Garden City, N.Y. - Holding a 4-3 lead at halftime but faced with relentless defensive pressure from the New Haven Chargers, the Adelphi University women's lacrosse team scored just once in the second half en route to being upset 10-5 by the eighth-ranked visitors on a rainy afternoon on Motamed Field.

While the Panthers outshot the Chargers 30-18 over the course of the game, 14 saves by Charger keeper Alyssa Gianotti proved to be the key statistic for the visitors in the upset victory. Adelphi (14-1, 11-1 NE-10) got three goals from Rachel O'Brien in the first half, while Kathryn Campbell and Caitlin O'Brien each net three for the Chargers (13-2, 10-2 NE-10).

With the loss, Adelphi suffers its first defeat in nearly two calendar years, with its last loss coming at the hands of LIU-Post, 7-6, in the Final Four of the 2013 NCAA Championship on May 18, 2013. The Brown and Gold also lost at home for the first time since April 28, 2012, when the very same Pioneers came to Motamed Field and came away with a 13-11 overtime victory to close out the regular season that year.

O'Brien scored for Adelphi just over two mintues into the contest to put the home team up 1-0, before the contest was delayed for 45 minutes due to lightning and inclement weather in the area. Upon resumption, the Panthers added two more tallies off the stick of O'Brien and Danielle Jaycox to move ahead 3-0 with 24:06 left in the half.

The Chargers kept the pressure on, however, and began to chip away beginning with Caitlin O'Brien's first tally less than a minute later. The Chargers pulled the deficit to one goal, 4-3, before it seemed as though Jaycox had recorded her second tally of the game to restore Adelphi's two-goal lead. However, the goal was disallowed due to an illegal stick, and with neither team scoring inside the final eight minutes, Adelphi took a slim 4-3 lead into the break.

The Blue and Gold came out hot in the second half, as Caitlin O'Brien netted the equalizer less than three minutes in, and she, Nicole Bellinger and Ashley Travis combined for another four goals to put New Haven ahead, 8-4, at the midway point of the second half. With time in Adelphi's favor, they were unable to score past Gianotti in net as she recorded eight of her saves in the second half. After Gianotti was called on a foul and forced to leave the cage, however, Michele Scannell converted on a free position opportunity on the open net to close the gap to three with 14:36 to play.

From there, the Panthers would get no closer, and despite scooping up more ground balls (21 to 14), committing less turnovers (12 to 22) and holding a slim advantage in draw control (9 to 8), 18 second-half fouls to just eight for New Haven proved to be the difference down the stretch. In the final four minutes, Campbell added another two unasssisted scores to end her day with five points, and put the finishing touches on the Chargers' 10-5 win.

The Panthers will look to bounce back on Saturday, April 25, when they travel to Syracuse to face off against the Dolphins of Le Moyne College in a critical NE-10 and regional matchup. The regular season finale is scheduled for 12 pm.