April 8, 2006

Box Score

Easton, Mass. - Freshman Rachel Ray tallied the last of her three goals with 1:17 remaining as the #3 Adelphi University women's lacrosse team defeated #1 Stonehill College, 6-5, on Saturday afternoon at W.B. Mason Stadium. The Panthers improve to 7-0 and snap the Skyhawks (9-1) 36-game win streak, the longest in Division II.

With the visiting Panthers (7-0) trailing 5-4 in the closing minutes, Ray converted a free position shot with 3:14 remaining to even the score, and she then tallied the game-winner less than two minutes later following a turnover to complete her hat trick. The host Skyhawks, whose last defeat came on April 18, 2004 at the hands of C.W. Post, had a pair of chances to force overtime in the closing seconds on a pair of free position shots by senior Erin Acone (Bow, N.H.), but the second sailed wide as time expired.

A match-up of two of the highest scoring teams in the nation quickly emerged as a defensive struggle, as Adelphi got on the board first on senior Dawn Anselmin's (Lynbrook, N.Y.) goal before Acone netted a free position shot to even matters for Stonehill in the first 5:15 of action. Ray's first goal of the game at the 9:13 mark gave the Panthers a 2-1 cushion they would hold for most of the half until senior Jenny McGrath's (Milton, Mass.) goal with 15 seconds remaining in the half enabled the Skyhawks to forge a 2-2 tie at the break.

Adelphi used a pair of goals off the sticks of juniors Meghan Blume (Bel Air, Md.) and Diana Lopez (Farmingdale, N.Y.) to take a 4-2 lead with just over 20 minutes to play, but sophomore All-America Kristin Darrell (West Islip, N.Y.) evened matters for Stonehill with a pair of goals, the second coming with 13:26 remaining, and fellow sophomore Christa LaRocco's (West Islip, N.Y.) free position conversion gave the Skyhawks a 5-4 lead with 10:27 to play, setting up Ray's late heroics.

Junior Allyson Murphy (Williston Park, N.Y.) picked up the win in goal for Adelphi with a nine-save effort, while senior Lauren Stone (Guilderland, N.Y.) saw her personal 32-match winning streak come to an end in making eight stops in net for Stonehill as the Panthers held a slim 24-23 edge in shots on goal for the contest. The two teams combined for 35 turnovers and 11 failed clears in the defensive battle, as Adelphi claimed just its second win in six series meetings between the two schools and their first since last year's NCAA national semi-final contest won by Stonehill.

Adelphi heads to Springfield, Mass. on Sunday afternoon to take on American International in a non-league match that begins at Noon while Stonehill hosts Southern Connecticut in a Northeast-10 Conference match on Wednesday afternoon at W.B. Mason Stadium beginning at 3:30 p.m.

Courtesy Stonehill