Kyle Lewis leads Adelphi men's lacrosse past Pace, into Division II semifinals
Kyle Lewis of Adelphi reacts after scoring during an NCAA Division II men's lacrosse quarterfinal against Pace in Garden City on Tuesday, May 13, 2026. Credit: Peter Frutkoff
The last time Adelphi played Pace, the Panthers scored 17 goals and ran away with the Northeast 10 men’s lacrosse championship. In that game, Kyle Lewis, Adelphi’s first team All-American midfielder, didn’t manage a single point. No goals, no assists.
When Adelphi faced Pace again Wednesday, in the NCAA Division II quarterfinal, Lewis denied he was feeling the need to put some numbers on the board.
“Not really,’’ Lewis said. “I don’t really try to alter my play off the stat sheet. I think I just go out there and play my best game of lacrosse. I knew (Pace) were going to slide quick, so I think my job is to draw that double(-team) and move the ball to the other five playmakers that we have.’’
Uh huh. On Wednesday, Lewis played like a man with a point to prove. He fired off a team-high 10 shots, scored two goals, and added two assists to help the Panthers dispatch their NE 10 rivals, 12-5, and set up an all-Long Island semifinal Sunday against Molloy, which beat St. Michael’s College, 12-7. The winner of Sunday’s game will advance to the Division II championship game in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Memorial Day Weekend.
Adelphi coach Gordon Purdie said even though Lewis, a fourth-round pick in the Premier Lacrosse League draft by the Philadelphia Waterdogs, didn’t score in the previous game, his very presence was helping create goals for Adelphi.
“He was amazing with picking up a double-team and creating an uneven situation on the back side of the goal,’’ Purdie said. “And if you have a look at how many goals were scored (that game) where he had . . . two guys on him. It really gave us a man up (opportunity) throughout the game. And we sort of knew that was coming today. Even though he may have had two (goals) and two (assists), I think if you look at how many goals Kyle created, it's a lot more than the four that you just see.’’
To Purdie’s point, there was one play in the third quarter Wednesday where Lewis’ defender wrapped his stick around his neck, prompting the referee to throw a flag for a holding penalty. Lewis slipped out of the hold, moved the ball, and Adelphi scored on the delayed penalty.
There was another play in the fourth quarter when Lewis fired a shot off the run that was saved by Pace goalie Jack Kern (of Great River, and East Islip High School). The shot produced a rebound that was whacked in, hockey style, by Vincent McDermott (Massapequa). That would have been an assist in a hockey game.
Lewis, the NE 10 Player of the Year and a two-time first-team All-American, was the only Division II player to be included on the preseason Tewaaraton Watch List. He was captain and MVP of both the football and lacrosse teams at Carey High School and was a Newsday All-County selection in football. The list of honors he’s won is long.
And he has a chance to add to it. If the Panthers can beat Molloy and get to the NCAA final, they’ll have a chance to be the first team ever to win three straight Division II national titles. And Lewis, who scored the game-winning goal in overtime in last year’s championship, will have been a huge part of all three.
But he’s not thinking about that right now.
“It'd be great,’’ he said. “But we can't look too far ahead. We earned another four days to practice together and we kind of have to take it day by day. So we're looking forward to tomorrow's practice because, you know, we can't look to May 24 when we have to prep for Molloy on Sunday.’’
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
