MADISON, N.J. (March 17, 2024) – Senior Joseph Grippo netted his third hat trick of the season as part of a four-point performance as No. 17/16 Stevens Institute of Technology men's lacrosse defeated Rhodes College 12-6 Sunday to win the inaugural Leanos Cup. The four-team, two-day event was hosted by Drew University in its Ranger Stadium.

Senior Keegan Hughes had a goal and two assists, and three different players scored twice for the Ducks, who led wire-to-wire in winning their sixth straight to improve to 6-1. 

Drew Downes had four goals and an assist to lead Rhodes, who fell to 6-4. 

After making a season-high 19 saves in the Ducks' semifinal victory over Haverford, graduate student Kevin Holtby was again an impactful presence between the pipes, making 12 saves to earn the victory. The 12 saves marked Holtby's fourth game with 12 or more stops in the cage. Senior Jake Zeyher took over for Holtby in the fourth quarter and stopped two shots. Josh Salisbury made 19 saves in defeat for Rhodes. Sunday's contest was the first-ever meeting between the sides. 

The Leanos Cup was created to honor the longtime former head coach of Drew's men's lacrosse program. A fixture on the sidelines at Drew, Leanos coached 30 years at the institution, amassing 234 victories. Prior to his tenure in Madison, he spent four seasons at the now-closed Southampton College on Long Island, winning 21 games to result in a coaching career that spanned from 1980 to 2017. Leanos won 255 games and ranks 49th among all three NCAA divisions and 36th within Division III in career victories. Over the course of his career, Leanos won six ECAC titles and two conference championships, including the first-ever Landmark Conference title in 2008. 

A six-time Coach of the Year during his time at Drew, Leanos led the Rangers to 21 postseason appearances. He coached four league Most Valuable Players, six USILA All-Americans, two CoSIDA (now CSC) Academic All-Americans and nearly 100 All-Conference players. Leanos has been enshrined in three different Hall of Fames: New Jersey Lacrosse Foundation (2005), Drew (2017) and the Intercollegiate Men's Lacrosse Association (2021). 

The Rundown

• Stevens raced out to an early two-goal lead after consecutive goals from sophomore Matthew Pergola and senior Mikey Whiteside just 29 seconds apart in the first minute of the game. Pergola and Whiteside joined graduate student Dominick Visintin in netting a pair of goals.
• Downes' first of the day put Rhodes on the board before Grippo converted a Hughes pass for his first marker of the day to send the teams into the second period with Stevens holding a 4-1 lead. 
• Drew Litner had the first goal of the second quarter before an extra-man goal from Whiteside returned Stevens' three-goal lead. Downes followed two minutes later, but Hughes and junior Tommy Robertozzi netted goals less than a minute apart to send the teams into halftime with Stevens holding a 7-3 lead.
• Downes had the first goal of the second half, but the Ducks scored four straight times to close the third quarter to break the game open. Grippo netted his second of the day to begin the stretch, with Pergola finding the back of the net a short time later. Senior Jack Savarese added an extra-man goal and Grippo beat Salisbury for the third time with just six seconds left in the frame to round out the sequence. 
• A pair of Rhodes goals surrounded Visintin's tally in the fourth quarter to provide the Ducks' final margin of victory.

Top Performers

• Senior Conner Park, first-year Jackson Penn and sophomore Will Giarrusso each had four faceoff wins to help the Ducks gain a 12-9 edge in the circle.
• Junior Nicolas Accardo registered a pair of caused turnovers as Stevens forced half (8) of Rhodes' 15 turnovers. 
• Graduate student Sam DiChristina finished with a team-high five groundballs, while junior Bryan Creamer and sophomore Luke Lesizza each had four, in helping the Ducks to a 32-22 advantage. 
• Stevens finished with a 58-47 edge in shots and a 31-20 advantage in shots on goal.
• The Ducks went 18 for 21 on clears but were a perfect 10 for 10 in the second half. 
• Whiteside and Savarese had power-play goals for Stevens, who finished 2 of 5 on extra-man opportunities. The Ducks also killed off all five of their penalties. 
• Stevens held Rhodes eight goals under its season average in securing the victory.

For the Opponents

• Jake Gobel had all nine of Rhodes' faceoff wins. He also matched DiChristina in scooping up a team-high five ground balls.
• Salisbury matched Accardo with two caused turnovers to lead Rhodes, who caused eight of the Ducks' 16 miscues.
• The Lynx were successful on 21 of their 25 clearing attempts.

Around the MAC Freedom 

• Swarthmore 17, Arcadia 5 (F/Sat.)
• Lebanon Valley 15, Neumann 6 5 (F/Sat.)
• Alvernia 7, King's 5 (F/Sat.)
• Goucher 15, Delaware Valley 7 5 (F/Sat.)
• DeSales 20, Montclair State 7 5 (F/Sat.)

Coach's Comments

• "Today was a special day for our team and it was a special day for me personally. To win the inaugural Leanos Cup was special because Coach Leanos was the first coach to give me a job in college coaching. We were able to spend time with Coach Leanos for dinner on Saturday night and we were able to secure the championship today in his honor."
• "Dan Leidl, the Drew Coach and Drew University put on an excellent event, and having Coach Leanos at the event, made it even more special. Coach Leanos is a legend in both the New Jersey and NCAA lacrosse landscapes. It is great to have a tournament on his name to recognize his impact."
• "As for today's win, we loved the game we got out of our defense. Kevin Holtby made some great saves and Jake Zeyher in relief made some excellent saves as well. Jesse Tareco, Luke Cifuentes, and Dominic Piselli played excellent on the defensive end and I thought Bryan Creamer was elite between the lines and got us into our defense and he also was able to get us into transition multiple times in the clearing game."
• "We are honored to win the first Leanos Cup, but now we prepare for a very strong Weslyean team." – head coach Gene Peluso

Up Next

• No. 17/16 Stevens heads to Middletown, Connecticut on Mar. 20 to take on No. 20/20 Wesleyan. The Ducks downed the Cardinals 15-7 last season in Hoboken as the teams have split two all-time meetings. Links for live stats and video are posted to StevensDucks.com.

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