Garden City, N.Y. -
Rachel Colvin and
Molly Cuevas combined for the first goal just four minutes into the opening half, and the Adelphi University field hockey team never relinquished that lead en route to a 4-2 win over the Bellarmine University Knights on Motamed Field on Saturday afternoon.
Four different players scored for Adelphi (3-2) in the contest, as Colvin, Cuevas,
Jamie Ahrens and
Mary Plotas all contributed to the Panthers' offensive output. Cuevas led all players in opportunities as she took six of Adelphi's shots, while
Lena Pollich was responsible for the Brown and Gold's only assist on the day.
After a Cuevas shot was saved by Bellarmine keeper Alexandra Moro, Colvin fired the rebound into the back of the net to give Adelphi the early lead. Just 12 seconds later, Cuevas scored for herself on a breakaway off the restart, doubling the Adelphi lead to 2-0. Although the Panthers took five more shots in the ensuing time, the socre remained 2-0 until Ahrens got on the scoresheet unassisted to lengthen the lead to 3-0. However, with just five seconds left in the opening half, Bellarmine got one back as Alexis Van Wallaghen was awarded a penalty shot by the refrees, and successfully converted on her opportunity against
Amanda Gargiulo to make the score 3-1 at the half.
For the next 30 minutes, the two teams took just two shots combined -- as Pollich and Plotas both tested new Bellarmine keeper Sara Nicolas -- but she made the save both times to keep the Panthers off the board. However, in the 65th minutes, Adelphi again broke through as Plotas fired Pollich's pass through from the left side to give the Brown and Gold a 4-1 cushion. The Knights got their final goal of the day as time wound down, as Lillie Nitzken beat
Kelly Serrao off of a penalty corner to ensure that the game ended in Adelphi's favor, 4-2.
Adelphi took 16 shots overall to Bellarmine's five, and held a slim 3-2 advantage in penalty corners. On the day, the tandem of Moro and Nicolas made seven saves for the visitors while Adelphi's only save was credited to Gargiulo in the seventh minute.
The Panthers return to action on Wednesday, September 23rd when they travel to Stonehill College for their first Northeast-10 Conference game of the season at 7 pm.
