Kyle Lewis' OT Winner Lifts Adelphi to Back-to-Back NCAA Titles

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — One of the most exciting NCAA Division II men’s championship games in recent memory took place at Gillette Stadium, as Adelphi downed previously undefeated Tampa 9-8 on Kyle Lewis’ righty rip in overtime for its second straight title.

After a Dylan Renner save that reset the clock, Tampa turned the turn the ball over and Adelphi called a timeout in the offensive end with 1:46 left in the game, 52 seconds on the shot clock, and a chance to win the game outright.

But a turnover on the crease out of the timeout gave Tampa its own shot to win, and with 53 seconds left, the Spartans called a timeout.

A falling effort after a loose ball scrum in front of the net found its way past Renner, but it was disallowed after a timeout was called on the initial possession. Tampa’s Zach Friend thought he had won the game, but the timeout canceled his effort.

Still, the Spartans had 10 seconds left to try and win, but overtime beckoned in the title game for the first time since 2005.

“I never get that timeout,” Tampa head coach J.B. Clarke said. “You know, the ball is flying around the crease, and you want to make sure they don’t get it, but if you do, you want to make sure you get a chance. That’s why I was calling for the timeout; the one time I get it, it costs us. … I won’t sleep from that. That’s going to haunt me forever, calling that time-out.”

Adelphi won possession in OT, but its first shot went wide. Tampa called a timeout before Lewis could start his dodge off the endline, and the Panthers had 29 seconds left on the shot clock to work with.

Lewis got his chance anyway, dodging a long pole up top and getting his hands free to rip a shot to the far pipe. Then he found himself at the bottom of a pile as every one of his teammates jumped on top of him.

“When I made my initial move, I saw him jolt to the left,” Lewis said. “So, from there … I knew I was going to get my hands free. I knew the goalie usually drops when I drop my hand, so I went low-to-high.”

Tampa’s Rafe Bradshaw opened the scoring with a run down the alley just 53 seconds into the game. But in a pattern that would become familiar, Adelphi tied it with a goal from Michael Durnin. It was clear early on that both teams were angling to get the best clean shot possible to beat the respective goaltender. Tampa kept the ball behind, looking for cutters and better angles to attack, inverting and keeping men wide in equal measure.

Even that wouldn’t keep Tampa goalie Connor Theriault from making the first spectacular save of the game, one-on-one with Ryan Bauco, staying with him for several fakes before sprawling out low to control the ball. Adelphi kept attacking in all phases of the offense, finally breaking through with a goal from Noah Gibson to give the Panthers their first lead, 2-1, halfway through the first quarter.

Adelphi kept pressing on offense, inverting and then dodging from the low elbow in an effort to pry open the Tampa defense. Bradshaw made another run down the alley and stuck a goal past Renner to tie it again with 3:36 left in the first. Vincent McDermott answered on Adelphi’s next possession, restoring the lead for the Panthers, 3-2.

The first quarter ended with both teams desperately trying to get one more goal but coming up short due to defensive pressure. Another iso from the far wing tied it at 3, as former Lindenwood man Tommy Ortega took his man inside and fired the ball past Renner.

Rex Kesselring gave Tampa the lead on a hard stepdown from the high wing off a quick restart with 7:35 left in the first half.

Lewis maintained his role as the initiator, trying to open up the Tampa defense with top-down dodges and penetration to the second level. But his first goal came off an inside cut provided by Braden Donnellan — and things were tied again.

The stalemate did not last long, as Ortega got on the board for the second time. Tampa cleared the ball and called a timeout to try and set up one more play to get into the break with its first two-goal lead of the night, but Renner was up to the task, saving a last-second shot from Jackson Bashaw with enthusiasm as the buzzer sounded.

It was his eighth save of the first half, while his counterpart across the field was holding at three saves. This was a goalie battle.

“Both teams’ goalies were great, but also the offenses were great, as well,” Theriault said. “They did their best to get as high-quality shots as possible. The biggest thing is, you’re trying not to let a goalie get hot, and the way to do that is to get the highest possible shots … We saw shots from everywhere. It was a ton of fun, and it was a really cool battle.”

The Spartans carried a one-goal lead into the half, but it was of little consequence. This game was on a knife’s edge.

A broken play on the edge of the crease led to McDermott’s second goal, as he crashed the lane off an errant pass and slotted it home, tying the score at 5. Renner made two more saves on the next Tampa possession, then Grant Green scored against the run of play as the Spartans outfoxed the Panthers with a middie streaking out of the box instead of the half-line. Green finished far and away to make it 6-5 with six minutes left in the third quarter.

Tampa added another when Davis Lindsey finally broke through with his first goal on a solo drive from X that found Renner coming out too far to try and make the stop. It was the first two-goal lead for any team, and it lasted roughly 15 seconds, as Durnin scored on a slow break off a feed from Gavin Herzog.

Back-to-back failed clears gave Adelphi another chance to tie it, which it did emphatically when McDermott beat his man down the middle of the field and hammered home a goal. With 1:07 left in the third quarter, the score was tied at 7.

McDermott wasn’t done. He found himself on the edge of the crease, where he dodged the first short stick and wrongfooted the other to get inside on Theriault and hit the low corner as he fell to give Adelphi an 8-7 lead heading into the final stanza.

“I was like, ‘Just get to the goal,’ and I had my hands free for a little bit,” McDermott said. “I just shot it. I didn’t even know it was going, and it just went in. Just worked out.”

Tampa eventually equalized, as Lindsey got a bouncing dribbler past Renner on a sweep with 6:02 left to play. That set up the frenetic final minutes.

Adelphi became the first repeat champion since Merrimack in 2018-19. The win had significance for longtime Adelphi head coach Gordon Purdie, who was already playfully assessing his team for next season.

“I’m thrilled to be a part of another winning team and winning program,” Purdie said. “I’m sure that these guys are already talking about three-peating, whatever that means. Every one of those guys you saw on the field today has eligibility to come back, so we’re excited about where Adelphi lacrosse is moving forward. We have some great recruits coming in, and as you guys all know, the North-East 10 is a powerhouse, so we have to be ready to lock and load.”