Winter Park, FL – The reigning national championships opened defense of their 2014 title with a 15-6 defeat of #18 Rollins College, behind a defense that held the Tars to just six goals and 14 shots on goal. The win kicks off Adelphi's season at 1-0, while Rollins slips to 3-1.

Alexa Froccaro led the Panther offense with six points on five goals and an assist, while Rachel O'Brien added four points (3G, 1A) and Jacqueline Jahelka scored three goals. Danielle Jaycox also posted three points in the first game of her senior year on one goal and two assists.

Taylor Hayes made eight stops, including several at point blank range, behind a defense that caused 11 turnovers. Jaycox led the defensive effort in the middle of the field, causing three turnovers, while Kelly Osmulski and Kaitlyn Stackpole turned the Tars over twice each.  Felicia Mills helped Adelphi control the draw, winning six draws, while the Panthers captured 15 of 22 draw controls.

After a rocky opening few minutes that saw several turnovers from both teams and free position stops from Rollins' Olin and Adelphi's Hayes, the Panthers finally broke through just over eight minutes into the game. Froccaro used her speed to create a 3-2 opportunity for the Brown and Gold, feeding Jahelka, who notched Adelphi's first goal, beating Olin top right, 1-0.

Just over a minute later  Jaycox drew a Rollins foul and took advantage of the resulting free position opportunity, putting the Panthers ahead, 2-0. Froccaro turned a man down offensive effort into a goal with 17:27 to play with a nice individual effort, beating Olin top left corner, 3-0.

Rollins got on the board and stopped the bleeding with 14:15 on the clock, as Pinneke beat Hayes with a bounce shot on a free position, 3-1. Adelphi answered back just 46 seconds later, courtesy of Froccaro's third goal of the game, making it 4-1.

Then Panthers managed to push their first half lead to 5-1 on Rachel Aitkens' first tally of the year, which came courtesy of a nice cut to cage and a great feed from O'Brien with 11:45 to go in the first. But, the Tars cut the margin to three, 5-2, taking advantage of a Brown and Gold miscue on a clear, earning a free position, which they turned into their second goal of the contest.

O'Brien pushed Adelphi's lead back to four, 6-2, on a hard earned free position, beating Olin with a well placed shot to the left side of the cage with 6:15 left in the first period. However, just over three minutes later Rollins' Burns used a bounce shot on a free position to cut the Panther lead back to three goals, 6-3, which is how the first half would end.

The Panthers opened up the second half with speed, scoring just 38 seconds into the action on an unassisted tally from Froccaro, 7-3. However, the Tars responded with a score of their own 91 seconds later, to cut the lead back to three, 7-4. The Brown and Gold answered back less than a minute later, thanks to O'Brien's second goal of the game, making it an 8-4 game with 26:59 left to play.

O'Brien's offensive effort continued, as she notched the Panthers ninth goal of the game using a gorgeous spin move and then beating the goalie far side for her third goal of the game at the 25:33 mark. The Brown and Gold kept the pressure on, getting a free position goal from Jahelka to reach double digits, 10-4.

The Panthers continued rolling in the 19^th minute of the second half, scoring their fourth straight goal off the stick of Danielle Montano, who got a feed from Danielle Jaycox, making it an 11-4 game. Adelphi's fifth straight second half tally came from Keesling, who received a feed from Jaycox, that left her 1v1 with the goal, who she beat with a shot to the top right corner, 12-4.

After holding the Tars scoreless for nearly 15 minutes in the second half, Rollins used an Adelphi miscue on the clear to produce a 1v1 with Hayes, that resulted in Rollins fifth goal, and followed that up just over a minute later with their sixth tally, 12-6.

Adelphi curbed the Rollins roll with back-to-back tallies from Froccaro in the ninth minute with a darting run that ended with a shot in the upper right corner of the net, and a roll to net from X in the third minute that resulted in a low bullet, 14-6.

Jahelka put the finishes touches on Adelphi's 15-6 victory, scoring off a Montano feed with 1:58 left to secure the Panthers nine goal win.

Up Next
The Panthers return to action on Tuesday, February 24 when they travel to Lakeland, Florida for a non-conference contest against nationally ranked Florida Southern College.