Garden City N.Y. - A dominating first half was all the second-seeded Adelphi University men's lacrosse program needed in the Northeast-10 Conference tournament semifinals, as they captured a 10-3 victory over no. 3 Pace University on Wednesday night. 

Six different players found the back of the cage in the win, with Michael Durnin leading the way with a hat trick. Between the pipes for the good guys, Dylan Renner allowed just three goals and collected 12 saves as his defense was responsible for 15 of Pace's 24 turnovers. 

Both teams came out slow, but once shots starting landing, the Cats were hard to stop. The Brown and Gold (13-1) got on the board first, as Ryan Bauco was first to beat the Setters keeper Jack Kern. A trio of goals in a two-minute span saw Adelphi leading by four after the opening quarter. Noah Gibson notched his 50th goal of the year, sending the packed house at Motamed into a frenzy. 

Like the first 15, the next quarter featured a slow burn with Adelphi eventually breaking it open. After Durnin found the back of the net, over eight minutes into the period, Bauco tallied his second score of the night. Shortly after, Ries Bower's pole goal finished off a dominating first half for the Brown and Gold. Both sides headed into the locker room, with the hosts leading 7-0.

Following nearly 35 minutes of stellar defense from the Cats, the Setters got on the board first in the second half. Durnin soon returned the favor, getting the tally right back for home team, and re-upping their advantage to seven. The score remained unchanged for the rest of the frame, with the Panthers controlling a seven goal lead, entering the final period.

The last quarter featured a pair of goals from each side, but with the game already too far out of reach, the Brown and Gold cruised to a controlling 10-3 win in the semifinal matchup.

Adelphi will return to action, on Saturday, May 3, as they will travel to Manchester, NH to face off against no.1 seed Saint Anselm. The much anticipated match up - a rematch of last year's tournament final and Adelphi's only loss this season - will be played at 1:00 p.m. at Grappone Stadium. The Hawks managed to steal an overtime victory from Bentley University on Wednesday night to appear in the program's fourth NE10 final.