Box Score OWINGS MILLS, Md. – No. 13 Stevenson University scored the game's first six goals and never looked back as it opened its ninth straight NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship appearance with a 19-6 win over 20th-ranked Nazareth College Wednesday night at Mustang Stadium.
Stevenson (14-5) has won four in a row and will travel to Rochester, N.Y. to face No. 2 RIT in a NCAA third round game on Saturday, with game time slated for 1:00 pm. The Tigers defeated the Mustangs 16-13 on February 25 at RIT in Stevenson's season opener.
Stevenson's 13-goal margin of victory is its second-largest in 24 NCAA Tournament games, and the 19 goals scored matches the most scored in an NCAA game. The Mustangs scored 19 goals in a 19-9 win over Cabrini on May 15, 2010.
Nazareth (11-9), which was making its 22nd NCAA appearance and first since 2015, saw a three-game win streak snapped. It had defeated nationally-ranked foes Ithaca and Stevens in overtime to win the Empire 8 Tournament and earn the conference's automatic berth to the 34-team field.
Seniors Kyle D'Onofrio and Tyler Fuhrman each finished with four goals, with D'Onofrio adding an assist. Junior Brandon Watson tallied two goals and two assists, while senior Morgan Pritchett and sophomore JT Thelen each scored twice. Senior Wade Korvin and junior Kyle Karsian each notched a goal and an assist, while freshman Ethan Christensen recorded a goal.
Paul Walter and Jack Crowley led Nazareth with two goals apiece, while Joe Eiskant and Jacob Gray each added single tallies.
Stevenson needed just over a minute to get on the board as Fuhrman scored off a feed from Korvin in transition. 40 seconds later, Korvin made it 2-0, while a Fuhrman man-up tally extended the lead to 3-0 at the 9:08 mark. The Mustangs held a 5-0 lead after one quarter.
Thelen made it a 6-0 game 1:47 into the second quarter before the Golden Flyers finally got on the board on an Eiskant man-up goal at the 12:48 mark. The hosts countered with three goals in a span of 1:33 capped by a Watson unassisted goal to make it 9-1 with 8:58 left before halftime. Stevenson led 11-2 at the break.
The Mustangs scored the first three goals of the second half to make it a 14-2 game with 8:34 left in the third on a D'Onofrio tally. A Walter man-up goal with just under five minutes left in the frame stopped Stevenson's run of five straight goals, but Stevenson led 16-3 after three quarters.
Senior Ross Dinan made 11 saves in goal for Stevenson over the first 53:01 before giving way to TJ Ellis, who turned aside two shots. The Golden Flyers used a trio of goalies, Alex Winkler, Rick Kronenwett and Andrew Leahey, who combined for 15 saves as Stevenson outshot Nazareth 52-37.
The two teams were virtually even in faceoffs, with Nazareth winning 15 and Stevenson 14. The Mustangs committed just 12 turnovers while Nazareth had 21, as it went just 9-16 on clear attempts, while the hosts were successful on all 22 of their clears.
Junior Dylan Harris finished with three caused turnovers and three ground balls, while senior Jacob Brown had a pair of caused turnovers and four ground balls. Freshman Justin Burnette picked up nine ground balls as he won 12-of-25 faceoffs. Junior Dominic DeFazio also had four ground ball pickups to go along with a caused turnover.
