Adelphi women hold off Slippery Rock, play Tampa for national title Saturday
Adelphi's Marielle Colalillo drives to the goal in the opening quarter of the NCAA Division II women's lacrosse semifinal against Slippery Rock at Donald J. Kerr Stadium in Salem, Virginia, on Thursday. Credit: Sideline Media
No. 3 Adelphi booked its ticket to the NCAA DII national championship by defeating No. 2 Slippery Rock, 15-13, in the semifinal Thursday night at Virginia’s Roanoke College. The Panthers led by just one at halftime but powered through the third quarter with six consecutive goals. Manhasset’s Marielle Colalillo scored three of those goals, finishing with four goals and two assists.
“During halftime [coach Pat McCabe] told us that we had it, that we were just overthinking it,” midfielder Rita Sefransky said. “I think in the first half of the game we were just rushing it, and we were a little too excited, honestly, coming into the game.”
Adelphi will return to Donald J. Kerr Stadium at Roanoke College to face No. 1 Tampa (20-1) for the national championship game Saturday at 5 p.m.
Despite Adelphi (19-3) taking a commanding 13-6 lead into the fourth quarter, Slippery Rock managed to score five consecutive goals inside the first five minutes of the final period.
The response came from the stick of Sefransky, who cut inside to score off Plainedge graduate Julia Foppiano’s third assist of the game. Commack’s Ashley Kolomechuk added her fourth goal of the game with 2:23 left to maintain the lead.
“Grittiness and sticking with things is in their DNA,” McCabe said. “... We don’t always do it easy — in fact, we rarely do it easy — but they always find a way.”
Northport graduate Payson Hedges scored three goals, with the first being one to remember. Hedges scooped a difficult ground ball off Julia Foppiano’s shot before selling the hitch and slipping a shot past Slippery Rock’s Lily Ventresca, absorbing plenty of contact as she made her way to the turf.
The Adelphi women's lacrosse team defeated Slippery Rock, 15-13, on Thursday to return to the Division II national championship game for the second consecutive season..
It’ll take a similar effort to overcome Tampa on Saturday, and McCabe sounds ready for whatever the championship will bring.
“This group, I certainly wouldn’t bet against them,” McCabe said.
Michael Sicoli covers high school sports for Newsday. He graduated from Quinnipiac in 2022 and left with a master’s degree in sports journalism in 2023.
