Michael Durnin, Braden Donnellan lead Adelphi to third straight Northeast 10 men's lacrosse championship

Muhammad Ali’s voice, loud and brash and strong and young, rumbled over the public address system.

“The champ is here!” the recording of the late boxing legend’s voice yelled as the Panthers bounded and danced their way onto Adelphi’s Motamed Field for the Northeast 10 men’s lacrosse championship game Saturday. “The champ is here!”

Yes. Yes, they were.

“It certainly doesn’t get old,” coach Gordon Purdie said after the Panthers lived up to Ali’s war cry by winning their third straight conference championship and the program’s seventh by routing Pace, 17-4.

Adelphi, the No. 1 team in the nation, will enter the NCAA Division II Tournament as the likely favorite to win the national championship.

The Panthers (16-0) have outscored opponents 269-98. Their average margin of victory is 10.7 goals.

“Going against each other every day, iron sharpens iron,” tournament MVP Braden Donnellan said. “When we get after it in practice, it makes these games just another day in the office.”

Michael Durnin finished with five goals and Donnellan had two goals and four assists. Adelphi goalie Christian Tomei made five saves on nine shots.

This game was a rematch of Adelphi’s 10-7 win in Pleasantville on April 14, and t

he top-seeded Panthers matched their offensive output from that contest in the first quarter. After the opening 15 minutes, Adelphi led 10-1. Durnin recorded a hat trick, Donnellan had two goals and three assists and Noah Gibson also scored two goals in the quarter.

Donnellan, the junior attacker from Massapequa (Plainedge High School), opened the scoring seven seconds into the game. Five minutes and six seconds later, Adelphi’s lead swelled to 5-1 on Gibson’s second goal.

Pace goaltender Jack Kern had come out of his net to retrieve a loose ball at the nearside post but misplayed it. Gibson picked up the ball and deposited his 50th goal of the season into an open net.

The Panthers chased Kern from the game with three minutes and 16 seconds left in the first quarter after he allowed Donnellan’s second of the quarter and 20th of the season. Kern was replaced by Hunter Wilcox, but by that point, Adelphi had strafed the senior from Great River (East Islip High School) for nine goals.

The goaltending switch did not materially change matters for Pace (12-5). Wilcox was greeted by Durnin’s third goal of the quarter with 18 seconds left.

Kern finished with three saves for the third-seeded Setters. Wilcox allowed eight goals on 14 shots.

Pace had punched its ticket to the championship game by coming back from a 6-2 third-quarter deficit against Saint Anselm for an 8-7 win on Wednesday in Manchester, New Hampshire. There was not going to be a second comeback in three days for the Setters. Adelphi made certain of that.

The only thing left to accomplish for the Panthers — who joined the Northeast 10 in 2009 — is to win the program’s third straight national championship and 10th overall.

“We’re ready to start going for the NCAAs now,” Donnellan said. “This group of guys is very well deserving of it.”