Garden City, N.Y. -- The Adelphi University field hockey team remained unbeaten on Motamed Field thus far this season courtest of a hard-fought 3-2 win over the visiting Bentley University Falcons on Wednesday afternoon.

The Panthers (12-3, 8-1 NE-10) were forced to play from behind on their home field for the first time this season as Bentley's Leah Winer beat Amanda Gargiulo in the eighth minute for the first goal of the contest. However, the Brown and Gold did not trail for long, as Lena Pollich scored off a feed from Molly Cuevas just over five minutes later to knot the score at 1-1. 

The Panthers took their first lead of the afternoon behind Cuevas, who fired a ball past Bentley keeper Evelyn Schaedel in the 17th minute from the top of the circle to give the Brown and Gold a lead they would never relinquish. Although the Panthers outshot the visiting Falcons by a 14-4 margin in the first half, the advantage remained at just one at the break, courtesy of Schaedel's six first-half saves. 

The score remained 2-1 in favor of Adelphi for much of the second half, before Elizabeth Mercuri provided an insurance goal late in the game in the 66th minute. After two consecutive penalty corners taken by Rachel Colvin, a Jamie Ahrens pass found Mercuri all alone to the right of the cage as she slipped the ball between Schaedel and the post for the 3-1 lead. Mercuri's goal proved vital, as the Falcons came down the field and got one back less than three minutes later off the stick of Meghan Talerman to make it a 3-2 game and forced the Panthers to call timeout. However, the visitors could not net the equalizer in the closing minute that followed to give the Panthers the victory. 

Overall in the contest, the Panthers held a 20-10 advantage in total shots and a 13-6 advantage in shots on goal. The Panthers also held a 9-3 advantage in penalty corners, while Schaedel kept the Falcons in the contest with 10 saves to Gargiulo's four.

Adelphi returns to action on Friday, October 23 when they travel to North Andover, Mass. for a key NE-10 contest with Merrimack at 4:30 pm. The Panthers and Falcons came in at No. 1 and No. 2 in the first edition of the NCAA East Regional rankings released earlier Wednesday. 

---

About Adelphi Athletics
Adelphi University joined the Northeast-10 Conference in the Fall of 2009 and in the past six seasons has collected 12 regular season conference titles, 18 tournament championships, 27 individual crowns and captured the Northeast-10 President's Cup twice (2013 and 2014), while winning five NCAA Division II National Championships.

For the latest on Adelphi University Athletics, follow the Panthers at www.aupanthers.com or via social media on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Snapchat.