the Year Award in both 2007-08 and 2012-13, while also finishing as the Collegiate Athletic Administrators of New Jersey DIII Cup Winner in seven of the last 10 years.

The Department of Athletics will look back into the archives to reflect on the development's evolution under Rogers. Each week, key moments will be highlighted that happened "This Week in Stevens History."

The week of January 4-10
Jan. 4, 2007 – Collins Becomes Men's Basketball's All-Time Career Blocks Leader in Win Over RPI
In what was one of the best seasons in program history, the Stevens men's basketball team earned a 74-69 victory over Rensselear Polytechnic Institute and Michael Collins broke the all-time record for career blocks that stood for over 20 years in the process.

Collins, who now serves as a volunteer assistant on the men's basketball coaching staff, blocked a shot with 6:33 remaining in the first half to give him 125 career blocks, surpassing the record of 124 set by David Bonifacic from 1983-86. Collins closed his career with 173 career blocks which now ranks second in program history behind only Patrick Sabatino who swatted 181 shots in his career from 2010-15.

Jan. 4, 2003 – Women's Basketball Rallies from 21-Point Deficit to Top Centenary
Trailing 47-26 with 18:57 left in the contest on the road, the Stevens women's basketball team rallied to a thrilling 65-58 victory over Centenary, holding the Cyclones to 15.4 percent (4 for 26) in the second half.

Led by five straight points from eventual Hall-of-Famer Aracely Cruz, the Ducks went on a 15-0 run after falling behind by 21 to cut the deficit to just six. Then, trailing 52-48 with 7:49 remaining in the contest, Stevens held Centenary scoreless for more than seven minutes of game action and rattled off 12 consecutive points to take a 60-52 lead with less than a minute left.

Senior Vanessa Williams recorded a double-double in the victory with 12 points and a game-high 17 rebounds.

Jan. 5, 2010 – Steiner Earns U.S. Fencing National Ranking
In his second season on Castle Point, Stevens men's fencer Charles Steiner earned a U.S. Fencing national ranking after an impressive showing at the 2009-10 North American Cup in Pittsburgh, Pa. The Waltham, Mass. native, advanced to the round of 32 in the event and found himself ranked 49th on the Senior Men's Epee's point standings.

Steiner opened play at the North American Cup with a 5-1 showing during the tournament's seeding round, resulting in a 26th seed entering the direct elimination competition. After dispatching of the 103rd-seeded fencer in the first elimination match, Steiner earned a 15-9 upset of Garrett Carnahan, who was ranked 6th and 26th, respectively on the junior men's and senior men's point standings.

Jan. 7, 2020 – Panko Closes Illustrious Career with First Team All-America Honors from D3Soccer.com
Julia Panko, one of the top student-athletes in the history of the Stevens women's soccer program, closed her illustrious career with one final award in 2020 as she was named a First Team All-American by D3Soccer.com.

The distinction was the final postseason honor for the Millstone Township, New Jersey native, who earned First Team All-America honors from the United Soccer Coaches and a First Team Academic All-America nod, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America. The United Soccer Coaches also recognized Panko with its Scholar All-America honor.

Panko was the first three-time United Soccer Coaches All-America in program history and the first female student-athlete in department history to earn three Academic All-America distinctions. She also joined alumna Raba Nassif in earning two All-America honors from D3Soccer.com after landing on the organization's Third Team in 2019.

Jan. 7, 2018 – Men's Volleyball Tops No. 6 Juniata 3-1 in Hawai'i
After dropping the first set 27-25, the Stevens men's volleyball team rallied for a come-from-behind 3-1 victory over No. 6 Juniata in the final match of the inaugural Texaco Rainbow Warrior Classic in Honolulu, Hawai'i.

The Ducks won the final three sets 25-23, 25-18, 25-14 to grab their first victory of the 2018 season. Gabe Shankweiler led Stevens with 15 kills to go along with two blocks and a service ace while Thomas Burrell and Dylan DeBoer added nine kills apiece in the victory.

The win was the first of 10 total victories against ranked opponents in the 2018 season for the Ducks as they advanced to the NCAA Championship match before falling to No. 1 Springfield.

Jan. 7, 2017 – Wrestling Defeats Three Ranked Opponents in Perfect Day at North/South Duals
The Stevens wrestling program showed off in a big way at the 2017 North/South Duals as they finished a perfect 4-0 overall and toppled No. 11 Messiah and No. 14 Delaware Valley in the process. The Ducks scored at least 30 points in all four duals on the day as they dismantled DelVal (30-10), Cortland (37-10), Elizabethtown (30-12) and Messiah (30-15) to move to a perfect 13-0 on the season.

