FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 16, 2015
Panthers to Face Lock Haven in Rematch of 2014 Championship Game
BOX SCORE | HIGHLIGHTS | BRACKET
SALEM, Va. – The Adelphi Panthers defeated the Le Moyne Dolphins, 10-5, in the NCAA Women’s Lacrosse Semifinals on Saturday afternoon at Kerr Stadium. For the second year in a row, Adelphi will take on Lock Haven in the NCAA Championship Game, which the Panthers won by a score of 7-5 to claim the 2014 crown.
The two top seeds in the tournament, Adelphi (20-1) and Lock Haven (20-0) will play on Sunday at 2 p.m. at Donald J. Kerr Stadium on the campus of Roanoke College. NCAA.com will provide a free live stream of the game.
It was a rematch of the Northeast-10 Title Game between the Panthers and Dolphins, a 14-5 victory for Adelphi in Garden City, N.Y. back on May 3. Just as in that game, the top-seeded Panthers jumped out to an early lead and never looked back.
"It begins and ends with two teams playing each other for the third time. Two familiar opponents who have a tremendous amount of respect for each other," Head Coach Pat McCabe stated when asked about today's game. "We knew it was going to be a tough one and I give a tremendous amount of respect to Kathy Taylor and her staff. I'm proud of our girls and our senior class. Their willingness and desire to be committed to the next girl up and trust each other to make plays was evident today."
Alexa Froccaro led all players with four points on three goals and an assist, while Jacqueline Jahelka found the back of the net three times. Rachel Aitkens continued her tradition of playing big in the Final Four with two goals and one helper, while Emily Keesling and Rachel O'Brien each chipped in one tally.
Defensively, Froccaro and O'Brien accounted for Adelphi's two caused turnovers, while Felicia Mills controlled the draw with four and Ryley Weber and Camille Rosellini each picked up three draw controls. Froccaro, Kaitlyn Stackpole and Kelly Osmulski managed to grab three ground balls each and Taylor Hayes stood tall in the cage, making a total of four stops in the contest.
The story of the first half was draw controls, as the Panthers won six of the eight draws in the first half, giving Adelphi an advantage in offensive possession. The Brown and Gold took advantage early, with Froccaro scoring 6:24 into the action off of an Aitkens assist. The Dolphins answered back with a free position tally from Amari Pollard to knot the game at one three minutes later.
However, Froccaro hit a streaking Aitkens through the middle of the crease, kicking off a run of three straight goals for the Panthers. Jahelka scored, unassisted and Keesling closed out the run with a free position goal with 11:09 reamaining.
Le Moyne got their second score of the contest less than a minute later off the stick of Julia Suriani, but Froccaro scored after spinning around a Dolphin defender to put Adelphi up 5-2 with just under 10 minutes to play. After some back and forth Adelphi ended up with the ball in the final seconds of the first frame, with Jahelka going to call and causing a free position, which she converting with just 1.1 seconds left in the half, sending the Brown and Gold into the locker room with a four goal advantage, 6-2.
The four-goal lead was possible, thanks in part to the Panther defense, which pushed the Dolphins into five turnovers. The Adelphi defensive unit also managed to block two Le Moyne free position attempts, while Hayes made two stops in the cage to keep the Dolphins to just two first half tallies.
The draw continued to be the narrative in the second half, with Adelphi winning two of the first three draws, which resulted in three straight Panther scores in the first 15 minutes of the second stanza. The first tally of the second period came off the same stick that ending the scoring in the first, Jahelka, while, O'Brien and Aitkens contributed the other two goals, making it 9-2 with 14:12 on the board.
The Adelphi defense continued its strong play, holding Le Moyne without a shot for the first 17:52 of the second half. However, the Dolphins broke through with 12:18 on the clock and proceeded to rip off three straight goals before Froccaro put a ripple in the back of the Le Moyne net on a free position to stop the bleeding and push the Panther edge to five goals with 5:14 remaining.
Adelphi won the ensuing draw control, courtesy of Rosellini, allowing the Panthers to kill a significant portion of the remaining five minutes, before a turnover allowed the Dolphins to get one more free position, which was turned away by Hayes, sealing a 10-5 Adelphi victory.
Alexis Garbarino scored twice for Le Moyne, while Suriani and Erica Geremia combined for five points. The Dolphins finish the season at 18-4 overall.
Lock Haven beat Lindenwood in the second semifinal game of the day, 11-6. The Bald Eagles were led by Jessica Pandolf, who racked up a whopping eight points on five goals and three assists in the win.
In Adelphi’s low-scoring 7-5 triumph over Lock Haven a season ago, Froccaro tallied three goals to lead the Panthers to a national title.
Additional information for this release provided by the Adelphi Sports Information staff.
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.
