MADISON, N.J. (March 24, 2021)  – Junior Tyler Ryan had a career night with four goals and three assists to lead 11 different goal scorers as No. 19 Stevens Institute of Technology men's lacrosse defeated Fairleigh Dickinson University-Florham Campus 23-3 Wednesday evening in a MAC Freedom contest played at a soggy RTS Field.

In difficult conditions, Ryan posted his second career hat trick to go along with a pair of assists in the first half alone, before adding a goal and an assist in the third quarter to complete his night with seven points. The Kings Park, New York native scored on four of his five shot attempts to best his previous career-high of six points set back in 2019.

Senior Ryan Gebhardt and first-year Jack Savarese also had four-goal efforts for the Ducks, who jumped out to a 7-0 lead midway through the opening quarter in winning their third straight to move to 3-1 on the year and a perfect 3-0 in conference play. Dating back to the 2018 season, when the program was still a member of the Empire 8 Conference, Stevens has won 18 straight conference matchups. 

Zane Johnston scored twice for FDU-Florham, who fell to 1-4 on the year and to 1-2 in the MAC Freedom. The meeting was the first between the programs since Mar. 2, 2016 and the Ducks have won five straight matchups in the series.

"We were happy to get out to a great start last night," said head coach Gene Peluso. "The weather was tough, but proud of the guys and how they fought through it. Every single eligible student-athlete was able to play tonight and about a dozen guys got a chance to play their first college action."

"The coaches recognize Tyler Ryan for his efforts in the first half," Peluso continued. "He had some big goals for us and some very nice reeds. He also rode very well! A great performance by him and it was the reason we were so successful in the first half. Now we prepare for Wilkes."

Sophomore Trevor Carroll scored twice in posting the first multi-goal effort of his career. Joining the Norwood, Massachusetts native in netting a pair of goals were senior Ryan Caplis and first-year Joseph Grippo. Senior Tim Spears, junior Brendan Sullivan and sophomores Jake Wright and Henry Murtagh, along with first-year Jack Phelan, each found the back of the net to complete the list of goal-scorers. The second-half markers for Grippo, Wright, Murtagh and Phelan were the first career goals for each respective student-athlete. Gebhardt added a pair of assists, while Savarese, Grippo, Spears, Sullivan, fifth-year Max Ranaldi, junior Michael Burns and senior Trey Kiessling each had one to round out the Ducks' scoring efforts. The second-quarter helper for Kiessling was his first point since Apr. 17, 2019.

Senior Danny Tierney drew the start and made one save over 30 minutes to earn his third win of the season. First-year Jake Zeyher came on in relief at the start of the third quarter and made a pair of saves and classmate Christopher Bartell made his collegiate debut in the fourth quarter, making one save. Austin Van Holten made 14 saves for FDU-Florham in defeat.

"We played all three goalies and they all did a great job," Peluso shared.

The Ducks were able to get off to a fast start in the opening quarter with Caplis converting a Sullivan feed for the first goal of the contest. Gebhardt scored his first of the evening to push the lead to two and added another less than a minute later to give the Ducks a 3-0 lead less than four minutes into the opening period. Gebhardt's four-goal outing pushed the Baldwinsville, New York native's career total to 153 to move within 11 of matching Hall of Famer Mark Bielicky atop the career goal-scoring leaderboard. The high-scoring attackman is also seven points shy of becoming the sixth student-athlete in program history to reach 200 career points. 

Stevens would add four more goals to push its lead to seven 10 minutes into the contest before Johnston netted his first of the evening to put FDU-Florham on the board. Savarese would collect his second of the game moments later to give the Ducks a commanding 8-1 lead through one quarter.

Gebhardt netted his fourth goal of the game to open scoring in the second quarter, with a pair of goals from Savarese and Ryan and one from Caplis providing the Ducks with a 14-1 lead at the intermission.

Carroll opened second-half scoring with his third of the year, with Spears adding his first of the year two minutes later to push the lead to 15. Ryan rounded out his captivating performance with his fifth goal of the season midway through the third quarter with Carroll's second of the evening and Phelan's first career goal closing out the frame. 

The fourth quarter featured goals from three different student-athletes, highlighted by Grippo's multi-goal effort. Johnston and Drew Gallagher each had goals in the six minutes for the Devils to close out the contest.

Stevens fired off 62 shots, marking the third straight game with at least 60 attempts. Thirty-seven of the Ducks' 62 attempts registered on goal. Gebhardt led all student-athletes with eight shots and 21 different Ducks took at least one. Johnston fired off six to lead FDU-Florham.

Defensively, the Ducks forced 25 FDU-Florham turnovers, including six in the opening quarter and eight in the third. Graduate student Bubba Brennan keyed the defensive efforts with a season-high three caused turnovers, while first-year Gunnar Nystedt caused two in his collegiate debut. MacGyver Hay caused three turnovers to lead the Devils. 

Behind seven wins each from Kiessling and junior Tom Conway, Stevens earned a 19-11 advantage in the faceoff circle. First-year Conner Park made his collegiate debut and earned three wins in the 'X,' while senior Shawn Coulter and graduate student Noah Frantz each had one to account for the Ducks' faceoff wins. Trevor Arnone had all 11 victories for the Devils.

Conway also keyed the Ducks' efforts in the ground ball game, picking up a game-high six as the Ducks held a 42-24 edge in the statistic. Conway has picked up 18 ground balls over his last two contests. Coulter added four and Savarese and Ryan added three each as 24 different student-athletes picked up at least one. Arnone and Hay scooped up four each to lead FDU-Florham.

The Ducks converted one of their two extra-man opportunities, while killing off each of their five penalties. Caplis' second-quarter tally accounted for the Ducks' third power-play goal of the season. 

Continuing to be highly efficient in clearing attempts, the Ducks were perfect in three of the four quarters to finish the contest 18 for 19. On the season. Stevens is 75 for 84 (89.3%), which is tops in the MAC Freedom and ranks among the top-20 in Division III. FDU-Florham finished 13 of 17. 

First-years Alex Marsh, Gavin Maute, Paddy Pehlps, Frankie DeRosa and junior George Benway joined Phelan, Nystedt, Park and Bartell in making their collegiate debuts.

Up Next: No. 19 Men's Lacrosse welcomes Wilkes University to campus for a MAC Freedom matchup on Mar. 26. The first-ever meeting between the programs gets underway at 6:00 p.m. Links for live stats and video are available at StevensDucks.com.

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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