Garden City, N.Y. - In a 2021 Northeast-10 finals rematch, the second-seeded Adelphi University women's lacrosse team defended its home field against Bentley University in the quarterfinal round of the NE10 playoffs, resulting in an 8-6 decision on Wednesday afternoon. 

Christina McCabe led the way for the Panthers (16-1, 12-1) netting a hat trick while Emily Beier and Izzy Grant chipped in with two of their own. Netminder Emma Lemanski finished the contest with eight saves, limiting Bentley to six goals. The last time the Adelphi women's lacrosse team played Bentley in the playoffs resulted in a 9-8 loss in the 2021 NE10 Championship game. 

Beier struck first for the home team to net her 28th goal of the season. McCabe responded after to score two of her three goals in the opening quarter to outscore the visitors 3-1. The dominating offense continued in the second quarter for Adelphi, racking up three more goals and only allowing one to extend its lead to four heading into halftime. 

The third quarter started off strong with two more home goals to give Adelphi their largest lead of the game with six. Five caused turnovers including two from Kasey Flavin helped keep the Falcon's offense scoreless until late in the third quarter. After building a comfortable 8-2 lead, the Panthers gave up four unanswered goals over the remainder of the contest. 

In the fourth, the Falcons forced four turnovers as Cara McCarthy scored and assisted on two goals to cut the host-lead to two. Then a critical turnover from Lemanski, as well as a yellow card on Flavin, put the visiting team in prime position to score with less than a minute left. The oafter-timeout play from Bentley was not successful, allowing Adelphi to hold on to survive the final play from the Falcons. 

The Panthers will face the Dolphins of Le Moyne in the semifinal round on Saturday, May 7. A win for the top-seeded Skyhawks of Stonehill tonight will bring the final four to Easton, Mass. this weekend.