WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (April 10, 2021)  – Junior Michael Burns netted a career-high six goals to lead the Stevens Institute of Technology men's lacrosse team over Lycoming College 23-6 Saturday in a MAC Freedom matchup at UPMC Field. 

Senior Ryan Gebhardt continued on his path to become the Ducks' all-time leading goal scorer with three goals as Stevens used a decisive 10-1 margin in the second quarter to break the game open in moving to 5-2 on the year and a perfect 5-0 in league play. Stevens has won 20 straight regular season conference contests.

Owen Zimmerman had three goals and an assist to lead the Warriors, who fell to 0-7 on the year and to 0-5 in MAC Freedom action. It was the first meeting between the teams since March 2017.

"We are happy to get another MAC Freedom win," said head coach Gene Peluso. "It was another game where we were able to play everyone that was eligible to play. Now we need to prepare and focus on a very strong Arcadia program. They are well coached and are playing very good lacrosse."

Burns scored the first goal of the game early in the first quarter, collecting a pass from junior Craig Stockfeder, and beating Sean Sonnie to give the Ducks an early lead. The Waxhaw, North Carolina native scored the second goal of the game four minutes later, with Gebhardt and senior Shawn Coulter also finding the back of the net to provide Stevens a four-goal cushion through the first quarter. 

Burns would complete his second career hat trick in the second quarter, beating Sonnie at nearly the exact same time in the period that he netted his goal in the opening stanza, In finishing with six goals, Burns shattered his previous career high of three, which was compiled at Montclair State University on March 11, 2020, in what would ultimately be the final athletic contest for the department before the shutdown. Burns wrapped up his afternoon with a powerplay goal in the fourth quarter for the Ducks' final tally of the afternoon.

"Offensively, we felt like Michael Burns stood with five goals in the first half," Peluso commented. "The coaching staff recognized Michael as the top player of the game."

In addition to his three goals, Gebhardt matched a season high with three assists as 20 different student-athletes registered at least one point. Sophomore Henry Murtagh had the first multi-goal game of his career, while senior Ryan Caplis netted a pair of goals for the fourth time this season. First-year Jack Savarese and sophomore Jake Wright each added a goal and an assist, while Coulter, seniors Roman Bellisari and Owen Stempkovski, juniors Jackson Brown and Brendan Sullivan, along with first-years Mikey Whiteside, Conner Park, Joseph Grippo each scored once to round out the Ducks' goal scorers. The markers for Bellisari and Stempkovski were the first of the season for each respective student-athlete, while Park's third-quarter goal was the first of his career.

Stockfeder finished with two assists on the day, as did junior Evan Eggleston. The two assists for Eggleston were the first of his collegiate career. Sophomore Trevor Carroll joined first-year Trevor Cole and seniors Sean Kunz and Tim Spears in dishing out one assist to round out the Ducks' scoring.

First-year Jake Zeyher made his first career start and made three saves to earn his first career victory. Senior Danny Tierney took over at the start of the third quarter and finished with five saves. Sonnie made seven saves in defeat for Lycoming. Dan Cantafio relieved and finished with six saves.

"I thought we played a very clean first half of defense, led by Jake Zeyher," Peluso said. "Jake didn't make a lot of saves, but did turn away three or four and only let up one goal. We are proud of Jake and the job he did in his first college start."

Consecutive goals from Caplis began a stretch that saw Stevens build on its first-quarter lead. The Ducks would score 10 of the 11 goals scored in the frame to build a 13-goal lead at halftime. 

Brown opened scoring in the second half with his third of the year, with goals from Grippo, Stempkovski, Bellisari and Conner Park pushing the Ducks' lead to 18-5. Murtagh scored the final goal of the third quarter in the final minute before scoring the first goal in the final quarter to help the Ducks reach 20 goals for the third time this season. Zimmerman scored his final goal of the day midway through the period to provide the game's final margin.

In netting his fifth hat trick of the season, Gebhart moved to 162 career goals, just two shy of matching Hall of Famer Mark Bielicky atop the program's all-time career goal-scoring list. 

Stevens held the advantage in shots, outshooting Lycoming 56-21 on the day. In building their halftime lead, the Ducks totaled 35 shots through the first two quarters, against just seven for Lycoming. Burns led all student-athletes with nine shots, with Gebhardt, Savarese and Caplis each taking six attempts. Over the Ducks' 56 shots, 36 (nearly 65%) were on-goal. Zimmerman and Rory Hines each had six shots to lead Lycoming.

The Ducks forced Lycoming into 26 turnovers, matching the most of any opponent this season. Graduate student Daniel Crotty forced three turnovers to move within eight of 100 of his career. Eggleston and junior Aidan Hinphy forced two turnovers each as 10 different Ducks each had one. Ian Chapman led Lycoming with three caused turnovers as the Warriors forced the Ducks into 24 on the day.

Stevens won 24 of the game's 32 faceoffs, the single-game high for the Ducks this season. Conner Park picked up a career-high 12 victories in the 'X,' while junior Larry Park was nearly perfect, winning 11 of 13 faceoffs. Senior Trey Kiessling added one victory in the circle to round out the Ducks' wins. Lucas Podvey accounted for all eight of Lycoming's victories in the circle. 

"I believe the Park brothers did a great job at the faceoff dot as they helped us control possessions," Peluso shared. "It was great to also see Conner Park score his first career goal."

Larry Park and Burns helped lead an impressive team effort in ground balls, picking up five each as the Ducks finished with a 63-23 advantage in the statistic. The 63 ground balls were the most for the team since Apr. 22, 201, when the Ducks picked up 74. Graduate student Noah Frantz joined Conner Park in picking up four, while senior Jason Coyle led five Ducks with three. Jake Davis and Josh Hall picked up four each to lead Lycoming.

The Ducks scored on two of their three man-advantage situations, with Sullivan and Burns scoring on the powerplay in the fourth quarter. Blake Premo scored on the man-advantage in the third quarter as Lycoming was only able to convert one of its three chances.

The Ducks were successful on 20 of their 24 clearing attempts, while holding Lycoming to just 19 of 27.

Up Next: Men's Lacrosse heads to Glenside, Pennsylvania for a MAC Freedom matchup with Arcadia University. The Ducks are 3-0 all-time against the Knights, with the last meeting taking place in 2018.

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