Stevenson men’s lacrosse seems to have found a rhythm of late with four straight wins including the most recent against Middle Atlantic Conference opponent Hood College. The ‘Stangs comfortably trounced the Blazers 28-5.
Over the course of their four-game win streak, they have averaged 22 goals per game while holding their opponents to an average of just 6.
“The team chemistry has been amazing,” junior midfielder Grant Zick said in a postgame interview. “It really feels like everyone is clicking and on the same page. We trust one another to do their job and do it well.”
Stevenson was in a scoring frenzy as nine different Mustangs had a multiple-point game. It was Zick who led the team with 10 total points, 4 goals and 6 assists. Zick also earned a MAC Player of the Week nod and crossed the 100 career point threshold last week.
“The win today was a good steppingstone as we get further into conference play,” Zick said. “The defense played great, and the offense was moving the ball very well.”
On the defensive side, the Mustangs held Hood to just 23 shots and caused 8 turnovers. Stevenson also won the faceoff battle 27-8 and the offense let loose an overwhelming 71 shots, resulting in the team’s season-high 28 goals scored.
Stevenson won the first faceoff and took 2 shots within the first two minutes of the game, but it was sophomore midfielder Max Racich who found the back of the net first with an unassisted goal at 12:13 left in the quarter.
The first strike opened up the floodgates, leading to a 13-0 run where Racich led the Mustangs with 4 goals. Zick and first-year attacker Darrell Curtis added 2 apiece. Making up the rest of the 13, a hoard of Mustangs all contributed a single goal including first-year midfielder Hunter Bryant, senior faceoff specialist Conor Halpin, first-year attacker Gavin Gossen, junior midfielder Jack Scaliti, and junior midfielder Graeme McCrory.
It was a long night for the Blazers all around as scoring was limited and they weren’t able to answer back until 12:17 remained in the second quarter.
Stevenson’s offense tallied 4 more, flexing their lead to 17-1 by way of Gossen, Scaliti, Curtis and senior midfielder Andrew Searing.
The ‘Stangs allowed 1 more goal before the half, making their lead 17-2, but they had another offensive explosion of 5 goals, again thanks to 2 from Zick, and 1 from Curtis, McCrory, and graduate student Stephen Rinick joining the scorers.
By the end of the third, it was total Stevenson domination at 27-3.
The final quarter of play was quiet as Hood tallied 2 goals and Stevenson 1 thanks to sophomore midfielder Stephen Butterfield, making the final score a 28-5 shellacking
Stevenson returns home this Saturday to host Golden Wolves of Alvernia University for a conference matchup at 7 p.m.
“For the game against Alvernia we will look to continue building on this performance working on the little things we can do to be the best team we can be” Zick said.
Livestream for Saturday’s game will be available here.
