Mansfield, Mass. — For the first time since 2017, Brooke DeRosa's Adelphi women's soccer squad has been named the No. 1 seed in the NE10 Championship.
The Panthers have had some success in the tournament the last two years but could not get past Saint Rose as they fell in the championship to the Golden Knights both years. Adelphi managed to break through in the NCAA tournament in 2023, however, as they finally slayed the Saint Rose dragon en route to an East Region championship and a final four appearance.
DeRosa's squad has built off their success from the year prior, finishing the 2024 regular season campaign with a 11-2, 9-1 NE10 record while and being ranked the No. 11 team in the country as well as the No. 1 team in the east region.
The Brown and Gold come into the conference tournament hot as they were able to pull off comeback victories against both Pace and nationally ranked SNHU in the past five days.
Adelphi's offense this season was a complete team effort, being driven by Gia Mandile, Kayleigh Goodrich, Carly Issing and former NE10 player of the year Madison Apicella. These four have combined for 25 of the team's 28 goals as well as 62 of the team's 80 points.
Goodrich was in a tie for the conference lead in assists with seven while also being ranked in the top ten for goals along with Mandile and Apicella.
Issing, Mandile and Apicella all ranked in the top two for game-winning goals with three each.
The defense, led by goalkeeper Peyton DeRouen, has been stout, only allowing 12 goals in 13 games played. Isabella Banellis, Julianna Violi, Sarah Winnegar and Micaella Romagno have put together one of the best backlines in the NE10.
Adelphi will play host to No. 8 Southern Connecticut State on Sunday at 1 p.m. when the Owls come to Motamed Field. The Panthers took care of business in the prior matchup when Issing scored the game-winner in a 1-0 victory on Sep. 21.
The 'Cats are 8-6-5 all-time against SCSU, going 2-0-2 in the last two matchups.
The winner will take on either No. 4 Bentley or No. 5 Saint Michael's on Thursday, Nov. 14.
All matches can be streamed on FloCollege.
2024 Women's Soccer NE10 Championship
Sunday, November 10th
Quarterfinals – at Higher Seeds
Match 1: #8 SCSU at #1 Adelphi (1:00 PM)
Match 2: #7 Assumption at #2 Franklin Pierce (2:00 PM)
Match 3: #6 Saint Anselm at #3 SNHU (4:00 PM)
Match 4: #5 Saint Michael's at #4 Bentley (1:00 PM)
Thursday, November 14th
Semifinals - at Higher Seeds
Match 5: Match 1 winner vs. Match 4 winner – Time TBD
Match 6: Match 2 winner vs. Match 3 – Time TBD
Sunday, November 17th
Championship – at Higher Seed
Match 7: Match 5 Winner vs. Match 6 Winner – Time TBD
