Melbourne, Fla. -- After a 5-2 halftime lead became an 8-5 fourth quarter deficit, the No. 8 Adelphi University men's lacrosse team turned it on, scoring the last five goals of the contest to secure a season-opening victory from Florida Tech, 10-8.

Nicolas Racalbuto had a stellar first collegiate game for Adelphi (1-0) with a team-high four goals on six shots, while Michael Osmundsen scored a hattrick with an assist to account for seven of Adelphi's 10 tallies. Also scoring was Chris Racalbuto, Gordon Purdie, Jr. and Shane deBoer, with all three dishing off an assist and deBoer chipping in four ground balls and a caused turnover. Brendan McDougal made a career-high 12 saves in net for the Panthers, while Mark Andrejack won 11-19 face-offs. Nate Menninger was the lone player to score more than once for Florida Tech (1-1), netting a pair of goals.

In a game of scoring streaks, the host Panthers scored first, as Tyler Covey beat McDougal off a Logan Sweeney assist just 2:15 into the contest to open proceedings. From there, however, Adelphi ran off five straight goals over a quarter and a half, with the Racalbuto brothers combining for the tally that tied things at 1-1 with Nicolas scoring and Chris assisting just under two minutes later. Ian Kirby helped facilitate the action from there, picking up assists on Adelphi's second and fourth goals, by Osmundsen and the freshman Racalbuto respectively, while the senior Racalbuto and deBoer scored in-between to make it a 5-1 game.

The hosts' momentum continued well into the second half, as they scored the only three goals of the first and a trio to begin the fourth to take an 8-5 lead. In that time, Florida Tech keeper Flock made six of his nine saves, to keep the Panthers off the board, but the relentless pressure of Adelphi increasing its total shot output in the second half (11-18) began to take its toll, and Purdie, Jr. registered Adelphi's first goal since the early minutes of the second with 9:39 on the clock to make it 8-6 in favor of Florida Tech. 

From there, the floodgates opened, as the Brown and Gold registered three goals in just 28 seconds to tie the game as 8-8, as Andrejack ensured Adelphi possession after possession by winning a trio of face-offs in that time. A penalty on Florida Tech later gave Adelphi a man-up opportunity with 7:12 on the clock, which Osmundsen duly converted on off the assist from deBoer to reclaim the lead, and the freshman Racalbuto capped off the contest with his fourth and final tally off the Purdie, Jr. assist with 4:34 to play. To his credit, McDougal made a pair of saves in the final minutes to ensure the hosts' comeback attempt fell short.

The Panthers close out their two-game Florida swing with an 11 AM contest against Lynn University in Boca Raton on Saturday, Feb. 18.

NOTES
- Adelphi won its season-opener for the fifth time in the past six seasons.
- The Panthers faced off against Florida Tech for the first time in either team's history.

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About Adelphi Athletics:
Adelphi University joined the Northeast-10 Conference in the fall of 2009 and in the past seven seasons, has collected 20 regular season conference titles, 24 tournament championships, 29 individual crowns and captured the Northeast-10 Presidents' Cup three times (2013, 2014, and 2016), while winning five NCAA Division II National Championships.

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