Garden City, N.Y. – National Player of the Year candidate Claire Petersen registered seven points on four goals and three assists to lead top-ranked Adelphi to an 18-13 win over the second-ranked Le Moyne College women's lacrosse team on Saturday afternoon in the NCAA Division II semifinals at Motamed Field.
The Dolphins opened the game's scoring less than a minute into the contest as junior Brittany Brigandi (Syracuse, N.Y./Christian Brothers Academy/UMass) rolled around the goal from the left for her 83rd goal of the year.
The Panthers rattled off five of the game's next six goals in a span of 6:02 to take a 5-2 lead. Devan Crimi got her team on the scoreboard at the 28:21 mark with a free-position goal from the right side. Just over two and one-half minutes later, she added her 45th goal of the season with a left-handed, free-position shot. Petersen extended Adelphi's lead to 3-1 with a backhanded shot from the crease after taking a pass from Crimi with 25:20 remaining.
Off the ensuing draw, Brigandi scooped up the loose ball and passed ahead to senior attacker Michelle Phillips (Johnson City, N.Y./Maine-Endwell), who went in one-on-one with the goalkeeper for her 43rd goal of the season.
Erica Devito followed with a pair of goals 16 seconds apart for a 5-2 Adelphi lead. Devito scored the first off a pass from Kaitlyn Carter after an Adelphi clear, while second was from the left side of the crease off a restart.
Following five minutes of scoreless action, Brigandi came from behind the goal on the left side, rolled inside her defender and found the back of the net to trim Le Moyne's deficit to two.
Adelphi answered back with three goals in a span of 71 seconds. Petersen scored the first with a quick-stick shot along the crease off a pass from Crimi at the 12:57 mark. Just 44 seconds later, Demmianne Cook scored off a free-position shot. The Panthers increased their lead to five with 11:46 remaining as Meg Brown scored low off a free-position shot from the left side.
Senior Mia Valletta (Niskayuna, N.Y./Niskayuna) cut the lead back to four with a free-position shot from the left side of the arc inside the left post with 8:07 remaining. Petersen closed out the scoring in the first stanza with a free-position goal from the left side with 5:17 left.
After almost four and a half minutes of scoreless play to start the second half, Elizabeth Fey extended Adelphi's lead to six after taking a crossing pass from Devito off a failed clear attempt by the Dolphins. Le Moyne answered back 1:25 later as freshman Victoria Nies (Syracuse, N.Y./Jamesville-DeWitt) took a feed from senior Rebekah Elmer (Syracuse, N.Y./West Genesee) and scored from in front of the goal.
The Panthers tallied three straight goals in a stretch of one minute and 21 seconds to push their lead to 13-5 with 22:22 left to play. Devito scored off a free-position shot with 23:53 left, Petersen followed with a quick-stick goal off a feed from Fey at the 23:20 mark and Brown capped the streak with a backhanded shot from the right edge of the crease off a pass from Marissa Mills.
Brigandi scored two of the game's next three goals to cut Le Moyne's deficit to 14-7 with 18:56 left in the contest. Her first of the two came off the draw following Brown's goal, while the second came 2:23 after Cook scored off a free-position shot.
Adelphi netted four straight goals over a span of 7:32 to take a double-digit lead. Fey scored the first into an empty net with 16:40 left off a feed from Petersen. Just over two minutes later, Mills scored from the right side off a restart after a Le Moyne foul. Fey and Petersen then connected for back-to-back goals three minutes apart to make the score 18-7 with 9:08 remaining in the game.
The Dolphins delivered the game's final score by netting six goals in a span of five minutes and 15 seconds. Phillips scored Le Moyne's eighth goal after taking a pass from Brigandi with 7:22 left. One and a half minutes later, Brigandi scored off a free-position shot for her nation-leading 87th goal of the year. Phillips recorded her third goal of the contest 52 seconds later off a pass from senior midfielder Nerissa Barzee (Baldwinsville, N.Y./C.W. Baker). Following an Adelphi turnover, Phillips registered her 46th goal of the season with 3:15 remaining. After a foul off the ensuing draw, senior attacker Leah Lazarz (Liverpool, N.Y./Liverpool) scored her 11th goal of the year off a free-position shot. Nies finished off the scoring in the game by netting a free-position goal with 2:07 remaining.
Le Moyne finishes its first year at the Division II level with a program-best 18 victories against three defeats, all of which came to the Panthers. The six-member senior class of Barzee, Elmer, Lazarz, Phillips, Valletta and Katlin Walker (Penn Yan, N.Y./Penn Yan Academy) completes its career with a record of 44-26.
