Garden City, N.Y - History has been made on Motamed Field as the Adelphi University field hockey team defeated Pace in a defensive battle by a score of 2-1 to claim it's first Northeast-10 Championship on a windy and cold Sunday afternoon.

Named to the All-Championship Team for the Cats were senior Giana McKeough, junior Kylie Peregoy and graduate student Kaylee Deleva who was also named the Most Valuable Player for the tournament. The Setters honored included Krista Dietz and Kate Demars..

For the second year in a row, McKeough captured the Elite 24 award for her a 4.00 grade-point-average, which stood as the highest GPA of the two finalist teams.

The two teams last played each other on Nov. 9 when the Setters won in a goal scoring fest by a score of 5-2.

The Panther offense tallied four shots before connecting on a penalty corner setup where McKeough found Deleva for her 17th goal of the season to give the Cats the early lead. The remaining of the first period was an offensive struggle for both sides - while the second quarter wasn't any different. Neither team could find an opening to put a goal through into the back of the cage thanks to some remarkable saves from the Setters' Alina Buerger and Adelphi's Mirthe Karstens. 

As the second half went on, the Brown and Gold looked to score an insurance goal right away. However, the Setters' defense denied each attempt until the 35:29 mark. Deleva notched her second of the game off a pass that was outside of the half circle from Peregoy to put the Panthers up 2-0. Pace (13-8) cut into the deficit off a penalty corner to trail by one going into the fourth quarter.

The emotions were running high as time was ticking down in regulation. Emiline Biggin was called for a foul which led to a yellow card with over eight minutes to go. Adelphi used the time wisely as they were down a player by not allowing a shot in the whole duration to prevent the Setters from tying up the game as well as ending the quarter with the Cats celebrating their victory on the field. 

The Panthers turn their attention to tomorrow's Selection Show at 3 p.m. The NCAA DII Field Hockey Championships are set to begin on Sunday, Nov. 27 with first round games.