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ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Third-seeded Stevens scored three times during a 55-second stretch early in the first quarter Wednesday as the Ducks built a commanding early lead and held off a late surge by Nazareth for a 21-18 men's lacrosse victory at Golden Flyer Stadium.
The game was a semifinal matchup in the Empire 8 Conference Tournament and ended the Golden Flyers' season with a 12-6 overall record. Stevens, which avenged a 17-15 regular-season defeat to the Golden Flyers from just four days earlier, improved to 14-4 overall. The Ducks will travel to Ithaca Saturday to play the top-ranked Bombers for the E8 title at 4 p.m. Ithaca defeated St. John Fisher, 17-6, in the other semifinal.
Stevens led 9-2 after the first quarter and had 10-goal advantages on three separate occasions. It was 14-5 at halftime and 18-11 after three quarters. Nazareth used a strong second-half effort as a desperate attempt to climb back into the game by outscoring the Ducks 13-7 over the final 30 minutes, but the Golden Flyers couldn't overcome the early disadvantage.
Seniors
Luke Wooters and
Troy Haefele each closed out historically brilliant careers with strong efforts. Wooters had five goals and three assists to finish the season with 111 points on 49 goals and 62 assists. Haefele had two goals and one assist to finish the season with 78 points on 45 goals and 33 assists. Both players shattered the all-time record for career goals with Wooters finishing with 190 and Haefele 178. Wooters also became the all-time points leader with 363 on 190 goals and 173 assists. Haefele is fourth all-time with 287 points on 178 goals and 109 assists.
Senior
Matt O'Neill also capped a strong career with four goals and two assists and finished the season with 34 goals. Other seniors bowing out Wednesday were
Scott Brown,
Keanan O'Brien,
Damond Archung,
Connor McKercher,
Nick Loscalzo and
Vincent Loscalzo.
On Wednesday, Stevens' Andrew Scrutchfield scored four goals, including the game's first tally just 64 seconds in. Connor O'Shea then delivered the next two goals within 14 seconds of each other to give the Ducks a 3-0 lead before two minutes had elapsed.
Scrutchfield scored two more times in the first quarter to propel the Ducks to a 9-2 lead. The lead reached double digits in the second quarter at 13-3 when long-stick Jan Schoonen scored off an assist from O'Shea.
Stevens still led 15-5 early in the third quarter when Nazareth began to stage a comeback. Nazareth scored six times in the third quarter, including goals by Wooters and Haefele and the first career goal for sophomore face-off specialist
Gavin Shaner.
Nazareth closed to within 17-11 late in the third, but Stevens strung together three more goals to increase the lead to 20-11 and all but erase any Nazareth comeback hopes. O'Neill scored all four of his goals in the fourth quarter and Nazareth's final goal, fittingly came when Haefele converted a pass from Wooters on an extra-man shot with just :06 left.
Stevens dominated possession time, particuarly in the first half and finished with a 60-47 edge in shots.
Seth DeLisle won 15 of 25 face-offs for Nazareth and Shaner won seven of 17.
Luke Longo scooped up eight ground balls and had a pair of assists. Brown finished with 11 saves in goal, while Stevens freshman Carson White had 15. O'Shea and Matt Ferentini each had three goals for Stevens. Max Bailey had a goal and four assists.
