HOBOKEN, N.J. (April 29, 2023) – Junior Jack Savarese scored five times as No. 20 Stevens Institute of Technology men's lacrosse defeated Misericordia 25-8 Saturday in a MAC Freedom matchup at the soggy DeBaun Athletic Conference.

Junior Keegan Hughes had three goals and two assists and first-year Matthew Pergola finished with four goals for the Ducks, who won their eighth straight to improve to 15-2 on the year and to 8-0 in league play. The victory extended the Ducks' regular season conference winning streak to 39. The Ducks will be the top seed in the MAC Freedom tournament, set to begin on May 1 with the play-in game. 

Ryan Vandenberg and Connor Bevan each scored twice for Misericordia, who dropped to 9-8 on the year and to 5-3 in league play. The Ducks' victory snapped Misericordia's four-game winning streak. The Cougars will host FDU-Florham in Monday's play-in game.

Sophomore Bryan Creamer had two goals and an assist and classmate Nicolas Accardo dished out a career-high four assists for the Ducks, who saw 15 different players register at least one point. Seniors Trevor Carroll and Jake Wright, while graduate student Carter Haskel and senior Shaun Spiegel each added a goal and an assist as nine players recorded multi-point games. Seniors Joseph Cawley, Joseph DeGuida and Henry Johnson joined sophomores Shea Grant and Andrew Muller in scoring once and sophomore Larson Cronk dished out his first assist of the season to round out the Ducks' offensive contributions. The third quarter goals by Muller and DeGuida were the first for each respective student-athlete.

"Great second half for our guys today," head coach Gene Peluso said. "Loved the fact that we were able to play all of our seniors."
 
"Bryan Creamer was clearly the highlight player today on both ends of the field," Peluso continued. "Loved the play we got from our LSMs. Haskel and DeGuida won their matchups and contributed points for us. Bryan Creamer and Accardo were also great today, helping us on defense and with transition offense."

Prior to the contest, the Ducks honored 14 players in the Class of 2023 (graduate students Ryan Leahy, Jackson Brown and Kevin Crowley joined classmates Haskel and Johnson and seniors David Bendis, Gavin Maute, Jack Phelan, Carroll, Wright, DeGuida, Cawley and Spiegel, along with student assistant coach Connor Green) in an on-field ceremony. Flanked by family, friends and teammates, each player received a framed jersey commemorating their time on Castle Point.

"The best part of today was the celebration of our 14 seniors," Peluso reflected. "They are a special group and are excellent student-athletes and special people. Today was about them and their families! I am so proud of what they have done as a group and how they support our program and each other. Now we focus on the MAC playoffs."

Leahy drew the start and made eight saves to earn the victory. Junior Jake Zeyher stopped a pair of shots in relief of Leahy in the fourth quarter. Sean Wallace made 13 saves in a losing effort for Misericordia. Matt Coates made two fourth quarter saves in closing out the game for the Cougars.

Stevens found itself locked in an early battle with both the elements and a feisty Misericordia group. Savarese and Carroll scored the Ducks' first two goals of the contest 85 seconds apart as the home team took the lead. As the rain grew more persistent, Misericordia rallied with three unanswered goals, including Bevan's power-play goal, to take a 3-2 lead into the second quarter. The one-goal deficit marked just the second time this season that the Ducks trailed at the end of the opening period.

Misericordia's lead was short-lived, however, as Haskel found the back of the net just 17 seconds in the second quarter. Creamer won the quarter-opening faceoff and picked up the accompanying ground ball. The Ducks quickly transitioned and Accardo found Haskel, who wound up and beat Wallace for his fourth goal of the season. The Ducks then scored consecutive goals on the man-advantage to take their second lead of the game. Pergola began the stretch with his 53rd of the year and Wright followed suit as the Ducks took advantage of both a slashing penalty and an unnecessary roughness infraction to jump in front for good. Hughes assisted on both power-play markers. Accardo fed Wright for his second goal in a 27-second span to send the teams into the intermission with the Ducks holding a slim 6-3 lead. 

"I thought after settling in the first quarter, we did a great job dealing with the weather and got rolling," Peluso said.

The Ducks broke the game open with 12 goals in the third period, scoring the first four goals of the period as part of an eight-goal run that bridged halftime, and then netting the final five. Hughes scored consecutive goals less than a minute apart to open scoring in the period, with the second coming short-handed, one of four special teams goals on the afternoon for the Ducks. Hughes would complete his fifth hat trick of the season later in the stanza. Muller's goal ignited a celebration on the sidelines and kicked off a sequence that saw the Ducks close out the period with five goals in five minutes, capped by Savarese's goal that just beat the final buzzer.

"Hughes, Carroll and Wright did a great job in the midfield and Savarese had a great shooting day too," Peluso shared

Creamer broke the fourth quarter seal with a short-handed goal for his first career special teams goal. The Saddle River, New Jersey native's third goal of the year extended the Ducks' run to six and swelled the lead to 14. After outscoring Misericordia 12-2 in the third quarter, the Ducks posted a 7-3 margin in the final one to close out the victory. Impressively, the Ducks scored their 19 second-half goals on 26 shots on goal. 

The Ducks crossed the 20-goal plateau for the ninth time this season and posted their third conference victory with exactly 25 goals.

Despite the lopsided final outcome, it was Misericordia who had a 19-17 edge in faceoffs. Nick Mehnert did most of the damage for the Cougars, going 17-13 in the circle. Muller led the Ducks with nine face-off wins, while Creamer went 4-4. First-year Will Giarrusso won twice in the circle, while Haskel and junior Conner Park each won once.

Misericordia coughed up the ball 29 times, with the Ducks causing 15 of the miscues. Creamer led the Ducks with four caused turnovers, while Haskel, Pergola, Accardo and Cawley each had two. Stevens finished with 13 turnovers, with nine being uncaused. 

Behind eight from Creamer and six each from Haskel and first-year Luke Lesizza, the Ducks finished with a 54-40 edge in ground balls, with 19 different Ducks picking up at least one. Mehnert matched Creamer with eight to lead Misericordia.

Stevens went 25 of 28 on clears and was perfect in both the second and fourth periods. Misericordia was successful on 15 of its 18 clearing attempts.

The Ducks went 2 for 3 on extra-man opportunities, while the Cougars finished 2 of 9.

Up Next: No. 20 Men's Lacrosse is set to open play in the MAC Freedom championship later this week, hosting the winner of the play-in game between Misericordia and FDU-Florham. Links for live stats and video will be posted to StevensDucks.com once they are made available.

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