Adelphi, Lenoir-Rhyne to Meet in NCAA Division II Men's Title Game
It’ll be Adelphi and Lenoir-Rhyne next weekend for the NCAA Division II men’s lacrosse national title. They’ll meet Sunday at 4 p.m. Eastern in Philadelphia.
Without a five-goal run in the third quarter against Tampa, Lenoir-Rhyne — the defending NCAA champion — likely wouldn’t have extended its season to the final day.
Trailing the Spartans by four goals, Lenior-Rhyne got goals from five players — Ryan Duncan, Will Canata, Sloan Steward, Robert Walker and Caison Dillon — in a 5-0 run that drastically shifted the momentum in the third quarter.
Canyon Birch netted a man-up goal with 2:09 left in the third quarter to tie it at 12 for Tampa, but Lenoir-Rhyne responded with the first two goals of the fourth — one each from Walker and Evan Voss.
The seesaw battle continued. Charlie Bolesh scored with 6:29 left to cut it to 14-13. Less than three minutes later, Owen Miller found Birch during another man-up try, knotting the score at 14.
It was sophomore Jarrett Huff — who scored three goals in the NCAA title game a year ago — who delivered the knockout punch for Lenoir-Rhyne, finishing a Steward feed with 2:40 remaining. Rob Pensabene saved a Miller shot with 58 seconds left, and Miller’s second try with 41 seconds left went wide.
Lenoir-Rhyne hung on from there.
Adelphi, playing Saint Anselm for the third time since April 20, had its easiest time against the Hawks this season — relatively speaking. The Panthers had posted wins of 8-7 and 10-9 against their NE10 rival before advancing to the championship game with a 12-9 result on Sunday.
Adelphi did enough through three quarters to withstand a furious late push from Saint Anselm. Up 10-4 entering the final quarter, the Panthers surrendered five of six goals over 11-plus minutes, making it 11-9 with 3:06 to play.
But Braden Donnellan gave Adelphi a little more breathing room, making it 12-9 with 1:32 left.
The defense bended but didn’t break on one last furious Saint Anselm possession, allowing three shots that went high, wide and wide. Colin Mulvey turned it over with a minute left, then Adelphi successfully cleared to win it.
Adelphi has won seven national championships, with the last coming in 2001.
Kenny DeJohn
Kenny DeJohn has been the Digital Content Editor at USA Lacrosse since 2019. First introduced to lacrosse in 2016 as a Newsday Sports reporter on Long Island (yes, ON Long Island), DeJohn specializes in women's game coverage. His search for New York quality pizza in Baltimore is ongoing.