North Andover, Mass. - Going into Saturday's Northeast-10 Conference and top-10 battle, no. 6 Adelphi men's lacrosse and no. 2 Merrimack College were vying for second place in the standings, as the regular season schedule is rapidly nearing its end.
In the final two minutes of regulation, the Warriors (12-1, 9-1 NE10) netted the gamewinner to seal the deal on a 10-9 victory on their home turf.
Michael Paccione scored his first career hat trick despite the loss for Adelphi (9-3, 8-2 NE10) as
John Arcidiacono and Nicolas Racaulbuto both put up a pair of goals.
Jack Thomann led the team defensively, causing three turnovers and collecting as many ground balls.
After one quarter of work, the teams were knotted at two-all, with tallies from Paccione and
Ian Kirby. Merrimack outscored the Panthers in the second however, putting up four and holding the visitors to two, to maintain a 6-4 lead at the half. Between the pipes
Brendan McDougal accounted for seven saves in the first half, ultimately ending with 11 in the defeat.
Adelphi's only advantageous quarter in regard to scoring was the third, scoring to and keeping the hosts to one, but another even set in the fourth still put the Brown and Gold back by one. After back-to-back man up possession goals for the Warriors, Racalbuto made it 9-all with under four minutes left in the contest with assists from
Michael Osmundsen and
Dylan Crossan.
Charlie Bertrand and Sean Black connected at 1:50 to take the lead and even after a successful face-off win for
Mark Andrejack and a saved shot from
James Hall, the Panthers fell short in North Ando
The men's lacrosse team is back at Motamed Field for their regular season finale on Saturday, April 28. Opening face-off is set for 1:00 p.m. Prior to the game, the program will honor eight members of the graduating class -
Nicholas Badaracco,
Matt Byrne,
Gerard Cunningham, John and
Louis Cuttitta,
Hunter Hayes,
Tyler Regnier and
Alex Schlosser.
About Adelphi Athletics
Adelphi University joined the Northeast-10 Conference in the fall of 2009, and in the past eight seasons, has collected 26 regular season conference titles, 28 tournament championships, 37 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.
