Winter Park, Fla. - A chance at history fell short on Saturday afternoon as Adelphi University women's lacrosse suffered an 8-13 defeat in the Division II National Championship to the University of Tampa. 

In Adelphi's eleventh title game appearance, the team from the north had the opportunity to be the first Division II women's team to reach double-digit titles - instead, the Spartans of the south won their first title as a program.  

The Panthers (19-4) got out to a slow start, trailing by three after five minutes of action. Tampa's Sophi Wrisk was responsible for the Spartans hat trick as the defense struggled to get a stop. Marielle Colalillo broke the silence for the Cats breathing life into the offense and cutting the deficit to two at 7:28. While Adelphi was able to add two more before the frame expired, they traded goals with Tampa to still be down by as many at the conclusion of the opening quarter. 

A scoreless second quarter for the Brown and Gold came and went, while Tampa padded their side of the board with three more tallies. Despite three shots on goal - and five in the frame - Adelphi was unable to get by Alex Walling, who notched half of her saves in the second quarter. 

Adelphi was held without a goal for nearly 28 minutes, while the Spartans strung together five unanswered. 

It wasn't a matter of possession, as Courtney Carollo managed to finish with 11 draw control wins, helping Adelphi lead 15-8 in the statistic. An unfortunate amount of turnovers - 11- between the second and third quarters may have been the difference-maker as any offensive opportunity was squandered. 

Alexandra Leggio's goal in the third - the only one - marked her 100th career point as the Panthers tried to stage the comeback. A couple of transition goals saw Adelphi outscore the Spartans in the fourth, but there was not enough time to surmount the deficit. 

For their efforts, Leggio, Carollo and Kelly-Ann McGrath were named to the 2024 NCAA Division II All-Tournament Team. 

Head Coach Pat McCabe moves to 3-2 in title games, marking the program's sixth trip to the Final Four during his tenure.