Adelphi, West Chester Set for NCAA WD2 Title
by Paul Krome | Lacrosse Magazine Online Staff | Live Blog
GETTYSBURG, Pa. – One stirring comeback was nearly followed by another, but in the end preseason favorite Adelphi will have a chance to defend its national championship against a West Chester squad that's quickly become the cardiac kid of the NCAA Division II women's tournament.
The Golden Rams, who trailed Lock Haven by five goals with 15:49 to go in the game, somehow managed to get out of their own way just long enough to stun the PSAC champion Eagles, 9-8, in the first semifinal at Clark Field. They advance to play Lacrosse Magazine's preseason No. 1 Panthers, who nearly let a 7-4 second-half lead expire in their eventual 14-9 win over rival C.W. Post, in Sunday's NCAA championship game. Draw time is 3 p.m. and LaxMagazine.com will blog live from the game.
West Chester, which advanced to the semifinals courtesy of a 12-11 nailbiter over Limestone in the first round, will seek its third national title since the turn of the century. But to win it, the Golden Rams will somehow need to slow down defending champion Adelphi, which got revenge for a regular-season loss to the Pioneers by shutting out their top scorer and releasing a freshman for five goals and a sign of things to come. CBS College Sports will televise the game live.
* * *
Leave it to a freshman to steal the show in a rivalry game, but at least someone saw it coming.
"I'm expecting big things from her tonight," Adelphi junior Michelle Ceraso said of freshman middie Demmianne Cook several hours before their semifinal rematch against the Pioneers.
Cook used her athletic, 5-foot-9 frame to make Ceraso a soothsayer, running all over the field and scoring five goals to help the Panthers get even for a 21-16 loss to Post May 1. Cook created her own opportunities with her speed, when she wasn't finding holes in the Pioneer defense and converting feeds from teammates. But for all her exploits, her biggest may have been her timing.
Post had just cut Adelphi's 6-2 lead to 7-6 5:09 into the second half, fueled largely by senior Brianne Jackloski, who had five goals of her own. But Cook answered with back-to-back markers, and the Pioneers never got as close again.
"I give her a lot of props for being fearless out there," said Post coach Meghan McNamara.
Sophomore Marissa Mills chipped in with three goals and an assist, and junior Elizabeth Fey scored once and handed out four assists for Adelphi, which returned 13 of 14 starters and benefited from several transfers this season.
One starter is lost now, however. Ceraso, a two-time All-America attacker, hasn't played in over three weeks and likely won't play ever again, thanks to a freak fifth concussion that has piled on damage lingering from not completely healing from previous concussions. A chair gave way, and Ceraso's head hit concrete three-and-a-half weeks ago.
"I started throwing up and I had to get rushed to the hospital," she said. "It wouldn't have been anything, the doctors said, but because I hadn't healed from my other concussions, it was a major thing."
Ceraso had previously suffered concussions in games and practices, but she's now trying to be a help to her team.
Judging from the youthful talent on that roster, the Panthers may not need much help.
* * *
Jackie Hoover scored with 1:17 left in the first three-minute overtime to complete West Chester's remarkable comeback from an 8-3 deficit against Lock Haven, lifting the Golden Rams into the NCAA final, 9-8. Just don't ask her how she did it.
"I remember taking it in and shooting low and laughing when I saw it go in the back of the net," said Hoover, who appeared to get bumped by two players, taking anything resembling velocity from the attempt.
Hoover also needed the game-tying goal with 1:27 left in regulation, sending the West Chester contingent into hysterics at what they had just witnessed. Their befuddled Rams, done in time and again by self-inflicted errors, somehow solved their offensive woes to score five straight goals in 14 minutes against a team that had beaten them 16-6 just three weeks ago.
Despite earning seven yellow cards and occasionally playing down a player or two, West Chester did not allow Lock Haven to get completely on track offensively, at least not in the second half. Back-to-back goals within 43 seconds by Claire Grimwood and Nicole Haines brought the Rams within 8-5 at 13:20. It helped that the Eagles appeared to take their foot off the accelerator too soon. Leigh Titus (4g) and the Eagles were cruising in the first half, assisting on four of six goals to take a 6-3 lead.
"They capitalized on a lot of our mistakes," West Chester coach Ginny Martino said. "It's almost easier to just fix that. Basically I just said, 'Just take care of the ball. We have to do the simple things right and easy things. Don't give them opportunities. Just plug away.' They did it themselves."
In regulation's final moments, West Chester got Titus to give up the ball. Kayleigh Johnson (1g, 4a) got a good look working from behind to the center front, but she fired a shot off attack-turned-goalie MacKenzie O'Keefe's facemask. Elyse Fisher was wide with the rebound, and the game headed to overtime.
"I thought it was our wakeup call," said Eagle coach Kristen Selvage. "We weren't going home tonight. I had no worries, really."
* * *
The worries now fall to Martino and her staff, who weathered steady rain in the 8 p.m. semifinal to scout Adelphi. The teams did not meet in the regular season.
McNamara offered some thoughts on the matchup.
"They (the Rams) predominantly need to look drive from up top," she said. "They need to be a lot more patient and move their defense to create the openings and tire them out. There are holes, it's just that you have to be patient with them. Ginny has a very fierce team on the attack. Defensively they need to collapse hard on the drives to one-on-one. Joe will probably push it hard on them, try to get in quite early and go for it. They're going to run it and gun it. WCU has to step up and play one-on-one defense to slow them down. Ginny will slow down their fast break by dropping people down."
Adelphi players talked up their satisfaction in avenging the earlier loss to rival Post. Panther coach Joe Spallina put it in perspective.
"We'll be focused. We'll be ready. Our goal all season wasn't to beat Post. It was to win a national championship."
