Salem, VA - The third quarter of the National semifinal proved to be the difference maker for Adelphi women's lacrosse as they took down Slippery Rock University on Thursday, 15-13 to return to the Division II title game. 

This trip to the Final Four marked the program's 17th appearance, as they return to the site of Head Coach Pat McCabe's first title with the Panthers - Donald J. Kerr Stadium at Roanoke College. 

In the first-ever meeting between the two teams, Adelphi lept out to a two-goal advantage but only finished up by one after the opening 15 minutes of action. The third-seeded Panthers outshot the Rock 11-5, despite the two-seed holding a 5-1 advantage in draw controls won. 

Both teams managed four goals apiece in the second, which could have been more if not for Lily Ventresca's six saves between the pipes. 

Halting a three-goal run that put the game momentum in favor of the Rock late in the second, the Panthers poured in six goals in the third frame, leaving their opponent scoreless over a 15 minute span. 

"I thought the third quarter was high energy - the difficulty there is the energy you need is without the ball - so our energy without the ball in the third quarter was much greater, presented alot of problems for them and we finished a lot of our shots," said McCabe. 

A pair of the third quarter tallies came in woman-up possessions - the first off a pass from Julia Foppiano that Payson Hedges finished by threading the needle past Rock netminder Ventresca. The second was an Alexandra Leggio to Marielle Colalillo connected that doubled Adelphi's score 12-6 with just under four minutes to play in the quarter. 

Up by seven heading into the fourth, some might say that the Panthers took their foot off the gas. Slippery Rock quickly found their sense of urgency, scoring three goals in 88 seconds. It turned into five unanswered goals to cut their deficit down to two. Grace Rotter, the reigning IWLCA Offensive Player of the Week was held scoreless through the first three quarters, but put back four in that stretch to help her team come within a pair of goals with over 10 minutes left to play in regulation. 

Rita Sefransky and Ashley Kolomechuk made sure that they weren't leaving the door open for Slippery Rock, posting a pair of goals - seven minutes apart - to stretch the lead back out to four. In that span, the Panthers still controlled the game, taking six shots and retaining possession.Taryn Burkholder's offense was not going down without a fight as they tagged two more before time expired. 

Defensively, the Brown and Gold saw five caused turnovers from Amanda Lee, as she also led the team with three ground balls. Sefransky and Sonny Lionetti each picked up five draw controls as Colalillo and Kolomechuk accounted for four goals apiece in the victory. 

This was Slippery Rock's first appearance in the Final Four as a program. 

Adelphi will now face off against the University of Tampa in a rematch of last year's title game. 

"All we ask is that they give us tomorrow, and they've done that."

Game time is set for 5:00 p.m. at Kerr Stadium. Watch all the action live on ncaa.com.