GARDEN CITY, NY (May 7, 2025) - Georgian Court Men's Lacrosse played in their first ever NCAA game Wednesday afternoon. The eighth seeded Lions took on the No. 1 seed and defending NCAA Champions Adelphi Panthers. Adelphi got out to a big lead in the first quarter and finished the game with a 23-9 win.

How it Happened
• Faceoff numbers were even with Adelphi holding an 18-12 edge. 
• Adelphi had a big advantage in shots, 50-24 and shots on goal, 33-18.
• Turnovers were a problem for the Lions who lost the ball 18 times. The Panthers turned it over just 12.
• On the ground, Adelphi got to 32 balls and Georgian Court 21.
• Georgian Court did not take a single penalty. They were 3-7 playing with the man-advantage.
First Quarter
• It wasn't the start Georgian Court was looking for. Adelphi scored 50 seconds into the game.
• They came out scoring on five of their first seven shots and let 5-0 less than four minutes into the game while Georgian Court took just two shots.
• Following a GCU timeout, the Panthers continued the offensive attack. Brett Bridges had a good look at the goal, but was saved by Panther keeper Dylan Renner.
• Adelphi went down the other end and scored. They put another five goals on the board and led 10-0 still with 4:04 to play in the period.
• The Lions had a man-up opportunity, but late with the advantage, lost possession and Adelphi killed the penalty, entered the offensive zone and scored going up 11-0.
• Two Georgian Court turnovers led to Adelphi goals in the final seconds and after 15 minutes, the Panthers were up 13-0.
Second Quarter
• Vincent Burkhart was under constant pressure, but made a number of saves in the quarter.
• He allowed a goal to start, before the Lions offense started to get on track.
• James Sanford broke the shutout with a goal at the 6:41 mark.
• Less than a minute later, Vincent Burns found Brett Bridges who buried the goal from close range and made it a 14-2 game. 
• Adelphi got one back and GCU answered on the power play. Brodie Seaborn hit Matt Dorrian for the man-up goal.
• The Lions got another goal and another man-up opportunity all at once. Neil Spira scored the Lions fourth goal while getting cross checked and both the goal and penalty counted.
• GCU couldn't get any closer with the power play and allowed two more in the half as they trailed 17-4 at the half.
• After getting down 13-0 after one, the Lions played even, 4-4, in the second. 
Third Quarter
• The Lions continued to play mostly even with the Panthers in the third. 
• Doug Mackenzie scored twice in the frame and Matt Dorrian added another for the Lions.
• Adelphi had no problem working the clock and a fast-moving third quarter finished 21-7 in favor of the Panthers.
Fourth Quarter
• The fourth quarter was much of the same.
• Each team scored twice.
• Matt Dorrian and James Sanford each got one to finish up the game and Adelphi ran out the clock on a 23-9 win.

Lion Stat Leaders
• Matt Dorrian scored three goals with an assist for a team-best four points.
• Doug Mackenzie scored two goals.
• James Sanford also scored twice.
• Vincent Burkhart made 10 saves in goal.
• Daniel Devitt won 9-20 faceoffs with four grounders. 
• Gavin Eremus was 8-15 on faceoffs with four ground balls.

For the Panthers
• Kyle Lewis totaled nine points with two goals and seven assists.
• Brandon Donellan dished out five assists with a goal. 
• Noah Gibson, Vincent McDermott and Michael Durnin all scored four goals.
• Dylan Renner made nine saves for the win. 
• Will Greaves was 16-27 on faceoffs with eight ground balls. 

News and Notes
• This was the Lions first ever NCAA postseason game.
• Matt Dorrian scored his 40th career goal.
• Doug Mackenzie moved into seventh all-time in career points.
• Vincent Burns played in his 50th career game. 
• Georgian Court finished the season with 12 wins for the second time in three seasons, matching a program-high.
• The Lions nine goals scored are the most in five games against Adelphi.

Quotable
Coach Hover
Opening Statement
• I think that's a phenomenal program. Coach Purdie does an amazing job. Our guys had a challenging day. I'm just so proud of them as a group and what they've done. This whole year has been groundbreaking, in terms of first AQ in our conference. I can't be happy enough to coach this group of young men.

On what it means to win the CACC and advance to the NCAA Tournament
• It was not an easy year. In terms of the program, I can't thank the alumni enough. We started as a first-year program in 2016. In a 10-year span to be in the NCAA Tournament is amazing. The alumni, I can't say enough for what they've done. These young men battled all year. We played six top-20 teams and it was a grueling year with weather and different variables. They played super hard all year long and came together as a group at the right time.

On the team's resilience after getting down early
• We had some issues on the ride over. Adelphi is a really strong program and one that we've played the last four years. It was a hard first quarter, really challenging. I could see the look in the eyes of the players that we just had to get back to what we do. Battling back was tremendous. 

On building on this season into the future
• I think it was awesome for the seniors to go out on a really high note. Losing at the end of the season is never what you want, but 12 wins on the season, conference championship, first NCAA bid. Those seniors gave everything they had and I couldn't be more proud of them for it. The underclassmen, those returning, I hope they have a fire to get better and they don't want anything other than to be back in the NCAA Tournament again and winning the conference championship again. I think that will happen with our group. I think it was awesome for them to get that experience and see what it takes. Playing at this level was definitely an eye opener of them and i think the fire inside of them will guide them to many more opportunities like this. 

Vincent Burkhart
On what he can take from this experience into next year
• I'm so glad to be here. It's like a once in a lifetime opportunity. We're in our 10th year as a program and Adelphi has banners going back into the 1900's. It's been really cool to take in this experience and hopefully it can be a big stepping stone for the program and start a good trend.

Joe Murphy
On finishing his career with a CACC Tournament Championship and trip to the NCAA Regional
• It's tremendous to be here and experience, especially in my senior year. I give all the credit to the coaching staff and the rest of the year. It took just about every single person on the team to make it to this point. We're excited to be here.