Lakeland, FL – The top ranked Adelphi University women's lacrosse team got a seven point effort (5G, 2A) from Rachel O'Brien to wrap up their southern swing with a hard fought, 15-13 victory over #9 Florida Southern College on Tuesday, February 24.  

O'Brien led all players with seven points, while Alexa Froccaro added four points on three goals and an assist and Jacqueline Jahelka (3G), and Emily Keesling (1G, 2A) added three points each. Felicia Mills was a force on the draw, winning seven draw controls to go along with two goals, while Ryley Weber netted five draw controls and caused one turnover.

Defensively, Kelly Osmulski led the team with two caused turnovers, while Lauren Janelli, Kaitlyn Stackpole and Froccaro chipped in one each. Taylor Langston made four stops in relief of Taylor Hayes, who made two stops.
 
The first half got off to a quick start, as Adelphi (2-0) and Florida Southern (1-1) exchanged goals in the first 3:24 and exchanged goals once more before a three goal outburst from the Panthers, put the Brown and Gold on top, 5-2.

Froccaro kicked off the 3-0 spurt when she slipped past her defender on the right side of the net and beat the Florida Southern goalie high. Two minutes later O'Brien scored her first of the contest, putting the Panthers up two, while Froccaro would end the three goal effort, sprinting to the right and shooting a dart across her body that found the top left corner, 5-2, with 15:19 to play.

However, Florida Southern had no plans of rolling over so easily, scoring three of the next four goals, two on free positions, making it a 6-5 contest with 5:48 to go. The Adelphi response was almost immediate as O'Brien become a one player wrecking crew, ripping of back-to-back tallies just 36 seconds apart, to push the Panthers lead to three goals, 8-5, with 1:36 remaining in the first half of action.

Just over one minute later Florida Southern would use a high feed from X, that found the stick of Lorianne Hoover, who directed it into the net to send the game into halftime with the Brown and Gold leading 8-6.

The contest became even tighter in the second half of play, turning into a nail biter as the hosts gave Adelphi all they could handle. After Mills opened the second period with a goal just 1:04 into the action, Florida Southern went on a three goal spree, with the game tying tally coming at the 20:42 mark, 9-9.

At that point, Adelphi head coach Pat McCabe made a goalie change, sending in Taylor Langston, who almost immediately made a stop to preserve the tie. A few minutes after the Langston stop, O'Brien netted another goal, this time slotted it between the legs of the Florida Southern keeper on a free position to put the Panthers back on top, 10-9.

Unfortunately Adelphi's lead was short lived as 26 seconds later the hosts scored, tying the contest at 10, with 16:14 left showing on the clock. Mills' second goal of the game came just over 30 seconds later and kicked off what seemed like the game winning rally, as the Brown and Gold ripped off four straight tallies, making it a four goal game, 14-10, with 8:21 left after a successful Jahelka free position.

However, the game was far from over, as Florida Southern came to life, scoring three straight goals of their own to sneak within one, 14-13, with 5:14 left in the contest on a Megan Asper free position. On the ensuing draw, the Panthers came up with the ball and were able to start running the clock out, forcing the hosts to pull their goalie in favor of an extra defender.

After moving the ball around the offensive third and eating up a significant amount of the remaining time, Keesling found Danielle Jaycox in front of an empty net for Adelphi's 15^th and final goal, sending the Panthers back to Garden City with a 15-13 win.

Adelphi returns to action on March 7 when they welcome Philadelphia University to Garden City for the team's home opener.