HOBOKEN, N.J. --  The Stevens Tech men's lacrosse team limited Eastern Connecticut State University to one goal through the first 21 minutes and went on to its eighth straight win over the Warriors, 16-7, Wednesday evening, in the season-opener for Eastern.

The game was the first for Eastern under new head coach Brian Tilley, serving as a head collegiate coach for the first time.

Trailing 3-1 after one quarter, the Warriors never got closer than that two-goal margin as the Ducks (2-1) added three early goals in the opening six minutes of the second quarter – two on the fifth and sixth goals of the year by Andrew Scrutchfield.

Eastern's first three goals of the match and four of its game total came on eight man advantage tries, the first three recorded by senior Matthew Garcia (Somers), junior Michael Dellanno (Winchester, MA) and freshman Dane Heckmann (Brookfield). With the first two goals of his career as well as an assist, Garcia was the only multiple-goal scorer for Eastern but junior Tim Reilly (Hanover, MA) contributed four assists and senior Travis Tiger (Ridgefield) picked up a team-high six ground balls.

Juniors Brendan Gillotti (Danbury) and Blake Smaldone (Hamilton, MA) combined on 14 saves in net, each allowing eight goals for Eastern. Defensively, Eastern's man-down unit killed off ten of Stevens' 14 extra-man opportunites.

After appearing in only four matches last year due to injury, sophomore Jesse Schulze (Croton-on-Hudson, NY) handled 21 faceoffs for the Warriors, winning eight.

All ten of Eastern's starters in the match were veterans, among them senior defenseman Aaron Daley (Bloomfield), who missed all of last year with an injury.

Eastern makes its home debut Saturday, hosting New England College at noon.