Garden City, N.Y. – Championships Most Valuable Player Riley Smith (Baldwinsville, N.Y./C.W. Baker/Onondaga C.C.) made 11 saves to lead the third-ranked and second-seeded Le Moyne College men's lacrosse team to its 14th Northeast-10 Conference Championship with an 11-9 victory over second-ranked and top-seeded Adelphi University on Saturday afternoon at Motamed Field.
 
The Dolphins, who have won three of the last four conference championships, improve to 14-4 all-time in the conference title game. The Le Moyne Class of 2019 is the first class in the conference to win three conference championships since the Le Moyne Class of 2009. The Dolphins now await their seeding in the NCAA Championships. The 12-team field will be announced on NCAA.com on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. In the third release of the regional rankings on Wednesday, the Dolphins were ranked first in the North Region.

In addition to Smith, senior short-stick defensive midfielder Andrew French (Syracuse, N.Y./Westhill) and freshman faceoff specialist Sam Kury (Oakdale, Conn./Montville) earned spots on the all-championship team. Additionally, sophomore midfielder Evan Kelly (Honeoye Falls, N.Y./Aquinas Institute) was named the recipient of the inaugural Elite 24 Award, which is awarded to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade point average competing at the final site for each of the NE10's 24 Championships.

Off a Le Moyne turnover, the Panthers scored the game's opening goal. After picking up a loose ball, John Arcidiacono found Gordon Purdie, Jr. for his 19th goal of the year with 13:47 remaining.

The Dolphins answered back 1:20 later as junior midfielder Ross Filtch (Marcellus, N.Y./Marcellus/Siena) tallied his 13th goal of the year.

Adelphi countered with consecutive goals for its largest lead of the game. Nicolas Racalbuto put the Panthers in front with 11:26 left after taking a pass from Purdie, Jr. James Hall followed at the 6:37 mark with his 13th goal of the season.

Le Moyne got a goal from junior attackman Matt Hutchings (Marcellus, N.Y./Marcellus) with 5:31 to go in the quarter to get back within one.

The Panthers took their final two-goal lead of the game with 3:45 left as Quintin McKenna scored off a pass from Ian Kirby.

The Dolphins tallied the final two goals of the quarter as part of a 9-1 run. Kelly tallied his 10th goal of the season with 3:25 left after collecting a feed from sophomore defensive midfielder Kaiden Tubbert (Auburn, N.Y./Auburn/Bridgton Academy). Hutchings knotted the score at four with just five seconds left in the quarter off a pass from junior attackman Riley Larson (Fairfield, Conn./Ludlowe).

Following over six minutes of scoreless play to start the second quarter, Larson gave the Dolphins the lead at the 8:46 mark with his 36th goal of the season. Senior midfielder Dan Entenmann (Auburn, N.Y./Auburn) followed with his 19th tally of the campaign with 7:19 until halftime.

Adelphi snapped its scoring drought of almost 15 minutes at the 3:54 mark as Kirby finished off a pass from McKenna.

Hutchings tallied the final goal of the half with 3:14 left as the Dolphins took a 7-5 lead into the intermission.

Le Moyne scored the first four goals of the third quarter to open up its largest lead of the game. Larson netted his 37th goal of the campaign with 10:45 to go after receiving a feed from Hutchings. The Dolphins then scored three times in 56 seconds. Kelly scored with 5:41 left off a pass from sophomore midfielder Ben McCreary (Cicero, N.Y./Christian Brothers Academy). Just 16 seconds later, Entenmann finished off a feed from senior midfielder Josh Slowinski (Williamsville, N.Y./Clarence), who then tallied his 22nd goal of the season with 4:45 left off a pass from Kelly.

Purdie, Jr. ended Adelphi's scoreless span of 16:50 with 2:04 to go in the third with his 20th goal of the year. Kirby got the Panthers within 11-7 at the end of the third quarter after taking a pass from Purdie, Jr.

The Panthers scored the only two goals of the fourth quarter, but couldn't cut into their deficit any further. Michael Paccione scored the team's third straight goal with 11:05 left to get Adelphi within 11-8. Following four empty possessions by each team over the next six minutes, Arcidiacono netted his 35th goal of the season with 4:40 to play.

The Panthers didn't put another shot on goal until there were just nine seconds left and Smith was able to save it.

Smith made four saves in each of the third and fourth quarters en route to his 11 saves and 15th win of the year. NE10 Goalkeeper of the Year Brendan McDougal totaled nine saves in the game, four of which came in the fourth quarter.