Garden City, N.Y. (May 4) -- No. 6 seed Saint Anselm built an early 6-2 lead, but No. 3 seed Adelphi used an 8-0 scoring run to take control as the Hawks dropped an 11-8 final to the Panthers in the Northeast-10 Tournament Quarterfinals on Tuesday afternoon.

Adelphi opened up the scoring just 3:11 into the game on a goal from Connor McCann (Mineola, N.Y.) into the upper right corner. The Hawks answered back though with 6:36 left in the first quarter as senior Jeff Dunkle (Exeter, N.H.) fired a turnaround shot past Adelphi netminder Devin Schneiderbauer (Pepperell, Mass.) to tie the game at 1-1 with a man-up goal. That score was assisted on by sophomore Colin Lacey (So. Hadley, Mass.). Saint Anselm kept up the pressure and took the lead at 2-1 just 1:10 later on the 26 goal of the season from senior Matt O'Connell (Charlestown, Mass.), the leading scorer in the Northeast-10. That goal was also assisted on by Lacey. Adelphi closed out the first quarter scoring however, as with 4:15 left in the period, Jonathan Baron (Hewlett, N.Y.) fired a shot into the upper left to tie things at 2-2.

Junior Ryan Henry (Norwood, Mass.) opened the second period with his eighth goal of the season, as he bounced the ball just in front of Schneiderbauer for the score. The Hawks kept pouring it on as senior Ryan McDonald (Bow, N.H.) and O'Connell scored within 10 seconds of each other as Saint Anselm built a sizable 5-2 advantage with 11:26 left in the second quarter. The weather then became the story in the game with 10:54 left in the second as lightning in the area sent the game into a 43-minute weather delay.

Saint Anselm didn't cool off at all from the delay though as Lacey scored just 1:02 after play resumed, assisted by O'Connell, to build the lead to 6-2. Shortly after, the Hawks took a slashing penalty and brought out their man-down unit, and after three great saves by junior Pat Acone (Bow, N.H.), the Hawks killed off the advantage. The Panthers put an end to the 4-0 Hawks scoring run with 3:12 left in the period as Joe Vitale (Lynbrook, N.Y.) took a pass from Jeff Melsopp (Wantagh, N.Y.) and faked out Acone to cut the lead down to 6-3. Saint Anselm put four shots on the Adelphi net in the final 10 seconds of the half, but Schneiderbauer made four straight saves for the Panthers as the game went into halftime at 6-3.

The third quarter opened with an Adelphi score as sophomore Danny Blau (Farmingdale, N.Y.) took a pass from Vitale and converted it to make it a 6-4 score just 51 seconds into the third period. On a man-up opportunity, the Panthers cut that lead to 6-5 on a man-up score from Blau, assisted on by Michael Rossi (North Massapequa, N.Y.). Rossi found Blau cutting to the net from the right for his second goal of the game. Vitale converted a second-straight man-up opportunity for Adelphi with 5:27 left as he went one-on-one with Acone for the score to tie the game at 6-6.

The Panthers continued to put the pressure on as McCann took a pass from Vitale with 4:30 left and gave the hosts a 7-6 lead, forcing the timeout by Saint Anselm after Adelphi's first lead of the game. Adelphi extended the lead to 8-6 with just over two minutes left in the third as Kevin Kemp (Webster, N.Y.) cut in front of the Saint Anselm net and fired a shot into the upper left corner.

Leading 8-6 heading into the final quarter, the Panthers extended the lead just 56 seconds into the period as Kemp scored off an assist from Rossi to make it a three-goal lead. Vitale added to the lead with 12:09 remaining as Rossi found Vitale cutting towards the net for the 10-6 advantage.

The Hawks ended a stretch of eight straight goals for Adelphi as Henry took a pass across the crease from Lacey and scored his second goal of the contest to cut the advantage down to 10-7 with 9:58 left in the fourth. Adelphi pushed the lead back to a four-goal margin just 22 seconds later as McCann scored his third of the contest for the 11-7 score. O'Connell added a final goal for the Hawks with 2:33 left, again assisted by Lacey, to account for the 11-8 final.

O'Connell led the Hawks with a hat trick, along with two goals by Henry. Lacey also added a goal and three assists.

Acone made nine saves for the Hawks in the defeat, while Schneiderbauer made 15 saves for the Panthers in the victorious effort.

With the loss, Saint Anselm ends the season with a 7-8 overall record, while No. 3 seed Adelphi is now 10-4 advances to the Northeast-10 Tournament Semifinals to take on Merrimack on Friday, May 7th.