LAKEWOOD, NJ (Feb. 11, 2025) - Georgian Court Men's Lacrosse doesn't shy away from a challenge and they knew they'd be in for one to start the 2025 season. They welcomed the 2024 defending National Champion Adelphi Panthers to Lakewood for their season opener. The defending champs walked away with the win, but the Lions should be better for the competition in the long run as the season rolls on.

How it Happened
• The Panther defense was tough to crack. Georgian Court was just 19-31 on clearance attempts with Adelphi completing 22-25. The Lions turned the ball over 32 times while Adelphi lost it 18.
• Adelphi also won the faceoff battle, 15-13.
• Where Georgian Court was very successful was playing man-down. They killed off all five minutes worth of Adelphi power plays. The Lions themselves were scored twice on two man-up opportunities, both of those goals were on a full-time power play.
• Shots heavily favored Adelphi, 49-15, as well as shots on goal, 32-13.
• On the ground, Adelphi grabbed 49 groundballs and GCU 31.
1st Quarter
• Georgian Court worked a turnover to start the game and had the first shot, but All-American Dylan Renner was there to make the save.
• Adelphi coming off of a Lion scored the first goal of the game at the 12:07 mark.
• That started a stretch of three Panther goals in less than four minutes.
• AU added another late in the first and led 4-0 after one.
2nd Quarter
• After Adelphi opened the second with their fifth goal, Neil Spira got the Lions on the board. He scored at the 12:29 mark to close the gap to 5-1.
• Georgian Court netted a second from Harrison Jordan with 2:04 to play.
• Adelphi kept adding to their total though, putting up six in the second to lead 10-2 at the half.
3rd Quarter
• The Panthers scored four more times in the first nine minutes of the second half.
• Following a Panther goal, Stephen Albanese won a faceoff, carried the ball into the offensive zone, shot and scored.
• That was the only goal GCU scored in the third. Neither team was able to put one into the net the final five minutes as Adelphi carried a 15-3 lead into the fourth.
4th Quarter
• After scoring three goals in the first three periods, GCU netted three in the fourth alone.
• The first came from Harrison Jordan off of a Matt Dorrian assist.
• A two-minute locked penalty gave the Lions an extra man for the final 1:50 of the game. 
• Joe Zerr was able to pick up two man-up goals in that time and made the final score 19-6.

Lion Stat Leaders
• Both of Zerr's goals came with a man-up. He also added an assist for a three-point game. 
• Harrison Jordan scored twice.
• Neil Spira and Stephen Albanese each added a goal.
• Stephen Albanese was 11-19 on faceoffs picking up seven groundballs.
• Joe Murphy and Aidan Miranda each forced a pair of turnovers.
• Vincent Burkhart was in goal for all 60 minutes. He was under duress for most of that time and made 13 saves.

For the Panthers
• Dylan Renner made five saves on eight shots face for the win in net.
• Braden Donnellan scored twice while assisting on three others. He grabbed five ground balls too, most of any non faceoff specialist. 
• Luke Mackin and Noah Gibson each scored three times.
• William Greaves was 9-15 on the faceoff with eight ground balls. 

News and Notes
• Stephen Albanese's goal was the second of his career. His 11 faceoffs won are the most he's had in a single game.
• Georgian Court falls to 0-4 all-time against Adelphi.
• February 11 is the earliest GCU has ever started a season in program history.

Up Next
• Georgian Court is home again a week from today. They'll play Mercy Feb. 18 at 3 pm