Garden City, N.Y. - The no. 5 Adelphi women's lacrosse team routed American International College in the regular season finale on Saturday afternoon, resulting in a 22-4 decision.
The Panthers complete the season with a 15-1 overall record and a 12-1 mark in league play. They finished tied with Stonehill College to earn a share of the Northeast-10 Conference regular season title. Today's victory caps off a 17-game win streak against AIC, dating back to their first meeting on Apr. 10 2003, in which the Panthers won 22-0.
Leading scorer in the win was Christina McCabe, who contributed five goals. Megan Keener matched her career-best with four and Gianna Bifulco tallied her own hat trick. In total, 11 different players for Adelphi scored to cap the regular season with a victory.
Keener came out eager to mark one on the board, as she got through the defense to make it 1-0 Adelphi within the first 30 seconds of the contest. Yellow Jackets Kathryn Moody answered with her own to even the score, which was the last time that occurred for the remainder of the game. The home team continued their scoring with a 7-1 run in the first quarter alone.
Moody again made her presence known, scoring early in the second frame to keep the game within five points. But the pressure of Adelphi's offense was too much for the visiting defense as they scored three unanswered goals in response. McCabe faced a man-down situation and still netted her 31st tally of the season. The Panthers ran the score up adding four before the half-time horn sounded.
The defensive pressure from Pat McCabe's team was felt in the second half. Goalkeeper Madison Marchetta entered between the pipes for Emma Lemanski in the second half, allowing the senior to depart with a thunderous applause from the crowd. Marchetta finished the game with three saves and no goals allowed. Four AIC turnovers as well as two fouls put them at a disadvantage through the third frame. Meanwhile the home team offense took advantage, out-scoring the Yellow Jackets, 5-0, to go into the final frame with a comfortable 20-4 lead.
The last 15 minutes of action highlighted some of McCabe's reserve players in the final regular season home game. Madison Pappas scored her first goal of the season, in her fourth game played. Fiona Rafferty also chipped in with one of her own to mark her third goal of the season. With no points allowed by the Adelphi defense, the clock ran to zero with the final score at 22-4.
The NE10 playoffs begin this Wednesday, May 4. Pat McCabe is seeking his fourth league title since 2015 after falling in a heartbreaker to Bentley a season ago.
