Garden City, N.Y. -
Salvatore Tuttle clipped the wings of the high flying Hawks from Saint Anselm College (5-2, 3-2 NE-10), 3:03 into overtime, when he scored his fifth and final goal of the afternoon, securing a, 13-12 victory for the seventh ranked Adelphi University (8-2, 6-1 NE-10) men's lacrosse team.
Tuttle scored a game-high five goals, all in the final 35 minutes of play, including scoring Adelphi's final goal in regulation and the game winner in overtime. Both
Paul Bentz and
Gordon Purdie, Jr. added three points for the Panthers on identical lines of two goals and one assist, while
Luke Spitzer (1G, 1A),
Chris Racalbuto (2A),
Shane Deboer (1G, 1A) and
Tom Nuckel (1G, 1A) were credited with two points each.
Spitzer was the leader of the Adelphi defense, with a team-high four caused turnovers, teammates
Joe Giardina and
Cory Stavis forced the Hawks into two turnovers each.
John English dominated the face-off circle for Adelphi, winning 27 of his 30 attempts, and led the Panthers in ground balls with 17, while Nuckel and Stavis picked up five and four respectively.
John McGrath was credited with his eighth win of the season, making seven stops, while Saint Anselm's Lucas DeAngelo was saddled with the lose, despite making a game-high 15 saves.
The visitors opened the scoring, but the first half went Adelphi's way. The hosts led 4-2 after the first seven minutes of play, but the Hawk's Ben Warren scored unassisted with 39 seconds left in the first quarter to make it a one goal game heading into the second stanza.
The Brown and Gold responded with the first two tallies of the second quarter, on man-up efforts from Bentz and Purdie, Jr., making it a three goal game, 6-3 with 10:25 to play. Saint Anselm and Adelphi traded goals twice, the final tally coming off Tuttle's stick with just 1:20 left in the half, sending the contest into intermission with the Panthers comfortably on top, 8-5.
It appeared that the third quarter would mirror the second, with Adelphi scoring two straight out of the locker room, courtesy of Nuckel and Tuttle, giving the Panthers their largest lead of the game, 10-5 with 10:43 left in the third period. However, the visitors started to wrestle the momentum away from Adelphi, closing the quarter with a three goal spurt that ended with an Alex Pacitti tally with 2:27 left, pulling the visitors within two goals, 10-8 as the third stanza drew to a close.
The Hawk tide was momentarily stemmed off the stick of Tuttle when he put Adelphi on top by three goals, just 69 seconds into the final 15 minutes of action, 11-8. But, Saint Anselm mustered the energy for another three goal run, this time they tied the game for the first time when Brennan Quackenbush scored with 6:41 remaining in the contest, 11-11.
Some back and forth ensued, but ultimately Tuttle found himself with the ball at the four minute mark and was able to break free from his defender, who was face guarding him all afternoon, for his fourth goal of the contest, putting Adelphi on top, 12-11 with 3:53 left to play. It did not take long for Saint Anselm to mount a response. Mark Vitello beat McGrath, 45 seconds after Tuttle's tally, knotting the game at 12 and effectively sending it into overtime.
English opened the extra period by winning his 26th face-off clean and allowed Adephi to call a timeout. Nuckel resumed play with the ball in his stick and after some movement and a
Michael Osmundsen blocked shot, Tuttle shook free again and beat his defender with an outside roll, slotting the ball over DeAngelo's right shoulder for the game winner.
Adelphi returns to action on Saturday, April 9 when they welcome Franklin Pierce University to Motamed Field in Garden City for a 1:00 pm, Northeast-10 Conference game.
Notes:
- Including today, Adelphi is 6-0 in overtime games since the 2008 season. The last time the Panthers lost in overtime was April 5, 2008 against LIU-Post, 15-14.
- This is the second time this season that
John English has won 20 face-offs or more in a game. He went 20-21 against AIC on March 5.
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Salvatore Tuttle currently leads the Northeast-10 in every major offensive catetory, goals (38), assists (27) and points (65).
About Adelphi Athletics:
Adelphi University joined the Northeast-10 Conference in the Fall of 2009 and in the past six seasons has collected 16 regular season conference titles, 21 tournament championships, 27 individual crowns and captured the Northeast-10 President's Cup twice (2013 and 2014), while winning five NCAA Division II National Championships.
For the latest on Adelphi University Athletics, follow the Panthers at www.aupanthers.com or via social media on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Snapchat.
