April 5, 2008

Box Score

Brookville, N.Y. - The Adelphi University men's lacrosse team traveled to Brookville, New York on Saturday, April 5 to take on C.W. Post in an East Coast Conference contest. The Panthers got seven goals from Ian Kuchta, but it was not enough as the Pioneers topped Adelphi, 15-14 in overtime. With the win C.W. Post improve to 8-2 overall and 1-1 in the ECC, while the Panthers drop to 5-3 and 1-1 in the ECC.

The game was a tumultuous affair, with six ties and four lead changes. The Pioneers got on the board first, but goals by Brandon Butler and Dale Pescitelli quickly gave Adelphi the lead. A goal by Matt Merritt tied the game at two apiece, but an Ian Kuchta tally gave Adelphi the lead again.

A man-up goal by Dave Loftus tied the game at three, but the Panthers scored four straight goals, as Edward Ege, Butler and Kuchta found the back of the Pioneer net. The four goal run allowed Adelphi to pull away and lead 7-3 at the end of the first period.

The second quarter opened up with a quick Pionner goal, cutting the lead to three. After Kuchta scored his fourth goal of the day to push the Adelphi lead back to four, the Pioneers went on a five-goal tear that saw Cerar score four of the five goals for C.W. Post, and the home team went into the half with a 9-8 lead.

Adelphi roared out of the second half, getting two quick goals from Chad Henry and Kuctha, to take a 10-9 lead. Cerar scored again to tie the game at 10-10, but the Panthers ripped off four goals, including two by Kuchta, to take a 14-10 lead, closing out the third quarter up by four.

The fourth quarter saw the teams play a scoreless first six minutes, until Cerar assisted on a Mike Messina goal with 8:55 remaining to pull within three. Another scoreless four minutes passed until Cerar scored off a Rob Renetta assist to cut the lead to 14-12.

With less than a minute left Adelphi still clung to a two goal lead. The Pioneers found the back of the net, pulling to within one with 53 seconds remaining.

Mike Cama won the face-off, and with 18 ticks remaining on the clock C.W. Post scored, forcing a sudden death overtime. The Pioneers didn't waste much time in the extra period, scoring just 1:45 into play to secure the win.

The Pioneers outshot the Panthers 49-28, and were successful on 2 of 7 man-up opportunities. Adelphi won 23 of 33 face-off attempts, and picked up 27 ground balls to the Pioneers' 24. C.W. Post had only 13 turnovers compared to 24 for the Panthers.

Adelphi returns to action on April 12 when they host NYIT at 7:30 pm on the campus of Hofstra University.