Troy Stanich, Zach Wilhelm, Thomas Poklikuha, Phil Woods and Danny Moore all finished the day unbeaten the lead the way for Stevens. The Ducks earned five total pins and four major decisions on the day. Stanich notched two pins while Woods, Smith and A.J. Kowal all produced one apiece.

Jan. 9, 2015 – Men's Swimming Earns Road Dual Victory over No. 23 Pomona-Pitzer
The Stevens men's swim team needed a comeback in three late events to propel them to an eventual 141-121 victory on the road over No. 23 Pomona-Pitzer in their first contest of 2015. The win helped propel the Ducks to a successful 2014-15 season in which they won their third consecutive Empire 8 Conference title and finished 40th overall at the NCAA Championships.

Stevens got come-from-behind wins in the 200-yard backstroke and the 400-yard IM from Ravi Sun as well as a comeback by James Betz in the 500-yard freestyle to grab the 20-point win. Overall, Stevens won seven total events (1,000-free, 200-fly, 100-free, 200-back, 500-free, 400-IM, 400-free relay) to go along with nine runner-up finishes.

Jan. 10, 2009 – Men's and Women's Indoor Track and Field Combine to Break Six Total Program Records at NYU Open Invitational
The Stevens men's and women's indoor track and field program combined to break a total of six program records at the NYU Open Invitational in 2009. Two of the records, one in each gender, remain as the top times in their respective events today.

The women broke a total of four records on the day as Salme Cook set new school marks in the 600-meter run and was a part of the sprint medley and the 4x400-meter relay team, both consisting of Cook, Hillary Paul, Caroline Pawalowski and Shanna Beairsto. Melissa Franzese also shattered her own record in the 3,000-meters. Cook's record time of 1:42.44 in the 600 remains on the record books as the fastest time in program history.

On the men's side, the Ducks broke a pair of records as Trevor Currie broke the school record in the pole vault and the sprint-medley relay team of Greg McLeod, Rich Fox, John Sangiovanni and Michael Pawalowski did the same. The sprint medley team posted a final time of 3:46.25 to remain the school record today.

Jan. 10, 2007 – Enright Surpasses 1,000-Point Plateau in win over St. Joseph's College
Stevens women's basketball all-time career points leader Dora Enright made history in a 61-43 victory over St. Joseph's College as she became just the sixth student-athlete in program history to surpass 1,000 points in her career, doing so just halfway through her junior campaign.

Enright, who entered the contest with 999 career points, finished the contest with 15 points and made quick work of reaching the milestone as she scored on a layup just 37 seconds into the contest. The 2015 Stevens Hall of Fame Inductee finished her career with 1,704 career points, three points more than Aracely Cruz who sits in second with 1,701 points to her name.

BONUS: Jan. 2, 2012 – Men's Basketball Sets Program Record with 127 Points in win over RPI
Due to limited events, the Stevens Department of Athletic Communications did not release a "This Week from the Pond" article for the week of Dec. 27-Jan. 3. There was, however, one crucial event that took place on that week that garnered recognition.

In January of 2012, the Stevens men's basketball program set a new program record with 127 total points in a 127-83 victory over RPI. Simon Smith led all scorers with 28 points to go along with 15 rebounds.

A total of 16 different players scored in the victory as the Ducks had four players score in double figures while three more finished with eight. Sheldon Jones also produced a 20-point performance as he finished with 22 points and nine boards while Andrew Meszaros, Max Schwartz and Nick Santalucia all added eight points apiece. Impressively, Schwartz and Santalucia accomplished the feat in just 11 combined minutes of game action.

The games/events noted above are not meant to be a complete listing of Stevens' events on these dates, but a sampling of great moments as determined by the Stevens Department of Athletic Communications.

"This Week From the Pond" Archives:
Sept. 14-20
Sept. 21-27
Sept. 28-Oct. 4
Oct. 5-11
Oct. 12-18
Oct. 19-25
Oct. 26-Nov. 1
Nov. 2-8
Nov. 9-15
Nov. 16-22
Nov. 23-29
Nov. 30-Dec. 6
Dec. 7-13
Dec. 14-20 

Facebook: "Like" Stevens Athletics     
Twitter: @stevensducks
Instagram: @stevensducks
#AllRise