Garden City, N.Y. – Tournament Most Valuable Player Erica Devito scored seven goals to lead top-ranked and top-seeded Adelphi to a 17-11 win over the second-ranked and second-seeded Le Moyne College women's lacrosse team in the Northeast-10 Conference Championship game on Sunday afternoon at Motamed Field.
Senior All-Tournament team midfielder Rebekah Elmer (Syracuse, N.Y./West Genesee) got the Dolphins on the scoreboard first by scoring off a free-position shot 1:19 into the game.
The Panthers, who claimed their second straight conference championship after joining the Northeast-10 at the beginning of the 2009-10 academic year, rattled off the game's next nine goals to take control of the contest. Elizabeth Fey evened the score at one 42 seconds after Elmer's goal off a pass from behind the cage by two-time Northeast-10 Player of the Year Claire Petersen. Petersen then put her team in front after collecting a loose ball and rolling around the right side of the goal from behind. Devito then scored five goals in a span of 9:01. Her first goal came from Petersen, Devan Crimi assisted on the second, the third was off a free-position shot, the fourth was unassisted off a crease roll from the left side and the final goal came off a pass from Marissa Mills. Fey added her second goal of the stanza after collecting a ball in the air in front of the goal, while Crimi capped the 9-0 burst from the right crease off a pass from Demmianne Cook.
The Dolphins closed within 9-4 at the intermission after getting three free-position goals from first team all-conference selection Brittany Brigandi (Syracuse, N.Y./Christian Brothers Academy/UMass) in the final 49.6 seconds of the half. After snapping Le Moyne's scoreless streak of almost 28 minutes with her goal with 49.6 seconds left, she added free-position goals with 34.8 seconds left and 3.4 seconds remaining in the half.
After Mills extended Adelphi's lead back to six with a drive through the defense from the top with 24:20 remaining, the Dolphins scored back-to-back goals to get within 10-6 with 19:34 remaining. Senior all-conference defender Katlin Walker (Penn Yan, N.Y./Penn Yan Academy) went coast-to-coast for her ninth goal of the year with 21:57 left after a save by junior goalkeeper Kelly Fucillo (Camillus, N.Y./West Genesee). Senior midfielder Mia Valletta (Niskayuna, N.Y./Niskayuna) followed just over two minutes later by converting a free-position shot.
Adelphi, which failed to score 20 goals for just the third time this season (11 and 17 against Le Moyne and 19 against C.W. Post), responded with six goals in a span of nine minutes and 13 seconds to take a double-digit lead. Mills gave the Panthers an 11-6 advantage with a drive down the right alley with 17:56 left. Just over three minutes later, Devito finished off a pass from Cook on the left side of the crease. Mills followed a minute later with another drive down the right alley for her third goal of the day. Following a foul off the ensuing draw, Devito found the back of the net from the left edge of the crease off a feed from Petersen to complete her scoring for the game. Kaitlyn Carter followed 15 seconds later with a five-yard shot off a drive from the top right side of the box. Fey put her team up 16-6 with 8:43 remaining from the right crease with a quick-stick shot off a pass from the left side by Petersen.
After almost 14 minutes without a goal, the Dolphins scored five times in a span of four minutes and 26 seconds. Elmer got the Dolphins within single-digits with a free-position goal with 5:45 remaining. She then made the score 16-8 after taking a pass in front of the goal from classmate Leah Lazarz (Liverpool, N.Y./Liverpool) with 4:50 to go. Following a missed shot by the Panthers, Elmer tallied her fourth goal of the game inside the far left post after taking a pass from the right side of the field from sophomore Kelly Condon (Victor, N.Y./Canandaigua) with 3:14 left. Senior attacker Michelle Phillips (Johnson City, N.Y./Maine-Endwell) got the Dolphins into double-digits, just the fourth Adelphi opponent to do so, by scoring off a pass from the Lazarz with 2:58 remaining. Lazarz capped off Le Moyne's scoring in the contest by converting a free-position shot inside the near right post with 1:19 to play.
Meg Brown closed out the scoring in the game by finding the back of the net off a free-position shot with 4.1 seconds remaining.
Fucillo made 11 saves, six in the first half, in suffering just her second loss of the season. Northeast-10 Conference Goalkeeper of the Year Frankie Caridi recorded 11 saves for her nation-best 18th win of the season.
Le Moyne (17-2), which fell to the Panthers, 11-9, in the regular season on March 23rd, now awaits word on a bid to the NCAA Tournament. The NCAA will release the pairings on Sunday at 9:00 p.m. at NCAA.com.
