North Andover, MA - The third seeded men's lacrosse team scored five straight goals in the first quarter, building a 7-3 lead and hung on for a 17-15 victory over second seeded Merrimack College in the Northeast-10 Semifinals on Friday, May 1. With the win, the Panthers improve to 14-2 overall and earn a spot in the Northeast-10 Championship on Sunday, while the Warriors slip to 12-2 and will await a NCAA Tournament berth.
Salvatore Tuttle led the Panthers with eight points on five goals and three assists, which give Tuttle a total of 205 points for his career, making him just the eighth member of the Brown and Gold to crack the 200 point mark. He is currently fourth on the Division II all-time points list, having just past Joe Vitale (202) and Wes Green (203). Tuttle is also fourth on the all-time goals list at 128, just 21 tallies back of all-time DIvision II leader Green at 149.
Tim Daly contributed five points to the win, courtesy of four goals and a helper.
Nick Susko turned in another strong performance, finding the back of the Merrimack goal three time and picking up an assist, as
Cory Stavis chipped in three points (1G, 2A) and both
Anthony DeLuca (2G) and
Connor Duddy (1G, 1A) had two.
Joe Giardina and Tuttle caused Adelphi's only turnovers, and
John English had another good outing at the face-off "X", winning 20 of his 35 attempts. English also grabbed a team-high nine ground balls, while Giardina and
Patrick Starke picked up five each.
DJ Mauro was credited with the win, making 15 stops, including six in the third quarter.
Daly got the Brown and Gold offense started early, beating Merrimack keeper Dom Madonna just 25 seconds in to the game. However, the hosts would score three of the next four goals, taking a 3-2 edge with 9:48 to play. Just 46 seconds later Tuttle put a ripple in the back of the Warrior goal, sparking a run of five straight Panther tallies that ended with Adelphi on top, 7-3 thanks to a DeLuca tally with 5:21 left in the first.
The next 20 minutes saw the hosts playing catch up and finally pulling to within one, 10-9, on a Tucker Schwartz goal with 2:47 left in the half. Less then a minute later Duddy took a feed from Daly and found some space around Madonna, giving the Brown and Gold some breathing room at the intermission, 11-9.
Merrimack kept pushing in the third quarter, scoring two of the first three goals to get back within one, 12-11 on a man-up tally four minutes into play. Back-to-back solo efforts from Tuttle pushed the Panther margin to three goals, 14-11 with 5:58 remaining in the third stanza. However, the Warrior offense would not relent, putting two more goals on the board to get back within one for the final time in the contest, 14-13 with 9:27 left in the contest.
Susko sandwiched two goals around another Tuttle effort, to out Adelphi out front by four, 17-13 and effectively close the door on the hosts with 7:10 left in the contest. The Warriors would get two more goals, but time ran out, giving the Panthers a 17-15 victory.
Adelphi will travel to Syracuse for a 1:00 pm meeting with LeMoyne on Sunday, May 3 in the Northeast-10 Championship. This is the Panthers fourth appearance in the Northeast-10 Championship since beginning play in the Northeast-10 in 2010, they have brought the title back to Garden City on two of their three previous appearances, most recently last spring with an overtime victory against Merrimack, 13-12. They last faced LeMoyne in the Champions on May 5, 2013 in Garden City, dropping a 7-5 decision.
