HOBOKEN, N.J. (March 31, 2021)  – The 18th-ranked Stevens Institute of Technology men's lacrosse team scored on each of its first four possessions en route to a 21-6 victory over Wilkes University Wednesday evening in a MAC Freedom matchup at the DeBaun Athletic Complex. 

Senior Ryan Gebhardt netted five goals, including four in the opening quarter for the Ducks, who won their fourth straight to improve to 4-1 on the season and 4-0 in conference play. The MAC Freedom win extended the program's conference regular-season winning streak to 19.

Ethan Weaver had a hat trick for Wilkes, who fell to 1-5 on the year and to 1-3 in the MAC Freedom. The Colonels have dropped two straight. Tonight's matchup was the first meeting between the teams. 

"It was another great team win where we were able to play every able student-athlete," said head coach Gene Peluso. "Great amount of shots tonight and credit the Wilkes goalie for doing a great job. The Wilkes team is well coached and their student-athletes played hard."

"It is great to get everyone into the game tonight," Peluso continued. "That is rewarding as a coach because these guys are working hard and sacrificing a lot to keep us rolling. We now focus our attention on York. They're a tough team and a great program. We will get ourselves ready for the challenge."

After Wilkes won the opening faceoff and narrowly avoided a shot clock violation because of an errant pass, the Ducks successfully cleared the ball to transition into their first offensive possession of the game. 

Once in the attacking third, Stevens fired off four straight shots before Gebhardt converted a great feed from junior Tyler Ryan to put the Ducks on the board 2:41 seconds into the opening quarter. Junior Larry Park won the ensuing faceoff to keep possession with the Ducks and Gebhardt found the back of the net 90 seconds later to give Stevens a 2-0 lead. Gebhardt's five-goal evening pushed his career total to 158 to move within six of matching Hall of Famer Mark Bielicky atop the career goal-scoring list. Gebhardt also moved within two points of becoming the sixth student-athlete in program history to reach 200 career points. 

Ryan finished with two goals and an assist as 15 student-athletes registered at least one point on the evening. Junior Michael Burns matched Ryan with a pair of goals and an assist and sophomore Jake Wright had a goal and two assists for the first multi-point performance of his career. Senior Ryan Caplis also had two goals and an assist as four student-athletes totaled three points each. First-year Trevor Cole netted the first two goals of his career, while classmate Jack Savarese added a goal and an assist. Seniors Shawn Coulter and Sean Kunz, juniors Craig Stockfeder and Jackson Brown and sophomores Henry Murtagh and Shaun Spiegel each scored once. Assists from junior Brendan Sullivan and first-year Joseph Grippo rounded out the Ducks' scoring. In his season debut, Spiegel's fourth-quarter goal was his first collegiate point. 

"We were excited to see Trevor Cole score the first goals of his career," Peluso offered. "We were also very happy with the play from Jason Coyle in the middle of the field."

"The coaching staff also recognizes Jake Wright as a top performer," the 12th-year head coach continued. "He worked hard and he made the most out of his opportunities"

Senior Danny Tierney drew the start and made one save over 35 minutes to earn his fourth win of the season. First-year Jake Zeyher came on in relief in the third quarter and made a career-high four saves. Daniel Cox made 19 saves and took the loss for Wilkes.

The Ducks continued to find offensive success in the opening period, with goals Coulter, Gebhardt and Wright pushing the advantage to five before Wilkes was able to get on the board courtesy of Weaver's first of the game. Weaver would collect his second of the evening after a Burns goal before goals from Stockfeder and Gebhardt handed the home team an 8-2 lead after one quarter of play. Weaver's marker with 3:43 remaining in the first came off a nifty over the shoulder pass by Jake Kadis.

The second period brought continued offensive success for the Ducks with Caplis connecting on his sixth tally of the year just over a minute in the frame. Gebhardt would net his fifth of the game to power the Ducks to double digits for the fourth straight game. Kunz, Ryan and Burns scored less than three minutes apart to provide an 11-goal lead. Ryan would net his second of the quarter to make it eight unanswered goals for the Ducks before Weaver completed his hat trick to send the teams into halftime with the Ducks holding a 14-3 lead. 

Although Wilkes' Alex Myers opened second-half scoring, Caplis and Savarese quickly answered to end any potential comeback attempt. The Ducks would go on to score five of the final six goals in the fourth quarter, including the first-career goals from Cole and Spiegel, to provide the final margin.

Stevens fired off 70 shots, marking the fourth straight game with at least 60. The 70 attempts are the most for the program since the Ducks had 77 shots against former Empire 8 Conference opponent, Elmira College, on Apr. 22, 2015. With 31 shots in the first quarter alone, the Ducks threatened the program record of 86, set against City College of New York in the 2001 season. Forty of the Ducks' 70 attempts registered on goal. 

Gebhardt led all student-athletes with 12 shots, while Savarese had 10. All totaled, 17 Ducks fired off at least one shot. Conversely, Wilkes finished with 17 shots, with Weaver pacing the team with five.

Defensively, Wilkes committed 24 turnovers with 13 being unforced. Graduate student Bubba Brennan caused four turnovers, while sophomore Joe Cawley had two. Seven different student-athletes registered one caused turnover each.

Stevens won 20 of the game's 31 faceoffs with Park accounting for 11 of the Ducks' 20 victories. First-year Conner Park had four wins in the 'X' and classmate Jesse Tareco added three for his first career action in the 'X.' Senior Trey Kiessling, first-year Nolan Quade and junior Tom Conway each added one victory to close out the Ducks' efforts in the circle. Jamison Shaw led Wilkes with eight faceoff wins.

Behind six from Coulter, the Ducks held a decisive 55-23 advantage in ground balls. Brennan scooped up five, while the Park brothers accounted for a combined eight, as 24 different student-athletes had one each. Cox, Nico Lorenzo and Alex Myers each picked up three to lead the Colonels.

Each team had one power-play goal on the evening with Burns scoring on the man-advantage for the Ducks and Luke Palladino taking advantage of a Stevens penalty for the Colonels. For the game, Stevens was an efficient 50 percent (1 for 2) on the man-advantage, while also successfully killing off four of their five penalties. 

Stevens was successful on 15 of its 17 clear attempts to increase its season percentage to 89.1 percent. An aggressive defensive effort kept Wilkes out of rhythm in its clearing efforts, finding success on just 13 of its 21 attempts.

Up Next: No. 18 Men's Lacrosse heads to York, Pennsylvania for a non-conference matchup with No. 6 York College. This will be the first meeting between the programs. 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.

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