Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 5/23/10
From Press Releases
Fifth-ranked West Chester fell behind once again on Sunday afternoon. But, this time third-ranked Adelphi would not let the Golden Rams rally en route to a 17-7 victory in the NCAA Division II Women’s Lacrosse national championship game at Clark Field.
West Chester (19-2) ends its season in the national championship game for the eighth time in the last 10 years while Adelphi (18-1) wins its NCAA-best fourth Division II national championship. Adelphi, who also won the national title in 2009, became the first team to repeat as national champions since the DII tournament began in 2001.
Adelphi jumped out to a 7-2 lead by halftime, capitalizing on its free position attempts while holding West Chester to very few scoring opportunities. The Panthers were 2-for-3 off the free positions while the Golden Rams were 1-for-4.
Adelphi goalkeeper Caitlin Fitzpatrick made nine saves in the first half alone and finished the game with 14. West Chester’s MacKenzie O’Keefe (Downingtown East) finished with four.
The Golden Rams made their run with about 13 minutes remaining in the contest when they went on a 5-1 run to cut a 10-2 deficit to 11-7. Freshman Lauren Glassey (Henderson) was instrumental in the spurt, converting a pair of free positions for the Rams.
“You can never count this bunch out,” West Chester head coach Ginny Martino said. “I couldn’t be more proud of this group.”
“We have been the comeback kids all year long,” senior co-captain Lauren Tatios (West Chester East) added. “That has been our motto all year long.”
However, Adelphi answered with three unanswered tallies to open the lead back to seven, 14-7.
Glassey tallied a team-leading three goals for West Chester. Erin Oczkowski (Archbishop Wood) and Claire Grimwood each recorded two scores, and Shannon Hayes had one assist.
Adelphi had five different goal scorers, led by five tallies each from Kaitlyn Carter and Erica Devito. Devito added one assist to lead the Panthers with six points. Elizabeth Fey and Claire Petersen each registered four points, Fey on three goals and one assist while Petersen had four assists.
West Chester had three selections to the all-tournament team as Glassey, Grimwood and Oczkowski all made the squad.
NOTES: West Chester is now 11-6 all-time in the NCAA Tournament … this marks the eighth time in the last 10 years that the Golden Rams have reached the national title game … West Chester is 2-6 in the finals, winning titles in 2002 and 2008 … today’s national championship game was a rematch of the 2004 and 2006 title games, won by Adelphi both times … the Golden Rams are now 0-3 all-time against the Panthers with all three meetings coming in the championship game … seniors Nicole Haines (Great Valley), Tatios, Katy Crouse (Boyertown) and Gabrielle Stitz (Hatboro-Horsham) finish their careers with a four-year record of 72-7 overall, three national championship game appearances and one national title … Haines was held without a goal for the first time in 24 games and without a point for the first time in 29 games.
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