ONEONTA, NY – Hartwick's men's lacrosse team fell to Stevens Institute of Technology in an Empire 8 Conference game on Wednesday at Wright Stadium by the final score of 19-8. The Ducks, who are ranked No. 20 in the latest USILA Division III Poll, used seven straight goals to begin the fourth quarter to pull away from the Hawks.
           
Hartwick slips to 3-7 overall and 1-3 in the Empire 8 with the setback. The Ducks improve to 10-3 and 3-1.
           
Hartwick held a pair of leads in the opening quarter of play. Jake Sachse (Lutherville, MD/Boys' Latin School of MD) gave the hosts the early 1-0 advantage 3:58 into the contest. The Ducks jumped in front with a pair of goals inside of a minute, but Chris VanDemark (Painted Post, NY/Corning-Painted Post) and Cordell Armstrong (Harleysville, PA/Souderton Area) tallied for the Hawks within 43 seconds of one another for a 3-2 lead.
           
Stevens would net the final three goals of the quarter and the Ducks were in front 6-3 after 15 minutes. They would out-score the Hawks 3-0 in the second quarter, including the final two with less than six minutes left, for an 8-3 lead at halftime.
           
The two teams would each score three times in the third period. Stevens got three of the first four to grab an 11-4 edge. Conner Long (Hardwick, NJ/Blair Academy) and David Bianculli (Charlton, MA/Shepard Hill Regional) each scored for the Hawks with less than four minutes left to trim the gap to five, 11-6, at the end of three periods.
           
The Ducks took command with seven unanswered in the first 12 minutes of action in the final quarter.  
           
Sam Ferguson (Baldwin, NY/Baldwin) and Long answered for the Hawks before the Ducks closed out the scoring with 47 ticks left.
           
Long led Hartwick with two goals and an assist with Sachse also netting two goals. Ferguson added one goal and dished out one helper.
           
James Vogt (Stratham, NH/Exeter) paced the Hawks with a game-high eight ground balls and 12 won face-offs. Bianculli added four ground balls and Kyle Kickel (West Islip, NY/West Islip) contributed three.
           
The Ducks had slim advantages in both shots (43-34) and ground balls (32-27) for the match. Face-offs were 16-14 Stevens' favor.
           
The Ducks received five goals from Matt Ferentini. John Boutureira added three scores and Dean Paluso netted two goals and he dished out a game-high three assists.
           
Mike Rourke (Long Beach, NY/Long Beach) and Connor O'Brien (Duxbury, MA/Duxbury) combined to make 12 saves in the Hawks' cage. Rourke made two saves in the first half with O'Brien stopping 10 in the second.
           
The Hawks next play on Saturday, April 16 at No. 18 Nazareth beginning at 2 p.m.