Marcus: Petersen's at home at Adelphi

Sophomore midfielder Claire Petersen switched her major and her athletic destiny when she transferred to Adelphi from Catholic University two years ago. Petersen wanted to become a physical education major. She has also majored in lacrosse since arriving on the Garden City campus, helping the Panthers to consecutive NCAA titles in Division II.

Petersen enters Saturday's national semifinal against Le Moyne as the Division's all-time single-season scorer with 171 points. Adelphi (18-0) has beaten Le Moyne (18-2) twice this season.

Petersen, a first team All-American, made the watch list for the Tewaaraton Award, emblematic of the top collegiate player in the nation. She played soccer, basketball and lacrosse at Wantagh High School and wanted to go away to college. Her first option was to play basketball but, she said, "I really missed playing lacrosse.''

Petersen e-mailed Adelphi coach Joe Spallina, who had seen Petersen play in high school and was anxious to have her join the program. "There's nothing lacrosse-wise this kid can't do,'' he said. "She's an amazing, amazing talent. Her stick skills are unparalleled. A lot of times when you are a great goal scorer you don't have the best vision. Often when you have the best vision you are not a great goal scorer. She's the best at both of those things.

"We have to be careful when her new teammates play with her,'' Spallina continued. "At any time the ball could be coming their way and be in their stick without them even knowing it. She's unbelievable. She's the best lacrosse player I've ever had the opportunity to coach. This kid gets better every day. She makes me say 'Wow' two, three, four, five times a practice.''

Petersen gets plenty of attention from the competition. "Teams are starting to faceguard me," she said. "It's definitely more of a challenge to get open and produce but my teammates still get me the ball and we have seven good legit players on offense.''

She was referring to Erica Devito (70 goals, 25 assists), Elizabeth Fey (55, 21), Devan Crimi (43, 25), Demianne Cook (41, 12), Kaitlyn Carter (38, 14), Marissa Mills (35, 14) and Meg Brown (19, 2).

Petersen undoubtedly could have played at the D-I level. Adelphi has scrimmaged Georgetown, Johns Hopkins and Massachusetts in the fall. "I don't think points-wise I would create as much,'' she said. "But I definitely think and hope that I would still compete and be a top player at the division I level. I hope to get better every day, every year. But I never thought I'd be where I am now.''

Post, Mercyhurt face off

C.W. Post (16-1) will host Mercyhurt (12-2) at noon Saturday in the men's D-II semifinals. Post won an early matchup, 4-3, thanks largely to the faceoff work of senior Ronnie Irving, who won six of 10 draws. Irving replaced Mike Cama, who became the best faceoff specialist in the country during his career at Post.

"I learned a lot from him,'' said Irving, who played two years at Nassau CC, "so I was confident going in to the season. He taught me to have a lot of lot of determination and confidence as well as technique. "It's like a wrestling match out there. You lose all your energy in that couple of seconds out there. When you do get off the field you are winded. A lot of people don't realize how tough that is.''

Coach John Jez said of Irving, "He definitely filled Mike Cama's shoes pretty well. He's probably one of the reasons our record is the way it is, with all the possessions he's been able to get us,'' referring to Irving's .670 percentage on faceoffs.

Post is going for its third straight national title and would face the winner of Adelphi-Limestone for the national championship. ``I think its going to be a very challenging game,'' Jez said. ``Last time we squeaked by. One bounce of the ball either way. Both teams are playing well right now. We have a good group of seniors; they know what's expected of them. It's nothing that they are not accustomed to doing. We reached our goal to get back to the playoff, now it's going to be up to those guys to complete the task.''

Player of the week

Maryland senior attack Ryan Young

The former All-Long Island star from Manhasset High School scored two goals and had three assists as the Terrapins beat North Carolina, 13-6, in a first round game of the NCAA Tournament. Young has 19 goals and 24 assists and leads the team in scoring with 43 points. He has 65 goals and 93 assists in his career.

NCAA quarterfinal pairings, analysis

Saturday at Hofstra

Cornell (14-2) vs. Virginia (10-5): Tewaaraton finalist Rob Pannell of Smithtown West (39,47) will put a close to Virginia's up and down season, made more difficult by the dismissal of Shamel Bratton and the suspension of his twin, Rhamel. Rhamel will not be activated for the game due to ``academic issues this week,'' coach Dom Starsia was quoted.

Johns Hopkins (13-2) vs. Denver (14-2): Denver has been a well-kept secret because of its geography. Bill Tierney's team has had a nice ride, but Hopkins' multitalented offense of Chris Boland (32,16), Zach Palmer (22,24), Kyle Wharton (31, 8) and John Ranagan (17,13 will be hard to contain.

Sunday at Foxboro

Syracuse (15-1) vs. Maryland (11-4) Maryland used a hidden ball trick in its first round victory over North Carolina, but it will take more than shenanigans to upset No. 1 Syracuse. The Orange, despite a sometimes-erratic offense, advances to the Final Four.

Duke (13-5) vs. Notre Dame (11-2): In what may be the best game of the weekend, former Hofstra coach John Danowski should guide defending national champion Duke back to the Final Four.

NCAA Tournament on Long Island

Saturday

NCAA men's Division I quarterfinals at Hofstra

Tickets (516 463-8499): Adults $20. Children, seniors $15.

Virginia-Cornell, noon.

Denver-Johns Hopkins, 2:30

NCAA's men's Division II semifinals

Mercyhurst at C.W. Post, noon.

NCAA women's Division II, III semifinals at Adelphi

Tickets (516 877-4000): Adults $12. Students, seniors $8. Children $5.

Le Moyne-Adelphi, 11 a.m.

Westchester-Limestone, 2 p.m.

Bowdoin-College of New Jersey, 5 p.m.

Cortland-Gettysburg, 8 p.m.

Sunday

Division II final, noon.

Division III final, noon.