Garden City, N.Y. - With the score tied 2-2 early in the first half, the top-seeded Adelphi University women's lacrosse team scored 14 unanswered goals en route to a 16-4 victory against eighth-seeded St. Michael's College in the Northeast-10 Tournament Quarterfinals on Wednesday night.

A six-point (5G, 1 A) night from Alexa Froccaro helped the Panthers (16-1) advance to the semifinals, while Danielle Jaycox added three goals. Rachel Aitkens, Jacqueline Jahelka and Emily Keesling all added two goals in the victory. St. Michael's (6-9) got two goals by Steph Bonewald in their season-ender. 

The visiting Purple Knights converted on a free position opportunity just 3:40 into the game as Kate Boyer tallied her 23rd goal of the season to give the No. 8 seeds a 1-0 lead. The Panthers responded in due course just minutes later as Jaycox beat Purple Knights keeper Grace Gunning to tie things up at 1-1. 

Just 44 seconds later, Aitkens scored her first of the half off of a feed from O'Brien to take the lead at 2-1, but Steph Bonewald responded for the Purple Knights on another free position chance to knot things at 2-2. 

From that point, six Panthers scored six unanswered goals in the duration of the half to turn a 2-2 tie into an 8-2 lead at the break. The highlight of the run for Adelphi came at 7:59, when Froccaro sprinted down the field to score unassisted with Adelphi playing a man down due to a Keesling penalty. 

To start the second half, Keesling and Forccaro scored within seconds of each other in the first minute to put Adelphi on top, 10-2. Froccaro, Jahelka, Jaycox and Jill Graziano all scored for Adelphi in the ensuing minutes to take a 16-2 lead with less than five minutes to play. The Purple Knights tacked on two goals at the end of the game against Taylor Langston, but Adelphi's early cushion was strong enough to see them to a 16-4 win.

The Panthers will host the duration of the NE-10 Tournament this weekend, returning to action in an 11 am semifinal game against the winner of Stonehill and Bentley.