Box Score
Garden City, N.Y. - The Adelphi University field hockey team fell by a score of 3-0 to #7 Merrimack College in Saturday's Northeast-10 Conference regular season finale on Motamed Field. The Panthers finish with an overall record of 7-11 and 6-4 in NE-10 play, completing an impressive rebound by winning seven of their last 10 games after starting the season with eight straight losses. The Warriors improve to 15-2 overall and 9-1 in the league, solidifying their spot as the regular season champions.
The final score did little to alter the NE-10 standings, and Adelphi is slated to finish in fourth place in the league. The Panthers will play their first-ever home playoff game when they host the opening round of the Northeast-10 Conference Tournament on Wednesday against an opponent to be determined.
The contest was the last regular season home game for five Adelphi seniors:
Cassie Cabral,
Alyssa Conklin,
Erin Grekin,
Kristine Puzio and
Emilee Rahner. The senior class marks the first group of field hockey players to play four seasons in the NE-10 since the sport's reinstatement in 2008. Between them, the group has accounted for 38 wins, a pair of NE-10 Tournament appearances, five team academic excellence awards and eight NFHCA Academic Honor Roll selections.
Merrimack reaffirmed its tab as one of the nation's elite squads, unleashing a flurry of early goals to pull ahead 3-0 within the first nine minutes of play. Adelphi managed to shut down to league's top seeded team the rest of the way, but could not crack the scoreboard while being outshot 19-4.
Puzio finished the game with 15 saves for the Panthers, marking her seventh double-digit save performance and setting the single-season program record with 145 total saves. Merrimack goalie Kerri Bergquist stopped all four shots she faced and held tight to her position as one of the league's most dominant keepers.
Candace Waldie got the Warriors going early, connecting just a minute and 47 seconds into the game on the first of two goals on the day. After burning the defense down the middle of the field, her running shot from the top of the circle blazed into the bottom left corner of the cage to give Merrimack at 1-0 lead.
April Daugherty flushed a rebound goal at the 8:00 mark, and just 42 seconds later fed Waldie with a backward pass and watched Waldie finish to put the Warriors ahead 3-0.
Adelphi scoring chances were few and far between, but the Panthers made several valiant attempts in the final minutes.
Molly Cuevas registered Adelphi's first shot of the day in the 65th minute, challenging Bergquist for the first time in the contest. The ensuing penalty corner gave way to two more shots on goal, one for Cuevas and another for
Jamie Ackerman, but Merrimack's goalie turned aside each attempt.
Stay tuned to
www.aupanthers.com for more information on Adelphi's opponent for Wednesday's home playoff game.
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