HOBOKEN, N.J. (February 26, 2022)  – Graduate student Ryan Caplis scored 1:42 into overtime to lead No. 18 Stevens Institute of Technology men's lacrosse over Springfield College 14-13 Saturday in a non-conference contest at the DeBaun Athletic Complex.

Stevens began the winning play deep in their own end, when junior Joseph DeGuida stripped Connor Dubzinski. First-year Cooper Foote picked up the loose ball and began the Ducks' clear. After successfully entering the attacking third, the Ducks called timeout to draw up a play.

When play resumed, the Ducks worked the ball around and senior Tyler Ryan fired a slot from the left slot. The shot was blocked by Dubzinski, but Stevens maintained possession when senior Michael Burns tracked down and picked up the ground ball near the far sideline. Burns fed Ryan behind the cage and Ryan found Caplis open in space to the left of the goal. Caplis quickly fired off a shot into the top-right corner to give the Ducks their first victory of the year. The game-winner was the fifth of Caplis' career. 

Ryan finished with four goals and four assists to match a career-high with eight points and sophomore Jack Savarese had four goals and two assists as Stevens moved to 1-2 on the year. The Ducks moved to 12-5 all-time against the Pride, including each of the last five meetings, and marked the second overtime contest between the teams in the last four meetings; three of the last five matchups have been decided by one goal.

Riley Burgmyer had four goals and Zac Schuette and Chris Santa Barbara each had two goals and two assists for Springfield, who fell to 1-1. 

"It was a tough fight," head coach Gene Peluso said. "But it was great to grind out the win and we certainly needed it. We love the play we received in the second half from Cooper Foote in goal. I thought that our faceoff play was strong and it was great to score a good amount of goals! We were excited to see our shots going in; that's an area that we've struggled with. Now, we focus on a really tough stretch."

Burns and sophomore Joseph Grippo each had a goal and two assists and junior Jake Wright had a goal and an assist as nine different student-athletes found the scoresheet. Senior Craig Stockfeder dished out one assist and first-year Thomas Sabatino and senior Brendan Sullivan each found the back of the net to round out the Stevens scoring.

Foote entered the game at halftime and made seven saves to earn the victory in his collegiate debut. Sophomore Jake Zeyher drew the start and made one save. The pair also combined for five ground balls. Jack Hamilton started for Springfield and made five saves. Dean Pesce came on in relief at halftime for the Pride and made nine saves and took the loss.

Ryan scored the first goal of the contest a little more than five minutes into play, taking advantage of a Mason Nocito slash to give the Ducks their third power-play goal of the season. Springfield would score three unanswered goals to silence a very lively crowd, however the resilient Ducks answered with goals by Burns and Savarese to even the score at three. Savarese's tally came with just seven seconds left in the opening quarter.

Wright netted his second of the year to open second-quarter scoring, before Springfield scored consecutive goals to jump back in front. Savarese again drew the teams even with his sixth of the year and the teams would alternate and exchange the next eight goals to head into the intermission tied at nine.

The Ducks controlled play in the third quarter, scoring three goals on 14 shots, while the Pride netted one on seven attempts. Stevens also forced seven Springfield turnovers in the frame. For the second time in the contest, Savarese scored the final goal in a quarter with less than 10 seconds on the clock, finding the back of the net with nine seconds left to give the Ducks a 12-10 lead.

Burgmyer scored his second goal of the afternoon to kick off scoring in the final period. Ryan answered with his fourth of the day to push the Ducks' lead back to two, but Burgmyer netted the final two goals of regulation, including one with nine seconds on the clock to force the extra session, setting the stage for Caplis' heroics.

Stevens finished with a 45-29 edge in shots, including a decisive 28-15 edge over the second and third quarters. The Ducks registered 28 of their 45 attempts on goal, while the Pride fired 21 shots on goal. Savarese and Schuette each took 10 shots to lead their respective teams. 

The Ducks forced seven of Springfield's 21 turnovers. Ryan, Foote, and DeGuida joined junior Joe Cawley, senior Aidan Hinphy and graduate students Owen Stempkovski and Sean Scadden in each causing one. Dubzinski had a game-high three caused turnovers to lead Springfield.

Stevens held a slim 16-14 edge in the faceoff circle, winning six of the game's first seven matchups in the circle. Sophomore Russell Eberding won a career-high 15 times in the 'X,' while sophomore Connor Park picked up the other Stevens victory. Steven Betsch notched all 14 faceoff wins for the Pride, but was also assessed a penalty for three faceoff violations. 

Eberding also led the Ducks' ground ball efforts, picking up a career-high seven to help Stevens gain a 45-32 advantage in the statistic. Stempkovski, Foote and Stockfeder scooped up four each as the Ducks out-earned the Pride in three of the four quarters in regulation. Stevens recorded three ground balls in overtime.

The Ducks went 2 for 8 on extra-man opportunities, with Ryan and Sabatino scoring on the man-advantage. The Ducks held Springfield to just 1 for 5 on the day.

Stevens went 25 for 28 on clearing attempts, while Springfield was successful on 19 of its 23 tries. 

Up Next: No. 18 Men's Lacrosse heads to Maryland for a showdown with No. 2 Salisbury. The contest is the first of five with nationally-ranked opponents.

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