FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 9, 2015
Rematch of NE-10 Title Game Set
Adelphi and Le Moyne advanced to the NCAA Semifinals after topping Northeast-10 counterparts Stonehill and New Haven on Saturday in the quarterfinals. The two squads will face off in the national semifinals in Salem, Va., next Saturday, May 16 at 11 a.m. for a rematch of the NE-10 Title Game.
The top-seeded Panthers shut down Stonehill 10-6, while the Dolphins managed their way past New Haven by a final of 13-9. The winner of the Adelphi-Le Moyne matchup will represent the NE-10 against the winner of Lock Haven-Lindenwood in the NCAA Championship Game on Sunday, May 17.
#1 Adelphi 10, #4 Stonehill 6 | BOX
GARDEN CITY, N.Y. - For the third time in as many weeks, the Adelphi University women's lacrosse team faced off against the Stonehill College Skyhawks on Motamed Field, this time in the first round of the NCAA Division II Tournament. Buouyed by eight first half goals and a five point day by Alexa Froccaro, the Panthers advanced to the Final Four with a 10-6 victory.
Froccaro's five points came by way of two goals and three assists, while Emily Keesling (2G, 2A) and Jacqueline Jahelka (pictured - 2G) also helped lead the offense for Adelphi (19-1). Ryley Weber and Kaitlyn Stackpole led the Panther defense with four caused turnovers each, while Weber also picked up four ground balls. Danielle Jaycox also had a strong day all-around by contributing a goal, causing three turnovers and also picking up four ground balls. Stonehill (15-5) got two goals apiece from Elizabeth Vetter, Rebecca Matheson and Emily Kessel.
Jahelka's two goals came back-to-back to open the game as the first was unassisted and the second came off a pass from Rachel O'Brien; with that effort, the Panthers held a 2-0 lead after just 3:26. After both teams went scoreless for nearly 10 minutes, a five-goal run with scores from Danielle Montano, Froccaro, Rachel Aitkens and O'Brien saw the lead increase to 7-0 with 4:50 to play. While Stonehill got two goals back in the closing four mintues, the Panthers' last goal of the half came off the stick of Keesling to put Adelphi in the locker room with an 8-2 lead.
Vetter and Kessel combined for two goals to open the first half to close the gap to 8-4, and put the pressue on as the Skyhawk defense kept the Panthers of the board for nearly 20 minutes. Keesling's second score of the day came with 10:31 remaining, while Jaycox's came man-up with 2:12 remaining. With the Panthers leading 10-4 Stonehill tacked on two more goals, but eventually ran out of time to complete the comeback.
#2 Le Moyne 13, #3 New Haven 9 | BOX
SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Senior attacker Julia Suriani (pictured) scored a career-high six goals to lead the fourth-ranked and second-seeded Le Moyne College women's lacrosse team to a 13-9 victory over the fifth-ranked and third-seeded University of New Haven on Saturday afternoon in the first round of the NCAA Championships at Ted Grant Field. With the victory, the Dolphins tie the program's record for most wins in a season (18).
Le Moyne (18-3) opened the game's scoring just 48 seconds into the game as all-region sophomore midfielder Amari Pollard scored from the front of the crease off a pass from behind the net by all-region junior attacker Erica Geremia. Courtney Ackland evened the score at one apiece with an unassisted goal with 25:28 left in the first half.
The Dolphins regained the lead with 23:41 left as Geremia fed freshman attacker Abbie McEntee for her 17th goal of the year. Maya Szymanski tied the score for the second and final time with an unassisted marker with 21:16 remaining. Le Moyne tallied the next six goals over a span of 14:49 to take an 8-2 lead with just over five minutes left in the half. McEntee started the run with 19:54 remaining after collecting another pass from Geremia on the left side of the crease. Following a save by all-region senior goalkeeper Molly Marbut, Suriani scored in transition with 18:29 to go off a feed from classmate Laura Hoffman.
After six and one-half minutes of scoreless play, Suriani gave the Dolphins a 5-2 advantage after taking a pass from Geremia. With the assist, Geremia became just the second player in the program's history to dish out 50 assists in one season. Two and one-half minutes later, all-region junior attacker Maggie Monnat tallied her 30th goal of the campaign. In an extra-player situation, Suriani netted her third goal of the half with 8:39 left off a pass from McEntee. Sophomore attacker Alexis Garbarino capped the streak with 5:05 left with her eighth goal of the season from the left edge of the crease.
New Haven scored three times in a span of 50 seconds late in the stanza to pull within 8-5 at the intermission. After getting possession on a backup, the Chargers scored 12 seconds later as Caitlin O'Brien finished off a feed from Corinne Fisher with 1:49 remaining. Just 13 seconds later, Ackland cut her team's deficit to four with another unassisted goal to force a Le Moyne timeout. In an extra-player opportunity, Nicole Belanger converted a free-position attempt with 59 seconds left for the final goal of the half.
The Chargers continued their run with the first two goals of the second half. Following a Le Moyne yellow card, Ashley Travis scored in the extra-player situation after taking a pass from Belanger with 22:43 left. Only 67 seconds later, Szymanski connected on a free-position shot to get the Chargers within one. The Dolphins, more specifically Suriani, answered with back-to-back goals to push the lead back to three. She scored the first of the two with 19:29 left, snapping her team's scoring drought of 15:36, in an extra-player opportunity after taking a feed from McEntee. Just 2:01 later, she finished off a feed from Geremia.
Following six minutes of scoreless play, Ackland got the Chargers back within two with her third goal of the afternoon. McEntee countered with her third of the day with 9:38 to play off a feed from Geremia, her season high-tying sixth assist of the contest. Belanger pulled her team within two for the final time with 8:29 to play off a pass from Kathryn Campbell, who recorded her 300th career point on the play. The Dolphins closed out the game's scoring with the final two goals. Suriani became the fourth Dolphin in the program's history to net 60 goals in a season by finding the back of the net with 3:04 remaining. McEntee registered her 20th goal of the year with 2:24 to play off a pass from Monnat.
Information for this release provided by the Athletic Communications staffs at Adelphi and Le Moyne.
ABOUT THE NORTHEAST-10
The Northeast-10 Conference is an association of 15 NCAA Division II colleges and universities located in New England and New York that is committed to supporting balanced academic and athletic opportunities for more than 6,500 student-athletes.
Each year, 4,500 of those student-athletes compete in conference championships in 24 sports, making the NE-10 the largest DII conference in the country in terms of sport sponsorship. Leading the way in the classroom, on the field and within the community, the Northeast-10 is proud of its comprehensive program and the experience it provides student-athletes.
