Adelphi beats Stonehill in women's lacrosse Div. II quarterfinal

Adelphi midfielder Kaitlyn Carter felt the butterflies in her stomach as Stonehill closed to within two goals in yesterday's quarterfinal of the NCAA Division II women's lacrosse tournament. The defending national champion Panthers had not expected another difficult game.

"I just got nervous. They started drawing closer,'' Carter said after her team's 15-10 win. "I'm like, 'I'm taking control of this.' "

Adelphi's 9-7 lead with 14:31 to play quickly turned into a four-goal cushion as Carter fired in two goals within 13 seconds. Carter struck again after the visitors from Massachusetts closed within 11-9 with 10:51 remaining.

The Adelphi victory set up a rematch with C.W. Post in next Saturday's Final Four at Gettysburg College (Pa). The winner will meet West Chester or Lock Haven in the title game next Sunday.

Adelphi (17-1) suffered its only loss in two seasons when Post visited two weeks ago. That was followed by Adelphi's dramatic overtime victory over Stonehill in the Northeast-10 final last week. The Panthers had spent most of the regular season pounding the opposition.

"It's been tough,'' Carter said. "It's really deflated the team's morale and we've started to second-guess ourselves. This week we were so pumped up. We're like, 'This is ours. Let's take what's ours. Let's defend what's ours.' ''

Coach Joe Spallina employed a different strategy by slowing down the offense in the first half. Adelphi took a 4-0 lead and led 8-4 at halftime.

"Usually, we just so quickly run it down the field and shoot, shoot,'' Carter said. "This time we gave it another look. Slow it down and wait for something to come.''

Adelphi's Marissa Mills had three of her four goals in the first half. Elizabeth Fey and Demmianne Cook joined Carter with three goals apiece.

Stonehill (13-4) was led by Sarah Galligan, who had five goals. Holbrook's Sam Lynott, who attended Sachem East, had two goals and an assist.

Spallina set the tone for mighty expectations.

"It hasn't been fun,'' he said of the recent spate of close games. "Our goals were set so high. I don't think this team expected to lose. All of a sudden last week, we had a barnburner against another big-time rival [Stonehill]. The goal this week was to get a little bit of our swagger back. I thought we dictated a lot of the play."

Fey believes the team has benefited from being tested. "A win is a win no matter what,'' she said. "If anything, this is preparing us for the Final Four, which is the ultimate goal. We've experienced everything. We've won big. We had it really close and we've lost. Now we know how to win.''

Spallina added, "Our goal from day one was to win a national championship. We're two wins away from doing that.''

With that in mind, Carter said, "I don't want to sound too cocky, but I think we are going to be playing next Sunday.''