Garden City, N.Y. – The top-ranked Le Moyne College men's lacrosse team used a 9-1 run over the final three quarters to rally for a 10-9 victory over fifth-ranked Adelphi University in the Northeast-10 Conference regular season finale for both teams on Tuesday evening at Motamed Field.
 
With the victory, the Dolphins win their 19th Northeast-10 Conference regular season championship in their 26 seasons in the conference. It is their 18th by going undefeated in league play and their 17th outright title. The Dolphins will open pursuit of their 16th NE10 tournament championship on Wednesday, May 3 with a semifinal contest against either fourth-seeded Pace University or fifth-seeded Saint Anselm College.

"Not the start we were looking for, but an excellent finish," said head coach Dan Sheehan. "Happy for this group of guys. Many of them have been patiently waiting for a shot and they took full advantage. Now MAY MATTERS!"

As they did in all three games between the teams last year, the Panthers scored the first three goals of the game and for the second straight regular season contest, they scored the first five goals. After each team had three empty possessions to start the game, Dylan Barry got the Panthers on the scoreboard at the 9:53 mark off a pass from Logan Tucker for his 10th goal of the year. He scored again just under four minutes later after taking a feed from Eamon Hall. Jason Rebaudo made it 3-0 one minute later after causing a turnover on a Le Moyne clear attempt, scooping up the ball and scoring from behind the net for his 26th goal of the season. Joseph Duchnowski extended the lead to four with his 32nd goal of the campaign with 3:17 to go in the quarter. Just 39 seconds later, Kyle Steinbach netted his 21st goal of the year.

Le Moyne broke through with 1:42 remaining in the quarter as fifth year midfielder Sam Lambert (Victor, N.Y./Victor) finished off a feed from junior attackman Joey Pezzimenti (Victor, N.Y./Victor/UAlbany) for his seventh goal of the season.

Adelphi regained its five-goal lead just 56 seconds into the second quarter as Brian Harinski posted his 24th goal of the year after taking a pass from Steinbach.

Le Moyne countered with the final three goals of the half. Lambert ignited the run at the 11:48 mark with an unassisted tally. Pezzimenti then took advantage of an Adelphi penalty to register his 32nd goal of the year at the 10:02 mark after collecting a pass from redshirt sophomore midfielder Ethan Loun (West Linn, Ore./West Linn). Following an Adelphi turnover, senior long-stick midfielder Nick Noel (Fulton, N.Y./G. Ray Bodley) caught an outlet pass at midfield from graduate student goalkeeper Matt Vavonese (Syracuse, N.Y./Christian Brothers Academy/Canisius) and raced in to score his second goal of the season with 5:28 remaining in the half.

Vavonese made two saves over the final four and one-half minutes of the half to keep the Dolphins within two at the intermission.

Following almost 10 minutes of scoreless action to start the third quarter, Pezzimenti fired in a shot from the left alley off a pass from sophomore midfielder Nick Louise (Camillus, N.Y./West Genesee) for the only goal of the quarter.

Le Moyne extended its run to five straight goals with the first of the fourth quarter as graduate student attackman Kevin Sheehan (Camillus, N.Y./West Genesee) finished off a pass from Lambert on the left edge of the crease at the 14:16 mark for his 16th goal of the season.

Adelphi took the lead back with 12:00 remaining as Steinbach tallied his 27th goal of the year. The goal snapped a drought of 32:04 without a goal for the Panthers.

Le Moyne responded with four straight goals to take the lead. Junior midfielder Seth Benedict (Stanley, N.Y./Marcus Whitman) started the run and knotted the score at seven just 37 seconds after Steinbach scored by finding the back of the net for the 18th time this year off a dish from junior midfielder Kyle Caves (Liverpool, N.Y./Liverpool). Pezzimenti followed 48 seconds later by finishing off a feed from Caves to put the Dolphins in front. Following a turnover by the Panthers, sophomore midfielder Olin Stanat (Rochester, N.Y./Brighton) tallied his second goal of the season by scoring off a scramble in front of the net after his initial shot was turned away. Lambert capped the streak with 6:15 remaining by dumping the ball into the back of the net after picking up a loose ball in front of the crease after a shot was saved.

After the Dolphins turned the ball over after winning the ensuing faceoff, Duchnowski scored at the 6:01 during an unsettled situation. Harinski scored 49 seconds later off a pass from Rebaudo to get the Panthers back within one.

The Panthers won the ensuing faceoff and called timeout 20 seconds later. Out of the timeout, Steinbach got off a shot on goal, but it was saved by Vavonese.

The teams then traded possession-clock violations, resulting in the Panthers getting the ball and calling timeout with 1:42 left. Out of the timeout, a Panther threw the ball away and the Dolphins regained possession with 1:32 remaining. The Dolphins were able to run 80 seconds off the clock before the possession clock expired with 12.5 seconds left. The Panthers had one last possession, but threw the ball away again with four seconds left.

Vavonese finished the game with eight saves to earn the win between the pipes and ends the regular season with the best save percentage (58.8) and goals against average (7.11) in the conference. Dylan Renner recorded 11 saves in the loss and finishes the regular season second in save percentage (58.4) and third in goals against average (7.89).