Box Score DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (March 17, 2021)  – Senior Ryan Gebhardt scored three first-quarter goals as No. 20 Stevens Institute of Technology men's lacrosse jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the opening period and never looked back, downing Delaware Valley University 16-5 Wednesday evening in a MAC Freedom matchup at Lipinski Field.

Gebhardt finished the game with five goals and three assists and junior Tyler Ryan and first-year Jack Savarese each added three points for the Ducks, who evened their record at 1-1. With the victory, the Ducks moved to 1-0 in MAC Freedom play, earning their first-ever victory since joining the conference in the summer of 2019; spring sports were shut down in 2020 prior to reaching league play. The MAC Freedom win was the first for head coach Gene Peluso since compiling 21 MAC wins between 1997 and 2001 as the head coach of Lycoming College. The Ducks have won each of their last two matchups on St. Patrick's Day.

"It was great to get the first win of the season," Peluso said. "I was happy to see a couple of young guys get their first career goals like Nolan Quade and Jack Savarese. I thought we got great play defensively from Joseph Cawley and Daniel Tierney. Ranaldi, Gebhardt, Sullivan and Tyler Ryan gave us multiple points tonight and it was good to have a variety of scorers."

Fifth-year Max Ranaldi and junior Brendan Sullivan netted two goals each as eight different student-athletes found the back of the net, including junior Jackson Brown, who matched Ranaldi and Sullivan in scoring for the first time since the 2019 season. First-year Nolan Quade joined Savarese in collecting his first collegiate goal, while sophomore Trevor Carroll and graduate student Daniel Crotty also scored for Stevens. Crotty's first-quarter goal was the second of his career.

Gebhardt and Ryan each dished out a game-high three assists, while senior Ryan Caplis added two. Junior Michael Burns, senior Sean Kunz, sophomore Jake Wright and first-year Joseph Grippo each had an assist to round out the Ducks' scoring. Grippo's assist on Quade's fourth-quarter goal was his first career point.

P.J Rafferty had two goals and two assists to lead Delaware Valley, who fell to 1-1 on the season and to 0-1 in the MAC Freedom. It is believed that tonight's contest was the first meeting between the programs.

"We told the guys to be happy that we're playing and we congratulated them on a great win," Peluso offered. "Delaware Valley is a strong, young program and they played hard. We now have to get ready for a very good Misericordia team that is always tough and has been scoring a lot of goals this year."

First-years Trevor Cole and Jesse Tareco each made their collegiate debut, while juniors Tom Conway, Craig Stockfeder and Henry Johnson, along with sophomore Henry Murtagh and seniors Kyle Vlasich and Trey Kiessling each made their season debuts.

Senior Danny Tierney made eight saves in his second career start to earn his first career victory. First-year Jake Zeyher came on in relief at the start of the fourth quarter and made a pair of saves in his first collegiate action. Jim Murphy played all 60 minutes for Delaware Valley and made 16 saves.

Although Delaware Valley won the opening faceoff, it was Stevens that got on the board first, courtesy of Gebhardt's first goal of the contest. With his five-goal performance, Gebhardt now has 143 career goals, moving him into a tie with Alex Hofrichter for second place on the program's all-time career goal-scoring list. Hall of Famer Mark Bielicky holds the program record with 164. 

Stevens would score eight straight goals to open the game with six coming over the game's first 15 minutes. In addition to Gebhardt's 28th career hat trick, goals from Savarese, Crotty and Ranaldi provided the Ducks with a large cushion entering the second quarter.

After Savarese and Sullivan found the back of the net to open scoring in the second period, Rafferty netted his first of the day to spoil the Ducks' shutout bid. Savarese scored on the powerplay with 28 seconds left in the second to send the Ducks into the intermission with a commanding 9-1 lead. The last-second tally was the Ducks' second of the day to come in the waning moments of a quarter.

The teams alternated two-goal runs at the start of the third quarter, with Sullivan and Ranaldi accounting for Stevens' goals and Ben Napieralski and Dylan Brasch connecting for Delaware Valley. Gebhardt and Raffert exchanged goals some seven minutes apart to close out scoring in the third quarter.

The Ducks pushed their advantage to 10 early in the final quarter with Gebhardt scoring his final goal of the day and Carroll following in short order. Travis Berman beat Zeyher for the Aggies' fifth goal of the evening, before Brown and Quade closed out scoring, beating Murphy 40 seconds apart.

Stevens fired off a whopping 65 shots, taking at least 13 attempts in each period, culminating with 20 in the fourth quarter. The output was the highest for the team since taking 68 shots against Alfred University on Apr. 6, 2019. Of the Ducks' 65 attempts, 32 were on goal. Gebhardt took 16 shots to lead both teams and 20 student-athletes took at least one attempt. Brasch had seven shots to lead the Aggies. 

Defensively, the Ducks forced 26 turnovers, including 16 in the first half. Senior Shawn Coulter registered a game-high four turnovers on the evening, with Gebhardt and Cawley causing two each. Delaware Valley recorded a caused turnover on six of the Ducks' 18 miscues with Michael Florig and Sean Mylod causing two each.

Delaware Valley won the ground ball battle, scooping up 37 on the evening, against 34 for the Ducks. Coulter again paced the Ducks, picking up six, while Cawley grabbed five. Delaware Valley's Chris Dearden snagged 11 ground balls to lead both teams.

The Ducks' won 9 of the game's 25 faceoffs. Conway won five times in the 'X' to lead the Ducks, while graduate student Bubba Brennan had a pair of wins. Sophomore Joseph DeGuida accounted for the other Stevens faceoff win. Dearden went 14-9 in the 'X' to lead the Aggies.

Savarese scored on the man-advantage with time winding down in the first half as the Ducks went 1 for 3 on the powerplay. The Ducks killed off their lone man-down situation in the second quarter.

The Ducks were incredibly successful in the clearing game, converting 19 of their 20 attempts for a 95 percent success rate. The Ducks were also aggressive in preventing Delaware Valley from getting into the attacking third, holding the Aggies to just a 57 percent (16 for 28) success rate on their clearing attempts. Stevens was especially stingy in the first half, allowing the home team to find success on just five of their 14 clearing attempts (36%), as they built a commanding lead.

Up Next: No. 20 Men's Lacrosse welcomes Misericordia University to the DeBaun Athletic Complex for a Saturday matinee at 1:00 p.m. Links for live stats and video are available on StevensDucks.com. It is believed to be the first meeting between the programs.

Please note that all event times, dates and opponents are subject to change and fans remain prohibited from attending Middle Atlantic Conference athletic events.

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