Upper Montclair, NJ (04/18/02) - The Montclair State University women's lacrosse team completed the home portion of its 2002 campaign today with a 17-8 loss against Adelphi (NY) University at Sprague Field.

Adelphi freshman KATHERINE HOCK (Mineola, NY) scored six goals in the first half to pace the visiting Panthers and scored seven times in all, while MSU sophomore CATHY HOMIEK (Toms River, NJ) recorded four goals and an assist. Montclair is now 5-5 overall this spring, while Adelphi, who entered today's match on a three-game winning streak, improves to 8-2. Today's loss also snapped a two-game MSU winning string, although the Red Hawks have still won four of their last six outings, with three games remaining on the schedule. Montclair also finished 2-3 at home this spring. Homiek put Montclair up, 2-1, with two goals just 35 seconds apart in the first three minutes of play, after Hock had opened the scoring just 15 seconds into the contest. Adelphi then tied the score before MSU junior JODI GANGEMI (Fairfield, NJ) put the Red Hawks up again by a goal at 9:51.

MSU freshman goalkeeper DIANA GIL (Landing, NJ) made then several stops in succession with 19 minutes left in the first half to keep Montclair ahead, 3-2. Adelphi then took a 4-3 lead on goals 77 seconds apart by sophomores LEIGH FENNESSEY (Saratoga Springs, NY) and JENNIFER GARONE (West Hempstead, NY), with Garone also setting up Fennessey's goal. Hock then made it 5-3 at 19:54 before Gangemi responded exactly three minutes later for MSU, only to have Hock then tally back-to-back goals for a 7-4 Panther lead. Sophomore KAREN SULINKI (Huntington, NY) then added to her two assists by scoring Adelphi's eighth goal at 27:22, before Hock notched her sixth score with 35 seconds left in the first half.

Junior CATHERINE PEREZ (Lyndhurst, NJ) then finished a run of five straight first-half Adelphi goals by scoring with 16 seconds remaining in the half. Fennessey and Garone (two goals) opened the second-half scoring to make it 13-4 for Adelphi with 17 minutes remaining in regulation. Freshman DINA CALI (Valley Stream, NY) then completed a stretch of nine consecutive Adelphi goals at the 15:13 mark before Miskey and Homiek scored 1:16 apart for MSU. Gil denied Hock on a free-play shot with just over 10 minutes left, before Adelphi freshman netminder JOSEPHINE COIRO (West Babylon, NY) rejected Homiek's bid for a fourth goal with nine minutes remaining.

Senior DONNA RUSSO (Matawan, NJ) made it 14-7 for MSU at 23:19 before Hock scored her seventh goal at 27:13. Cali and Perez then sandwiched goals around a score by Homiek to close out the scoring. Gil finished with 12 saves for MSU, while Coiro had 17 stops for Adelphi, including 11 saves in the final 30 minutes alone.

Prior to the game, MSU honored the three seniors on this year's women's lacrosse team in midfielders LORI BURNS (Pompton Plains, NJ), KRISTEN MISKEY (Mt. Laurel, NJ), and Russo. Burns has tallied 45 career points as a Red Hawk, while Miskey has scored 76 career goals and Russo has collected 115 career ground balls. The trio were key members of last year's MSU team that finished with a best-ever mark of 9-6, after leading Montclair State to a then-record eight wins the previous season.