Garden City, N.Y. - With the help of a team-leading five goals from Danielle Marino, the no. 3 Adelphi University women's lacrosse team took down no. 21 Saint Anselm College on Thursday, in its first top-25 matchup of the week, 15-8. 

Marino helped the Panthers (5-1, 2-0 NE10) maintain perfection against the Hawks, improving to 19-0 all-time, dating back to 2002 with a new career-high in scoring. 

Adelphi went down early in the opening frame, finding themselves in a two-goal deficit after four minutes. Turning it around, Kerrin Heuser netted the first of five Panther goals to gain a lead that would never be relinquished. In that stretch of five, Heuser capitalized on a man-up possession and scored a hat trick to make it 5-2. 

Saint Anselm scored twice to come within one, but Kelly-Ann McGrath and Marino each recorded a goal to close out the half up by two. 

In the third quarter, McGrath and Marielle Colalillo converted free-position attempts for two of the visitors six goals. The hosts found a way past Jillian McFadden at 6:30 in the third to trail by four, but Marino tallied the next three straight to extend the Panther lead to seven. 

Danielle Becker's caused turnover in the final frame returned possession to Adelphi and a yellow card allowed Head Coach Pat McCabe to call a timeout to draw up a play. The result was a Payson Hedges and Courtney Carollo connection to double the visiting team score with 11:37 left in regulation.

Saint A's scored once more but Tamia Lawson and Alexandra Leggio sealed the deal with their battery at 5:03. The hosts took six shots in the ensuing minutes as the clock was quickly counting down, and two were stopped by McFadden, who finished with five saves in the game. 

Heuser contributed three goals and a team-leading seven draw controls while Carollo accounted for five of Adelphi's 16 victories.

McCabe and the Panthers will remain on the road for their next opponent - #20 Bentley. Last time out, the Falcons defeated Adelphi in its 2023 regular season home game, 13-8. The Cats are 10-1 when playing in Waltham, with their only loss taking place in the 2021 NE10 title game.