March 31, 2007

Box Score

Waltham, MA - Freshman Ian Kuchta (Norwalk, Conn.) tallied a hat trick to pace the Panthers' offense and help Adelphi to a 13-7 win over the Bentley men's lacrosse team on Saturday afternoon in non-conference action. The Panthers, ranked tenth in the nation, improved to 4-3, while the Falcons fell to 2-3.

Kuchta scored the first goal of the game to put Adelphi on the board, but Bentley answered with a pair of goals midway through the first to take the lead. Sophomore Andy Curtis set up junior Scott McCowan to even the score at 1-1 before senior Craig Cormier scored to put the Falcons in the lead. The Panthers got back on top with a pair of goals from senior Michael Gongas (Port Jefferson, N.Y.) and junior Tyler Burton (Elbridge, N.Y.) before the end of the opening frame.

Adelphi began to pull away with six goals in the second quarter, capped off by three straight tallies from Kuchta, Gongas, and Dale Pescitelli (Shoreham, N.Y.) in the final two-and-a-half minutes before halftime, giving the Panthers a 9-4 cushion.

Adelphi continued to outpace the Falcons' offense in the second half outscoring Bentley 4-3 on goals from four different players. Even with Bentley holding the Panthers off the scoreboard for the final ten minutes of the game, Adelphi pulled away with a 13-7 win.

Adelphi held a 24-22 edge in shots on goal and got a huge boost from junior Jesse Corben (Merrick, N.Y.) at the face-off X, with Corben winning 18 of 24 face-offs for the Panthers. Freshman Devin Schneiderbauer (Pepperell, MA) made 15 saves to earn the win for Adelphi, while sophomore Zach Gostanian stopped 11 shots at the other end for the Falcons.

The Panthers return to action Wednesday, April 4 to take on St. Michael's College at 4:00 pm.