HOBOKEN, N.J. (February 22, 2023) – Senior Jake Wright had a career-high eight points as the Stevens Institute of Technology men's lacrosse team defeated Haverford College 17-9 Wednesday night in a non-conference contest at the DeBaun Athletic Complex. 

Graduate student Kevin Crowley and first-year Matthew Pergola each had three goals and an assist and junior Jack Savarese had three goals and two assists for the Ducks, who improved to 3-1 on the year.

Will Graves had three goals and Andrew Arth had two to lead Haverford, who dropped to 0-2. Stevens has won six of the last seven meetings between the programs. 

"I thought we earned a good team win tonight," head coach Gene Peluso said. "I thought our offense both moved the ball and shot the ball well. Really impressed with our performance on that side of the field."

"I thought our guys played with a lot of energy and excitement throughout the game," Peluso continued. "Haverford has a great program and I was impressed with how our guys handled the early back-and-forth and how we were able to pull away in the second half."

Sophomore Shea Grant and first-year Joe Leone and Miles du Bois also scored as 12 different players produced at least one point. First-year Will Giarrusso joined seniors Trevor Carroll, Shaun Spiegel and Gavin Maute and junior Keegan Hughes in dishing out an assist to round out the offensive contributions. du Bois' power-play goal in the second quarter was the first of his career, while Giarruso's assist was his first collegiate point.
 
Graduate student Ryan Leahy drew the start and made eight saves to earn the victory. Andy Tieso had 13 saves in defeat for Haverford. 

Grant opened the scoring on a nifty pass from Crowley. Graves would answer for Haverford as the teams alternated the first four goals of the game. 

Pergola netted his first of the game on a Carroll pass and that was followed by Crowley's first of the game to give the Ducks a 4-2 lead through 15 minutes of play. Wright had the assist on Crowley's tally and finished the game with goals and five assists to surpass his previous single-game high of three points, which the Chesterfield, New Jersey native achieved multiple times.

Crowley opened second-quarter scoring only for Arth to respond for Haverford. However, the Ducks scored the next four goals to provide a little cushion. Graves would score a pair of goals, including one with just 36 seconds left in the first half to send the teams into halftime with the Ducks holding a 9-3 lead.

Drew Buck found the back of the net to open scoring in the third quarter as Haverford further trimmed the Ducks' advantage. The teams continued to trade goals until the Ducks finally broke the game open with a five-goal run that bridged the third and fourth quarters to open a comfortable seven-goal margin. Crowley had the first two goals of the run, including a highlight-reel, behind-the-back goal off a well-placed pass from Maute that elicited a strong celebration from the Stevens bench.

Reid Tietjen briefly slowed down the Ducks' offense, but Wright and Pergola had the final two goals of the game to provide the final margin of victory. 

Stevens finished with an impressive 53-28 advantage in shots, with more than half (30) of the Ducks' attempts registering on-goal.

The Ducks finished 20 of 22 on clears and were perfect in the first in the first half. Haverford finished 17 of 20 and were a perfect 7 for 7 in the third quarter. 

Haverford won 17 of the game's 27 faceoffs. Sophomore Bryan Creamer had six wins in the 'X' for the Ducks, while Giarrusso won three times. Teddy Carlin joined Buck in winning eight faceoffs to pace Haverford. The edge in faceoff wins helped produce a 30-27 edge in ground balls for the Fords. Creamer had seven ground balls to lead Stevens, while senior Joe Cawley added five. Arth led Haverford with seven.

"I thought we got great play defensively from Joe Cawley and from Bryan Creamer," Peluso commented. "I thought they did a great job picking up ground balls and helping us get into transition. Now we get ready for a very well-coached Springfield team! We seem to always battle with Springfield, and we have a lot of respect for their program!"

Stevens forced Haverford into 30 turnovers, with Cawley finishing with an impressive six caused turnovers.

du Bois and Pergola each scored on the man-advantage as the Ducks finished the game 2 for 7 on the powerplay. Graves' second-quarter tally was the Fords' lone goal on the man-advantage in five opportunities. 

Up Next: Men's Lacrosse visits Springfield College on Feb. 26 for a non-conference contest. The Ducks have won the last five meetings between the programs, with two of the wins coming in overtime. Links for live stats and video are available on StevensDucks.com.

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