Adelphi Athletics Winning Ways Are Winning Fans

Adelphi Women’s Lacrosse team celebrates win of 2017 NCAA National Championship.

Adelphi University Athletics has racked up so many awards and high honors lately that it’s a challenge to keep up.

Athletics Director Danny McCabe said it’s a combination of support from the University, alumni, parents, coaches and students that has helped many Panthers teams reach deep into the off-season, while the student-athletes maintain their academic success.

Adelphi Director of Athletics and Campus Recreation Danny McCabe

“[The environment at Adelphi] really allows student-athletes to thrive,” McCabe said.

Recently, the Panthers’ Athletics Department was honored with the Northeast-10 Conference Presidents’ Cup, bestowed upon a NE10 school to “signify overall athletic excellence” in the conference. It’s Adelphi’s third win in four years.

Adelphi has also shown excellence in the contest for what’s known as one of the crowning achievements for any athletics department, the Learfield Directors’ Cup. The Cup is given to programs based on a points system that rewards success across many different sports. Ranking high in this contest proves the success of an entire collegiate program. Last year, Adelphi finished 19th among all Division II programs, the highest finish of any school in the NE10 (Merrimack was next, at 37th).

NCAA Success

McCabe said Adelphi’s teams don’t enter the season looking to earn points in the conference or Learfield Cup competitions, but points rack up as the teams pursue their real goals: postseason success in NCAA tournaments.

On that score, the Panthers had a 2016–2017 season to be proud of.

Track and Field athlete Victoria Major

Adelphi teams appeared in eight NCAA tournaments last year, highlighted by the women’s lacrosse team, which became national champion after defeating Florida Southern in the finals in May. It was the women’s lacrosse program’s eighth NCAA championship win.

Seven other Panthers teams appeared in NCAA tournaments last year:

• Women’s volleyball (First Round)
• Women’s tennis (Round of 32)
• Women’s basketball (Round of 32)
• Women’s softball (Final 16)
• Women’s soccer (Final 16)
• Men’s soccer (Final Eight)
• Men’s lacrosse (Final Four)

Golfer Nick Kelapire

In addition to the team’s success, two athletes represented Adelphi individually. Victoria Major competed in the high jump for both the indoor and outdoor seasons, earning her First Team All-American High Jump honors for 2017 from the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association, and Nick Kelapire represented the men’s golf program.

McCabe said that Adelphi’s coaches have been able to recognize and recruit talented students, whose success on the field only helps future recruiting efforts.

“It’s a big thing these days—students want to compete in that off-season, and they see what we’re doing and know they can do that here,” he said. “It opens up doors… . We’re graduating tremendous student-athletes, Academic All-Americans, First Team and Second Team. When they graduate, first-years, sophomores and juniors step up.”