Lakeland, Fla. - With new rules officially in place for the 2018 season, the Adelphi University women's lacrosse team opened up at #2 Florida Southern Saturday afternoon.
Despite outscoring the Mocs (2-0) in the second half, the Panthers (0-1) open the season with a loss - for the first time in program history.
Kole Pollock and
Michele Scannell both ended the contest with four goals apiece, as Dani Bursinger led the home team with five of her own.
The home team got on the scoreboard first after three minutes of play, but back-to-back tallies from Pollock swung momentum in the Panthers' favor. The teams traded goals but at 3-3 Florida Southern rattled off three unanswered goals to double their lead.
Beth Ann Pierce joined in on the scoring, coupled with Pollock's hat trick goal to come within one of the hosts.
The Mocs put up three more goals in the opening frame to Adelphi's one to close out the first half with a 9-6 advantage. Florida Southern's Bursinger scored one of the next three goals out of the break to further extend their lead,
Chelsea Abreu stopped the drought with her first of the season at 24:58 in the second half. From there, Adelphi staged a feverish comeback that included career-first goals from
Lena Riportella and contributions from 2017 Northeast-10 Rookie of the Year,
Alison Johnson to bring the Brown and Gold within one.
With under two minutes to play and trailing by four, the Panthers once more registered three straight goals in a late effort, this time counting
Christina Ferrara's first collegiate goal and another from Riportella and Johnson each. Abreu grabbed her second draw control of the afternoon but three different shots for Adelphi didn't land, with Alanna Zambetti in goal for the Mocs grabbing the last save to finish with seven.
Adelphi split time in the cage between
Hailey Peterson and freshman
Emma Lemanski, who registered her first collegiate appearance to start the second half of play. In 30 minutes the rookie collected a career-high eight saves after facing 18 shots from the Mocs.
The women's lacrosse program returns to action on Tuesday, February 20 when they conclude their southern swing at Rollins College. The game is scheduled for 6:00 p.m.
About Adelphi Athletics
Adelphi University joined the Northeast-10 Conference in the fall of 2009, and in the past eight seasons, has collected 25 regular season conference titles, 26 tournament championships, 33 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.
