Big First Quarter Sends Men’s Lacrosse Over King’s
WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (April 2, 2022) – The Stevens Institute of Technology men's lacrosse team scored the first 10 goals of the game en route to a 25-3 victory over King's College Saturday in a MAC Freedom matchup at McCarthy Stadium.
Junior Shaun Spiegel had a career day with four goals and three assists and sophomore Joseph Grippo finished with a career-high five points for the Ducks, who moved to 4-6 on the year and to 2-0 in conference play. The Ducks have won 25 straight regular season conference contests.
Alec Martin scored twice for the Monarchs, who dropped to 0-9 on the year and to 0-2 in league play. The Ducks have won both all-time meetings between the teams, scoring 25 goals in each contest.
"We were very happy that we were able to have more healthy players play today," head coach Gene Peluso said. "We were very impressed with the way some of our younger players made the most of their opportunity! I also thought our older guys did an excellent job supporting their teammates throughout the game."
First-year Blake Creamer scored the first goals of his collegiate career and finished with four points as 20 different players had at least one point. Senior Michael Burns and sophomore Mikey Whiteside each had two goals and an assist, while sophomore Jack Savarese scored twice, as did senior Jackson Brown. Senior Craig Stockfeder and first-year Will Forte each totaled a goal and an assist, while senior Tyler Ryan and first-years Larson Cronk and Nathan Lapat each dished out two assists. First-years Jack Ramos and Bryan Creamer joined junior Trevor Carroll and senior Brendan Sullivan in finding the back of the net to round out the Ducks' goal scorers. Graduate student Owen Stempkovski, junior Jake Wright and first-years Dominic Piselli and Nicolas Accardo in dishing out an assist to round out the Ducks' points. The points compiled by Cronk, Lapat, Forte, Accardo, Ramos and Piselli were the first of their collegiate careers.
"Happy for a few of our players, Bryan and Blake Creamer, Jack Ramos and Will Forte, to get their first career goals," Peluso said. "We also received great offensive production from Joseph Grippo and Shaun Spiegel!"
"In order to score as many goals as we did, you need to have the ball," Peluso continued. "I thought Andrew Muller was a standout. I also thought that the play of Larson Cronk and Nicolas Accardo was helpful throughout the game to get us into our transition offense."
Sophomore Jake Zeyher earned the victory in the cage as all four goalies played, First-year Justin Gold finished with a team-high two saves and classmate Quinton Smith recorded his first collegiate save. First-year Cooper Foote made one save as Stevens totaled four on the day.
Matt Wall made 24 saves in defeat for King's. Joe Plachinski took over in the fourth quarter and made five saves.
The Ducks scored 10 goals on 25 shots in the opening quarter, while holding King's without a shot. Stevens forced nine turnovers in the decisive frame and King's was successful on just three of its eight clearing attempts. The Ducks won eight of the period's 11 faceoffs and converted their only extra-man opportunity of the quarter, when Savarese converted a feed from Stockfeder for the Ducks' 12th power-play goal of the season.
King's got on the board when Martin found the back of the net, but the Ducks scored the next five goals to take a 15-1 lead into halftime.
The Ducks added four more goals in the third and then outscored the home team 6-2 in the final quarter to provide the final margin of victory. The Ducks' 25-goal output is the third in the team's last two seasons.
Stevens forced 29 King's turnovers, including 18 in the first half. Junior David Bendis and first-year Jackson Nieman each caused two, while Ryan, Accardo, graduate student Sean Scadden, sophomore Paddy Phelps and senior George Benway each had one. Matt Kimberlin had the only caused turnover for King's as the Ducks committed a season-low nine turnovers.
Muller won a career-high 17 times in the faceoff circle as the Ducks went 25-6 on the day. Sophomore Conner Park added seven wins and sophomore Russell Eberding had one as the Ducks won their most faceoffs since 2019.
The edge in faceoffs helped Stevens gain a 47-11 edge in ground balls. Muller scooped up a career-best six, while Park and Accardo each had four. Cronk picked up three as a total of 27 Ducks each had one. Geno Casciello and Brent Cassium each had two to pace King's.
The Ducks went 2 for 4 on extra-man opportunities with Whiteside's second-quarter marker also coming on the man-advantage. King's converted a pair of man-up situations in the fourth quarter and finished 2 for 5 on the day.
Stevens was successful on 18 of 20 clears, while holding King's to just 13 for 23. The Ducks were a perfect 9 for 9 in the first half.
"Now, all of our focus is on our "4-6 Game" versus a well coached Delaware Valley," Peluso said.
The contest marked the collegiate debut for both Ramos and Nieman.
Up Next: Men's Lacrosse hosts Delaware Valley on Apr. 6 in the "4-6 Game." The Ducks topped the Aggies 16-5 on Mar. 17, 2021 in what is believed to be the only prior meeting between the teams. Links for live stats and video are available on StevensDucks.com.
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