Bloomsburg, Pa. - The Adelphi University women's lacrosse team brought home its eighth national championship title Sunday afternoon with a 6-4 defeat of Florida Southern at Steph Pettit Stadium, on the campus of Bloomsburg University. For the graduating class, this was the fourth appearance in the title game and third title in four years.
Leading the way for Adelphi (21-1) was All-Tournament team member
Kate Beier, who finished the contest with four goals on six shots.
Beth Ann Pierce and
Jacqueline Jahelka, named tournament MVP, also registered lone goals in the win.
Beier got things started for the Panthers after five minutes of the opening frame, with a feed from
Kole Pollock. The Moccasins wasted no time and commanded action for a good part of the half, rattling off three goals in that time to jump out to a two-goal advantage. Shannon Gilfedder, also an All-Tournament team selection, was responsible for two of those goals and even converted in a man-up possession. Before the half was able to expire, Beier added her second of the game to bring the Brown and Gold within one of the Mocs courtesy of a pass from
Ryley Weber.
Coming out of the locker room, Adelphi was able to even the score on Beier's hat trick goal at 28:28. Pierce was a awarded a free position attempt just over a minute later which she converted after back-to-back fouls and an assessed yellow card to Florida Southern.
"I thought we would score more, but I did believe that we would give up very few [goals]," said Head Coach
Pat McCabe in the post-game press conference. "I knew it was this defense that was going to carry us -- they've carried us since I've been here and certainly this year. We had the ultimate confidence in this defensive group, and
Hailey Peterson in goal, that we were going to stand pretty tall. As the game wore on, when we found ourselves a little bit more offensively...we executed enough to go away with it. It was an effort that I'm very, very proud of."
"When we needed plays, again and again, it was the same -- it was
Kate Beier, it was
Ryley Weber, it was
Jen Graham, it was
Jacqueline Jahelka -- they've carried this program on their shoulders and they leave us in a very good place."
The defense came into play after Pierce's goal gave AU the lead as the Panther defense caused two turnovers before adding another goal at 13:29, this time as
Alison Johnson connected with Jahelka for her 72nd of the season. As the clock began to wind down, the home team moved the ball around netminder Taylor Gillis and the Moc defense. A late foul on Gillis set up an open-net free position attempt for Beier, which she buried to give her team a two-goal advantage with five minutes to play.
In total, the Panthers' defense caused 11 of Florida Southern's 17 turnovers, and limited the Mocs to just two shots in the second half. They also forced four failed clears for the Mocs (14-18) while remaining perfect on their own attempts down the other end (15-15).
"I marvel at how they play. I really do," McCabe said of his defense. "It's interesting to watch. When we play good teams, they play offense against us for a long time, because they want to do that and hold the ball. Part of it is by design, and part of it is they just can't get inside."
The Brown and Gold also kept Florida Southern without a shot goal from the 6:12 mark of the first half to the 7:29 mark of the second half —a stretch of 28 minutes and 43 seconds. In total, Florida Southern put just six shots on goal to Adelphi's 15. The senior Weber caused three turnovers in the win, with a pair of ground balls, while her sister
Shea Weber also scooped up two. Graham and
Kaitlyn Stackpole also caused two turnovers, as the latter scooped up a team-high five ground balls.
"[Our defense] is so intense in practice, it follows through to games," Beier said. "It showed today; they came up huge when we needed them to. We couldn't perform the way we wanted to on offense, and defense picked it up when we needed it."
On her performance in the last game of her collegiate career, Beier added: "I've been playing since I was a little girl, and this is it. You just have to play with everything you have. Our seniors, I do it for them."
A late offensive effort from Florida Southern saw Casey O'Brien fire past Peterson but a draw control win for
Alyssa Gillespie put the Panthers in control as regulation came to a close with Adelphi on the upper end of a 6-4 final decision.
NCAA Division II Women's Lacrosse All-Tournament Team
Nicole Delany – Le Moyne
Monica Sanna – Le Moyne
Sophie Buelow – Lindenwood
Morgan Judd – Lindenwood
Meghan O'Brien – Florida Southern
Shannon Gilfedder – Florida Southern
Dani Bursinger – Florida Southern
Kate Beier – Adelphi
Ryley Weber – Adelphi
Casey Zalewski – Adelphi
Hailey Peterson – Adelphi
MVP –
Jacqueline Jahelka – Adelphi
The Panthers finish the 2017 campaign at 21-1, with their only loss coming in the regular season. This is the eighth title for the program and the third in the last four years. This is the second title under the direction of Coach McCabe.
About Adelphi Athletics:
Adelphi University joined the Northeast-10 Conference in the fall of 2009 and in the past eight seasons, has collected 23 regular season conference titles, 25 tournament championships, 33 individual crowns and captured the Northeast-10 Presidents' Cup three times (2013, 2014, and 2016), while winning six NCAA Division II National Championships.
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