Adelphi University Athletics

Garden City, N.Y. - In its third matchup this season, the top-seeded Adelphi University women's lacrosse team fell quiet in the second half to ultimately fall 12-16 to no. 2 Pace University in the NCAA Quarterfinals. 

Series History:

• Saturday marked the third meeting in 2026 between the two teams, with Adelphi earning one regular season win and the Northeast 10 Conference Championship crown. 
• The teams have met 20 times since the 2015 season, including in the NCAA Quarterfinals each of the last four seasons. 

Highlights: 

• Payson Hedges returned to action and put up a team-leading four goals, scoring the first and last of the contest. Also finishing with four points was Julia Foppiano, who had one goal and a trio of assists. 
• Rory Meehan was all over the ball, winning eight draw controls, collecting four ground balls, causing one turnover and scoring once for the Cats. 
• Rita Sefransky finished her last career contest with seven draw control victories, two goals, one assist and one ground ball. Adelphi managed to win at the draw, holding a 17-13 edge for the game. 

How It Happened:

• Adelphi's slow start got the best of them as Pace (16-5) jumped out to a 4-1 lead on their way to a 7-3 advantage after the opening frame. 
• Sefransky tallied a woman-up goal to kick off the start of the second quarter, after the hosts maintained possession from the first. Her goal sparked three straight to cut the Panther deficit to one. 
• Later in the quarter, Emma Mclam netted the equalizer to make it nine-all, but Pace's Lia Villari got the last word to hold a one-goal lead at the break. 
• Coming out of halftime, Sefransky again recorded a woman-up goal,to knot the game at 10 and Alexandra Leggio gave Adelphi it's second lead of the game two minutes later. 
• The momentum was quickly lost for Adelphi as Pace rattled off five consecutive goals - stretching into the next frame - to take the lead for good. The Panther offense went cold in the fourth as the Setters continued to light up their side of the scoreboard. 

Up Next: 

• The Panthers conclude the 2026 season as the NE10 Champions and in the Elight Eight with a 14-5 overall record. They highlighted the year with a 14-game win streak after opening the season 0-4. 

Hear from Coach McCabe: