| Story by Brian Coleman | Photos by Bill Kelly |
T
he
Adelphi
Panthers
women’s soccer team rides
into their 2013 season with
some unfinished business to take care
of following a tough loss to conclude
their 2012 season. After a winning
season, Adelphi upset a couple of teams
on its way to the championship game
in the Northeastern-10 conference
playoffs.
The Lady Panthers reached the
championship game of the conference
tournament for the first time in
program history. The offense was led
by two seniors who paced the goalscoring for the Lady Panthers, Emily
Masiello and Kaitlin Monteith, who
led Adelphi in scoring. Monteith led
the team in goals with eight, while
Masiello sco red seven goals, including
two in the first round playoff game, to go along with
her five assists on the season.
The Lady Panthers did just that in the opening
round, flipping the script on American International
and defeating them 2-0 in the quarterfinal. It was a
back-and-forth affair that was kept scoreless all the
way into the 82nd minute, until Masiello broke the
scoreless tie. She added another goal in the 90th
minute to secure the victory and the upset, as Adelphi
moved on to the semifinals.
That was all Adelphi needed on the day as goalie Sam Whitney did what
she had done all year. Whitney recorded five saves and kept Merrimack out
of the net, posting yet another shutout as the Lady Panthers advanced to
its first conference title game. It was also the 11th win of the season for
Adelphi, notching the program’s highest win total since 2008.
Goalie Sam Whitney continued her excellence,
shutting out the Yellowjackets of American
International while recording six saves en route to the
victory.
Despite the loss, 2012 was without a doubt a good year for the Adelphi
Women’s Soccer program. Head coach Chris Armas led the Lady Panthers
to its first ever championship game, and notched its highest win total in five
years. With that, Adelphi headed into 2013 with some high expectations
and goals to go even further than they did a year ago.
The Lady Panthers then headed up to Merrimack
College to take on the Warriors in a semifinal
matchup. It didn’t take 82 minutes to find a goal in
this game, as Donna Liotone found the back of the
net on a penalty kick to put Adelphi up
1-0 in the 46th minute.
While the offense was consistent for the Panthers
last season, the girl between the pipes played
outstanding for them. Sam Whitney was a sophomore
last season, and was an anchor as the team’s goalie.
She started in 20 of the 21 games, including playoffs
last year, and possessed 0.84 goals against average.
Whitney recorded 104 saves on the season while
allowing just 18 goals.
Unfortunately, the Lady Panthers offense came up short and Whitney
finally allowed a goal in the Northeastern-10 conference championship
game as they lost to Southern New Hampshire University 1-0.
Now, Adelphi did lose its top two scorers from a year ago, Emily
Masiello and Kaitlin Monteith, and had to have some players step up this
season. With only 3 seniors, the Lady Panthers are relying on a lot of
underclassmen to carry the load this season.
Off to a 7-1-2 start, Adelphi is in very good shape at this season’s
midpoint. Their leading goal scorer, Olivia Czavar, has stepped up big
time early on. Czavar scored four goals all of last season, but has found
the back of the net six times already this season. She leads the team in
goals, points, and shots on goal, and she scored a goal in each of the first
four games.
Adelphi carried a 9-6-3 regular season record
into the NE-10 conference playoffs in 2012, and
drew a matchup with the top team in the conference,
American International College. Just one week prior,
the Lady Panthers lost to American International
2-0,
and knew they had to redeem
themselves in the playoffs.
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