Adelphi University Athletics

Garden City, N.Y. - The only thing hotter than the temperature on Saturday at Motamed Field was the no.1 Adelphi University men's lacrosse team, who defeated Molloy University 19-4, in the NCAA Division II Semifinal, and will return to the National Championship for the third consecutive season. 

Series History: 

• Adelphi is 12-3 all-time against Molloy, winning the last seven consecutive. 

Highlights: 

• Braden Donnellan was the ultimate playmaker, finding his teammates seven times to finish with a team-leading seven points. 
• Michael Durnin was the lead goal-scorer, collecting five goals for the fifth time this season. Also scoring hat tricks were Danny Fisenne and Noah Gibson, as Carter Linkletter also had a trio of points with one goal and two assists. 
• William Greaves finished 15-for-20 at X with 11 ground balls. 

How It Happened: 

• The home team used a pair of pole goals from Ries Bower and Linkletter to get the ball rolling in the semifinal matchup, scoring within 10 seconds of each other. 
• Christian Tomei recorded back to back saves following the second Panther strike to keep the Lions off the board. Gibson added his first of the game less than 20 seconds later to make it 3-0 Adelphi. The next sequence for Molloy featured a stop from Tomei that is Sportscenter worthy, as he finished with three saves in the first en route to 15 for the contest. 
• Adelphi added another two with under a minute to go to make it 5-0 after the first. 
• The Molloy defense had no answers as the Panther attack continued to roll, adding another five before the halftime break. 
• Regrouping, the Lions came out and scored the first of the third within the opening minute, but Donnellan to Durnin stretched it back out to a 10-goal lead two minutes later. 
• Almost 10 minutes went by before AU found the back of the cage again, when Fisenne scored unassisted. In the final seconds of the quarter, Molloy managed to squeak in their second to make it 13-2, in favor of the hosts. 
• After trading goals in the early going of the fourth, Kyle Lewis sparked a four goal spurt, that included man-up tallies from Durnin and Gibson and capped with a strike from Vincent McCabe. 
• Molloy's final goal of the 2026 season came following a penalty on Brian Doherty, but the damage was already done. 

Up Next: 

• Adelphi will rematch the University of Tampa on Sunday, May 24 when they take on the Spartans for the second consecutive season in the title game. The Spartans make the trip following a 12-7 win over Anderson in the South Region. Game time is set for 4:00 p.m. 

Postgame Press Conference: