HOBOKEN, N.J. (April 23, 2021)  – Playing in front of his home crowd for the final time in the regular season, Stevens Institute of Technology men's lacrosse senior Ryan Gebhardt saved perhaps his most impressive performance for last.

Gebhardt netted a career-high nine goals to match a single-game program record to lead the Ducks over Eastern University 20-14 Friday evening in a non-conference matchup at the DeBaun Athletic Complex. 

Already in possession of the program's record for career goals, the Baldwinsville, New York native scored four of his nine goals in the opening quarter as Stevens built a 10-goal lead before the visitors fired off their first shot of the game. Gebhardt added three goals in the second quarter and one each in the third and fourth to complete his day, matching alumnus Patrick Bailey's performance against the United States Merchant Marine Academy on Apr. 29, 2006. Gebhardt's previous career best was a seven-goal outing against Alfred University on Apr. 6, 2017.

The victory was the fifth straight for the Ducks, who moved to 9-2 on the year. It is believed to be the first meeting between the programs. 

Avery Porter had two goals and three assists and Kyle Fanelli, Nicholas Fanelli and Kyle Multrane each had three goals for the Eagles, who fell to 7-4. The Ducks' victory snapped Eastern's two-game winning streak.

Prior to the game, Stevens Men's Lacrosse honored its 17-member Class of 2021 in a pregame ceremony and then honored the five alumni-athletes that comprised the Class of 2020 at halftime.

"I'm happy for our seniors today to play the last regular season home game and go out with the win," said head coach Gene Peluso. "Credit to the Eastern team and its coaches. Those student-athletes and that program could have bailed out after the first half, but they played hard, and were impressive and difficult to stop in the second half. We knew they would be tough and they were! I told their coach that I am glad we didn't have to play another half tonight!"

"The night belonged to our Classes of 2020 and 2021," Peluso continued. "They have been through so much over the past 14 months and have worked hard to move forward both in their lacrosse careers and in their professional ones. It was so nice to honor both classes tonight. For the Class of 2020, that was the first time we have seen them in person since Mar. 12, 2020!! As for the Class of 2021, I told them they are special and that they continue to play great and build their legacies. But I also did tell them that we have much more lacrosse to play!"

Gebhardt added an assist to finish with 10 points, marking the first double-digit performance by a Duck since alumnus Max Bailey totaled 11 against Utica College on Apr. 7, 2018.

"The coaches recognized Ryan Gebhardt with the top game award," Peluso shared. "He did an excellent job, He garners so much attention and he stays unfazed. He had a sneaky nine goals! I couldn't believe he scored that many, but we needed all of them!"

First-year Jack Savarese had four goals and an assist to extend his scoring streak to 10 games. The Wilton, Connecticut native has recorded four straight hat tricks and is second on the team with 32 goals. Senior Ryan Caplis added three goals and an assist, while junior Michael Burns posted a goal with two assists. Junior Craig Stockfeder scored two of the first three goals of the game for the first multi-goal game of his career and senior Jason Coyle continued his offensive explosion, totaling a goal and an assist for his second straight multi-point effort. Juniors Larry Park and Brendan Sullivan joined sophomore Trevor Carroll in handing out one assist to round out the offensive production. 

"We recognized some key players in tonight's game," Peluso began. "Jack Savarese had a great game for us and Craig Stockfeder got us going early, helping us get off to a fast start."

First-year Jake Zeyher drew the start and earned the victory. Senior Danny Tierney came on in relief in the second half and made two saves over 21 minutes. Ethan Myers drew the start for Eastern and made two saves over seven minutes to suffer the loss. Connor Evans made two saves over 13 minutes, while Kyle Dampan took to the field in the second quarter and made 10 saves over the remainder of the game.

With Stevens building a 10-goal lead in the opening quarter, Porter finally put Eastern on the board with 11 seconds left in the opening period. Gebhardt would net three of the Ducks' next four goals to send the teams into the intermission with Stevens holding a 14-2 lead.

The second half would see Eastern chip away at the Ducks' lead with feisty play, scoring the first three goals of the third quarter, including an extra-man goal that opened scoring. Caplis and Savarese scored back-to-back goals to thwart Eastern, but the Eagles would go on to score five straight goals bridging the third and fourth quarters to pull within six.

A pushing penalty would cause the Ducks to play shorthanded, but a successful penalty kill and a clear would set Stevens back up in the offensive zone, leading to Savarese finding the back of the net to slow down the Eagles. Gebhardt kept the possession alive, picking up a ground ball after Dampman saved his scoring attempt.

Connor Killian beat Tierney to trim Stevens' advantage to six, but Gebhardt and Savarese connected for back-to-back goals less than two minutes apart to reclaim a comfortable margin. Mulrane and Nicholas Fanelli scored in the final minutes to provide the final margin.

The Ducks finished with a 53-27 advantage in shots, including a remarkable 34-5 margin in the first half. Gebhardt led all student-athletes with 19 shots, with Burns adding eight. Nicholas Fanelli led Eastern with seven.

Eastern committed 22 turnovers on the day, with the Ducks causing 13 of them. Graduate student Bubba Brennan had three caused turnovers to lead the defensive efforts, with sophomore Joe Cawley and graduate student Daniel Crotty each causing two. Conversely, Stevens committed 15 turnovers on the evening, with Eastern causing 11.

Stevens won 24 of the game's 37 faceoffs, including a 15-3 advantage as the home team built its lead. Larry Park led the Ducks' efforts in the 'X,' falling one short of a career high with 20 wins, while first-year Conner Park had four. Splitting time in the 'X' with Anthony Firmani, Patrick McClain had nine wins to lead Eastern.

"Larry Park did an excellent job at the X, winning 66 percent of the time and taking 30 faceoffs!" Peluso said.

The teams combined for 89 ground balls, with Stevens claiming a 48-41 advantage. Larry Park led the Ducks with nine ground balls, while Coulter had eight. Chris Durning led Eastern with seven.

The Ducks went 1 for 2 on the man-advantage, with Gebhardt scoring on the powerplay in the opening quarter. Some chippy play led to the Ducks committing five penalties in the second half, which led to four EMO goals for Eastern.

Starting out the game a perfect 8 for 8 in the first half, Stevens finished the game 16 for 18 on clears, while Eastern finished 18 for 22.

Up Next: Men's Lacrosse closes out its regular season with a non-conference matchup at Widener University on Apr. 27. The teams have met three times since the 2005 season with the Ducks winning all three meetings. 

Please note that all event times, dates and opponents are subject to change.

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