May 13, 2006

Box Score| Quotes

Lisle, Ill - In a rematch of the 2004 National Semifinal the Adelphi women's lacrosse team edged C.W. Post, 9-8, in the first game of the NCAA Division II Final Four at Benedictine University in Lisle, Illinois. The Panthers were led by Meghan Blume (Bel Air, MD) and Lauren Lopez (Farmingville, N.Y.), who tallied three goals a piece, advancing to face the winner of the Limestone/West Chester contest tomorrow at 1:06 p.m. (Eastern Time).

Adelphi put the early pressure on C.W. Post, getting four shots on goal, three of which were turned away by Pioneer goalkeeper Lauren Scipione (East Meadow, N.Y.), in just the first 4:30 of play. However, at the 22:44 mark C.W. Post broke through, taking a 1-0 lead on a goal from Shannon Fabian (Rocky Point, N.Y.).

The Panthers answered back with 21:49 when Lauren Lopez (Farmingville, N.Y.) took on two Pioneer defenders, slipping between them and finding the back of the C.W. Post net, knotting the game at one. Then the Pioneers reeled off two straight goals, the first at the 18:12 mark and the second came with 15:49 to play, giving C.W. Post a, 3-1 edge.

Lopez answered the call again, drawing a C.W. Post foul at the 14:55 mark and earning a free position, which she converted into Adelphi's second goal, pulling the Panthers within one, 3-2. The Pioneers answered back, getting goals from Jaclyn Napoli (West Islip, N.Y.) and Jenna Miller (Silver Spring, MD) to push the C.W. Post lead to, 5-2, with 4:44 left in the first half.

Tara Grodotzke's (Rocky Point, N.Y.) only goal of the game came with 3:20 left in the first half and sparked a four goal run that gave the Panthers a 6-5 edge at the half. The final goal was scored when Blume corralled a Jessica Marra (New Hyde Park, N.Y.) pass and went straight to the goal, beating Scipione with just 16 seconds left in the half.

Dawn Anselmin (Lynbrook, N.Y.) kept the pressure on, curling around the cage and catching a Blume feed, beating Scipione high, to put the Panthers ahead by two, 7-5. Fabian finally broke Adelphi's momentum, converting a free position with 14:23 remaining to pull C.W. Post within one, 7-6.

At the 12:01 mark Lopez responded again, converting the second of two straight free position attempts to push Adelphi's advantage back to two, 8-6. Just over four minutes later Blume closed out Adelphi's scoring, sweeping from the right side of the field, creating enough space to slip the ball into the C.W. Post net, putting the Panthers ahead by three, 9-6.

"I got the ball and just said to myself, go, go, go and I just kept going" Blume stated when asked about her game-winning goal.

C.W. Post continued to battle, pulling to within two goals, 9-7, on a tally from Elaine Williams (East Islip, N.Y.), then the Pioneers cut the Panthers edge to just one goal, 9-8, when Napoli scored off of a feed from Fabian with just 58 seconds left on the clock.

Adelphi controlled the ensuing draw control, but a Panther miscue sent the ball out of bounds and gave the Pioneers new life with 34 seconds on the clock. Fabian controlled the ball in the Adelphi zone, but lost control of the ball, which was picked up by Marra, essentially ending the game.

"Our defense did a great job covering [Shannon Fabian] this game," Lopez stated. "I credit the defense and our midfield, we played great team defense."

With the win the Panthers improved to 15-1 overall and advance to the NCAA Division II National Title game at 1:06 pm (Eastern Time) on May 14 against the winner of the Limestone/West Chester semifinal.