Bentley’s 4th Quarter Rally Falls Just Short as Adelphi Hangs on 9-8 in NCAA 1st Round
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Adelphi (16-3) | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 9 |
|
Bentley (10-6) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 8 |
WALTHAM, Mass. – Bentley outscored Adelphi 6-2 in the 4th quarter but couldn't quite find the tying goal in the final minutes as the Panthers held on for a 9-8 victory in the first round of the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship on Wednesday.
The 4th quarter began with the Falcons, the No. 4 seed in the North Region, trailing the No. 5 seeded Panthers 7-2.
But Bentley dominated the 4th quarter and a 4-0 run that began with a man-up goal by Conor Segreti (Darnestown, Md./St. John's) at the 7:44 mark saw them pull to within 9-8 after a goal by Luke Jaber (Milton, Mass./BC High) with 1:25 remaining.
Bentley's Cam Bartolomeo (Meriden, Conn./Xavier) won the ensuing faceoff to give them possession and a timeout was called with 1:13 remaining.
However Adelphi's Nick Paris caused a turnover and Frank Falco picked up the ground ball with 47 seconds left. And after a successful clear, the Panthers were able to run out the remaining clock.
Adelphi (16-3) advanced on to play the No. 1 seed Le Moyne in the quarterfinals on Sunday.
After Segreti's goal at the 7:44 mark made it a 9-5 game, he scored again just 28 seconds later. The run continued when Nicholas Thorn-Guillaro (Wilbraham, Mass./Willbraham-Monson) found the back of the cage at the 4:54 mark to cut the deficit to 9-7.
The teams then traded possessions over the next few minutes until Jaber scored with 1:25 remaining. Nathan Alviti (New Fairfield, Conn./New Fairfield) had the assist, one of his three in the 4th quarter.
Alviti finished with a game-high six points on three goals and three assists.
Before the 4th quarter, Adelphi largely held Bentley in check with a 7-2 lead. Alviti had Bentley's only two goals to that point, in the 1st and 3rd quarters. Adelphi's Joseph Duchnowski had three of their goals up to that point.
Alviti opened the scoring in the 4th quarter just 18 seconds in with a man-up goal, assisted by Kevin Sheahan (Scituate, Mass. /BC High), to make the score 7-3. The Panthers answered with a goal by Jake Hipchen at 12:10, followed by Bentley's Garrett Witt (Frederick, Md./Oakdale) scoring at 10:11.
Adelphi scored for the final time at 8:48 from Dylan Barry to make the score 9-4 before the closing 4-0 run by the Falcons.
Bentley, who made the NCAAs for the first time in program history this season, come to a close with a 10-6 record.