Garden City, N.Y. - The Adelphi University women's lacrosse team only had a one-goal advantage heading into halftime of the Northeast-10 quarterfinal matchup with no. 8 Assumption College, but used a 14-2 second half en route to a 23-10 victory Wednesday afternoon to advance to the semifinals.
Lena Riportella put up a new career-high points and goals number, finishing with nine and seven, respectively, with five of her goals happening in the second half spree. She was followed closely by
Kole Pollock who collected six goals and two draw controls in the win.
Hailey Peterson earns the win after taking over with 12:36 left in the first half, down by two. She accounted for nine saves and only allowed two goals through the second frame.
Assumption (9-8) got two goals on the board in the early going, but tallies from Riportella and Pollock both netted goals to make it an even game. The teams went back and forth with two goals apiece as Pollock's two consecutive goals made it 6-6 with 9:07 still remaining in the first half.
Alison Johnson was kept quiet until a free position attempt made it's way past Kyra Goucher and gave the Panthers their first lead of the game.
Abreu scored the final goal of the first half to take a two-goal advantage, but soon after a tally from the Greyhounds' leading scorer Sarah Reilly made it a one-goal game once more.
Halftime was just what Adelphi (17-1) needed to regroup as a 10-1 run allowed them to shift into the driver's seat. Riportella started the scoring frenzy that erupted, but not before Reilly was able to tack on one more to stay within reach of the hosts. Six different players scored in a span of 15 minutes to push the quarterfinal into running clock. Kailyn Hart's goal at 10:35 halted the time, but not for long as the Panthers collected four more unanswered goals to close out the contest.
Goucher made six saves in the opening half to stifle the home team, but Adelphi managed 22 shots in the second, scoring 14 to secure the victory. The home team was able to hold the upper hand in draw controls and clear attempts after a pretty even opening 30 minutes.
With the win, the Panthers earn hosting rights for the NE10 final four, slated to begin Saturday, May 4. Semifinal action will commence at 11:00 a.m. with the second set of the doubleheader starting at 2:00 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 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.
