Adelphi's season of perfection

During Final Four weekend, it was suggested that winning the NCAA title could get to be ho-hum for the women's lacrosse team at Adelphi. After all, the Panthers have won three straight and were 20-0 this season.

Coach Joe Spallina never will subscribe to that theory.

"Achieving perfection with this team is tremendously satisfying,'' he said. "It is something we spoke about from day one -- a committment to perfection. We didn't want to just win; we wanted to be the best D-II team of all time. Some people stated that being in the Final Four and winning was old news to Adelphi.

"Let's get something straight: We embrace and enjoy the entire Final Four experience and winning national championships will never, ever be old news for us. We started preparing for next year's the day after this year's.''

Four-peat's sake, with five first-team All-Americans returning, 2012 could yield the same result.

The 2011 championship roll call:

D Courtney Acker, Jr., Bayport-Blue Point. Picked up seven ground balls and caused seven turnovers this season. Part of defensive unit that allowed only 119 goals.

D Nicole Bass, Sr., Commack. Played on three national championship teams in her career. Had four goals, an assist, nine ground balls and caused five turnovers.

M Meg Brown, Soph., Lindenhurst. Totaled 22 goals. Had three, three-goals games. Also led the team in ground balls with 49 and caused seven turnovers.

M Arielle Burke, Jr., Milton Wright (Md.). Saw action in seven games and picked up three ground balls.

A Joanie Buczkowski, Soph., Farmingdale. Contributed in seven games, scoring her loan goal against Philadelphia University. Also picked up six ground balls.

G Frankie Caridi, Fr., Commack. Terrific first year with 5.91 goals against average. First team All-American was also named NE-10 goalkeeper of the year.

M Kaitlyn Carter, Sr., Mineola. Scored 38 goals this season; ended her career with 169 goals and 64 assists for 233 points.

A Michelle Ceraso, Sr., Kellenberg. Valued member of the squad who missed the season because of injury. Scored 133 goals in her career.

D Katelynn Ciaci, Soph., Northport. First team All-American and NE-10 defensive player of the year. Picked up 35 ground balls and caused 35 turnovers, including a career high eight against Stonehill.

M Demmianne Cook, Soph., Smithtown East. First team All-American had 45 goals and 12 assists. Has 98 career ground balls.

A Devan Crimi, Fr., West Islip. Finished fourth on the team with 73 points. Had two seven-point games, scoring five goals and adding two assists against Philadelphia and four goals and three assists against St. Anslem.

G Jordann Dempsey, Fr., Hereford (Md.). Appeared in one game and took one shot on goal in her first season for the national champs.

A Erica Devito, Jr., Shoreham-Wading River. First-team All-American who led the Panthers with an astounding 77 goals and amassed 106 points for the season. Third on the team's all-time list for points (277) and goals (207).

M Elizabeth Fey, Sr., Kings Park. First-team All-Amertican. Multi-faceted player scored 63 goals and added 22 assists. Also had 83 draw controls. Hopes to be graduate assistant coach next season.

A Tara Gangarossa, Jr. Farmingdale. Made 19 starts, picking up 24 ground balls and causing 18 turnovers.

M Laura Hedges, Fr., Longwood. Totaled four goals -- on four shots -- in four consecutive games.

M/D Stefani Jackson, Fr., West Islip. Made 10 appearances in her first season, scoring two goals and assisting on two others. Also had eight ground balls.

D Kristin Jones, Sr., St. Anthony's. Scooped up 41 ground balls and caused 20 turnovers. All NE-10 Conference selection.

A Alaina Lamont, Fr., Perry Hall (Md.). First-year player logged eight games. Also played basketball and field hockey in high school.

M Emily Mercier, Fr., Rocky Point. Made 14 appearances and totaled seven goals and two assists.

M Marissa Mills, Jr., Islip. Scored 40 goals and added 20 assists. Made all-NE-10 team.

M Claire Petersen, Jr., Wantagh First-team All-American and NE-10 player of the year, generally regarded as best D-II player in the nation. Set NCAA records for points (182) and assists (125) in a season. Most outstanding player of the Final Four. What will she do for an encore in her senior year?

G Jennifer Rojas, Fr. Hewlett. Nice backup work in the net with 51:54 minutes in seven games. Allowed six goals.

A Sara Sangiorgio, Soph., West Islip. Scored eight goals, including three against Assumption, in 13 games.

A Alison Staudt, Jr., Rocky Point. Former top racewalker in high school, Staudt scored five goals and added four assists. She scored twice against Assumption.

D Mariel Wenzel, Sr., St. John the Baptist. Collected 13 ground balls and scored one goal. Also played for three national championship teams.

D Lindsay Whitfield, Jr., MacArthur. A three-time member of the national champions, Whitfield played in seven games and scooped up three ground balls.

D Jacqueline Williams, Fr., Holy Trinity. Member of the NE-10 All-rookie team. Picked up 44 ground balls and caused 35 turnovers.

Coach Joe Spallina. He is 73-2 in four seasons after going 87-9 at Rocky Point High School, where his team won three Suffolk titles in his 10 seasons. Is he Division I-bound?

Assistant coaches: Caitlin Defliese, Alexis Curcio, John Geagan.

Game of the year

Adelphi beat upstate Le Moyne, 11-9, in a snowstorm in what turned out to be the closest game of the season for the undefeated Panthers. Elizabeth Fey scored four goals. "You are playing with your stick completely iced over,'' Fey said at the time. " Snow in your face. It was insane.''