Garden City, N.Y. - Trailing 2-0 at the half, the Adelphi University women's soccer team drew level with a pair of second-half goals to draw with non-conference rival University of Bridgeport on Tuesday night on Motamed Field.
The Panthers (7-1-1) and Purple Knights (4-3-1) faced off in the NCAA Division II East Regional final in two of the past three years, and also played a overtime contest last season, won by Adelphi on a game-winning goal by
Alexsis Weiser.
On Tuesday night, it was a trio of underclassmen in
Mia York and
Jacklyn Lada who helped Adelphi to the tie, as each scored in the second 45 minutes, while rookie goalkeeper
Sarah Hofmeier recorded a career-high 10 saves across 110 minutes.
Bridgeport got off the mark quickly, as Nara DeCosta scored her first of two for the game just 91 seconds into the first half. The junior followed up a rebound, which went off the fingertips of Hofmeier, into the Adelphi goal to quickly put the home team behind, and scored again in the 37th minute to double the advantage.
Both teams doubled their offensive output in the second half, and despite seven saves by Bridgeport's Jennifer Wendelius in the half, Adelphi scored twice. Off a free kick in the 56th minute, the ball bounced around in the box before deflecting off a Bridgeport defended to York's head to break the ice.
Nearly seven minutes later, Lada fired true from the top of the box off a pass from
Michelle Wienecke for the equalizer.
A physical contest saw 31 combined team fouls and three yellow cards, but there was little to separate the two teams otherwise: Adelphi led 21-20 in shots, but both teams tallied 12 shots on goal and each keeper tallied 10 saves.
Adelphi next hits the road for a 4 p.m. Northeast-10 Conference contest at Southern New Hampshire University on Saturday, Oct. 6.
About Adelphi Athletics
Adelphi University joined the Northeast-10 Conference in the fall of 2009, and in the past eight seasons, has collected 27 regular season conference titles, 29 tournament championships, 41 individual crowns and captured the Northeast-10 Presidents' Cup four times (2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017), while winning six 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.
