Waltham, Mass. – The Bentley University women's lacrosse team claimed the first Northeast-10 Conference title in program history on Sunday with a 9-8 victory over Adelphi University.

The Falcons defense stifled the Adelphi attack all game, while the offense came up with clutch goals in the second half. A 4-0 run by Bentley midway through the second half gave them an 8-6 lead, and they came up with big stops down the stretch to secure the win.

The win caps a run through the NE10 playoffs that saw Bentley enter as the No. 1 seed in the Northeast Division. They defeated Assumption 10-9 in overtime in the division semis on Monday and then knocked off the No. 2 seed Saint Anselm in the division finals on Thursday night.

Adelphi, the No. 3 seed in the Southwest Division and ranked No. 11 in Division II, was the last team standing in the way. But the Falcons came up big to claim the 2021 NE10 championship.

Bentley led 2-0 in the early going after goals by Julia Glavin (Ipswich, Mass./Ipswich) and Christine Fish (Slingerlands, N.Y./Guilderland). The defense held Adelphi, which came into the game averaging more than 14 goals per game, scoreless through the first 16-plus minutes.

Adelphi though did come alive over the final 13-plus minutes of the half with four goals to take a 4-2 lead at halftime.

Bentley though started the second half quickly. Goals by Glenna Gies (Madison, Conn./Daniel Hand) and Glavin from a free-position after just over a minute of play in the second half tied the game 4-4.

The Panthers bounced back and took a 6-4 lead after consecutive goals by Alyssa Gillespie at 25:36 and Kole Pollock at 19:46.

After Pollock's goal, however, Bentley did not allow another goal for more than 11 minutes. And it was during this stretch that they went on a 4-0 run to claim the lead that they would not relinquish.

Sydney Lynch (Bedford, N.H./Bedford), freshmen Caroline Affolter (Newburyport, Mass./Central Catholic) and Courtney Dermody (Bedford, N.H./Bedford) and junior Kayli Keenan (Pelham, N.H./Bishop Guertin) had the goals during the run. Keenan's strike, with Glavin on the assist, capped the run with 11:44 to play.

After Bentley's run the team's traded goals. Pollock scored off a free-position for Adelphi and sophomore Kenzie Lupton (Canandaigua, N.Y./Canandaigua) found the back of the net for Bentley to make it a 9-7 game with 5:02 remaining. Adelphi scored once more, off the stick of senior Molly Fetherston, to cut Bentley's lead to one goal at 9-8 with 2:42 remaining.

From that point Bentley clamped down to prevent the tying goal. Adelphi had possession following Fetherston's goal, but Falcons senior defender Kate Schmal (Saint James, N.Y./Smithtown) came up with a ground ball with 1:55 left following an Adelphi shot.

After the team's traded possessions, the ball was back with Adelphi with 34 seconds to go. But Bresler came up with one more big save as she denied a shot by graduate student attacker Alison Johnson with 14 seconds left. Schmal corralled the ground ball and Bentley took its final timeout with 12 seconds left.

The Falcons were then able to close out the final seconds to secure its first NE10 conference title.

Bresler was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. Glavin was named to the All-Tournament team. She had two goals and four assists in this game and 12 points total in the postseason. Schmal and senior defender Dana Lewandowski (Franklin, Mass./Franklin) were also named to the All-Tournament team.