Garden City, N.Y. - The third ranked Adelphi University men's lacrosse team used team work, assisting on 10 of their 13 goals to slip past the visiting second ranked Pioneers or LIU-Post, 13-11 in a non-conference contest on Monday, March 9 on Motamed Field. With the win the Panthers remain unblemished at 4-0, while the Pioneers suffer their first loss of the season, 4-1.

Three different players posted four points for Adelphi, led by Salvatore Tuttle with three goals and one assist, while both Jack Cutrone and Paul Bentz had one tally and three helpers. Nick Susko and Jamie McAndrew were the only other members of the Brown and Gold in double digits, with Susko scoring twice and McAndrew picking up an assist and finding the back of the net once.

Defensively, Joe Giardina and Joseph Sciara led the charge with three caused turnovers each, while Luke Spitzer and Ralph Faiella had two caused turnovers each. Tuttle led the Panthers with six ground balls, and Sciara and John English, who won 13 of the 26 face-offs he attempted had four each. John McGrath and Dj Mauro combined for 10 saves in the win, with McGrath making three stops in the first half and Mauro making seven in the second stanza.

The Pioneers grabbed a hold of the momentum early, taking a 2- 0 lead, just 3:39 into play. But the hosts settled down and found their rythmn, scoring the next four straight, a run that was started by a McAndrew tally with 9:38 on the clocked and ended by Tuttle, with 3:56. LIU-Post stopped the run at four, getting their third tally of the contest with 2:21 left in the first off the stick of Connor Drost.

Adelphi opened the second quarter with Tim Daly putting a ripple in the back of the net just 19 seconds in to play, thanks to a nice feed from Cutrone. LIU-Post would answer back again, pulling the margin back to just one goal, 5-4, but Bentz and Cutrone scored back-to-back, pushing the Panther advantage to 7-4 with 10:14 left in the second. The Pioneers responded by closing the half with two of the final three tallies, the second coming with just 54 ticks left to enter the half trailing by just two, 8-6.

The third quarter opened with Adelph grabbing the momentum, scoring three straight, taking what looked like a game clinching lead, 11-6 on Tuttle's second goal of the contest with 10:36 to play. However, the Pioneers answered the bell one more time, scoring four straight, a run that would end with 11:57 to play in the fourth, thanks to another Drost goal, this time making it a one goal contest, 11-10.

Fortunately for the Brown and Gold everytime the Pioneers put Adelphi to the test, they had an answer, this time in the form of Tuttle and Anthony DeLuca, who beat LIU-Post goalkeeper Adam Winnie, putting the hosts ahead, 13-10 with 3:58 to play. The Pioneers would put one more tally on the board, but could not overcome the three goal margin, falling 13-11.

Adelphi won the statistical battle as well, out shooting the Pioneers, 44-35, grabbing more ground balls, 31-30 and committing less turnovers, 18-22. 

The Panthers return to action on Saturday, March 14 traveling to Manchester, New Hampshire for a 1:00 pm contest against Northeast-10 opponent Saint Anselm College.