May 2, 2010

Box Score

Garden City, N.Y. - Sophomore attack Joe Vitale scored eight goals as Adelphi concluded the Northeast-10 men's lacrosse regular season with a 15-9 win over Bentley University on Saturday night.

The loss snaps Bentley's three-game winning streak and drops its record to 8-4 overall and 7-3 in the NE-10. The Falcons will be the fourth-seed in the NE-10 Tournament and will host fifth-seeded Pace on Tuesday night. Adelphi wins its sixth straight contest and improves to 9-4 on the season and 7-3 in NE-10 play. The Panthers will be the third-seed in the tournament and will host sixth-seeded Saint Anselm on Tuesday.

The Falcons led 2-0 after five minutes of action on goals by James Reardon and Stephen Moulton. After a goal by Adelphi's Kevin Kemp at the 7:45 mark, Bentley netted two more in a row courtesy of Mike MacDonald and Reardon for its biggest lead of the game at 4-1.

Vitale's first goal of the game with 2:42 left in the quarter was the turning point though, as the Panthers reeled off eight straight goals. Six of those tallies came in the second quarter, with Vitale getting two of them, giving Adelphi an 8-4 edge at halftime.

The Panthers went up 9-4 just 21 seconds into the third quarter on a Connor McCann goal, but Bentley started to fight back with three unanswered, cutting Adelphi's lead to 9-7. Vitale though scored three straight times to give Adelphi a 12-7 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Bentley again got to within three goals with 13:01 remaining, but Vitale put an end to Bentley's rally hopes and his big night with goals number seven and eight as the game wound down.

Devin Schneiderbauer made seven saves in the win, while the Panthers out shot Bentley, 44-25 and had an advantage in groundballs, 42-27 and face-offs, 19-9.