ROBERT O'ROURK PHOTO | Adelphi junior and Shoreham graduate Erica DeVito tallied seven points in the Panthers' national championship win Sunday over Limestone.

When Joe Spallina became the head coach of the Adelphi women’s lacrosse team in 2007, his first recruiting pitches went something like this: Come to Adelphi and win four national championships. Not one, not two. Four.

As a standout lacrosse player at Shoreham-Wading River, Erica DeVito knew Spallina well from their intense battles between Shoreham and Rocky Point, where Spallina coached before leaving for his college alma mater.

“When Spallina recruited me he promised me four national championships,” DeVito said. “That’s what really won me over to come here. I wasn’t really about the brand name D-I, D-II. I just wanted to be a part of a winning team.”

Three years into DeVito’s college career, she’s exactly where Spallina promised.

Adelphi won its third straight Division II national championship Sunday afternoon with a dominant 17-4 win over Limestone in front of a hometown crowd of 684 at Adelphi University, capping off an undefeated season for the Panthers at 20-0. DeVito tallied a game-high seven points with four goals and three assists on attack.

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Going back to her days at Shoreham, DeVito has now completed five straight seasons where her team finished with a championship. She won back-to-back state titles with the Wildcats as a junior and senior leading into three straight national titles at Adelphi. Her team’s record in those five years: 96-5.

It’s an astounding accomplishment that DeVito knows is something to savor.

“Not many people can say they won one state championship, but I can say I won two,” she said. “A lot of people can’t say they won one national championship and I can say I won three. And hopefully four, which is really something special.”

DeVito finished the season as the team’s leading goal scorer with 77, which is two more than her highest point total was in a single season in high school (37 goals, 38 assists in 2008).

While in high school her role varied from midfield to attack, at Adelphi she knew she was on the field to do one thing: put the ball in the net.

She did just that from the first time she stepped onto the field. As a freshman she led the team in goals with 70 and as a sophomore finished second with 60. She now has a total of 207 career goals with one more to season to go.

How DeVito’s game has so seamlessly translated to the college level has come as no surprise to her high school coach, Bob Vlahakis, who was on hand to watch Adelphi’s victory. DeVito scored the first-ever Shoreham goal in the state tournament, Vlahakis reminisced.

“She was a special player,” he said. “She was the first real pure shooter.”

What’s made DeVito’s accomplishments all the more special is how she’s battled diabetes since she was 8 years old. It’s something DeVito deals with on a daily basis. She monitors her blood sugar throughout the day and as many as 12 times during lacrosse season.

“I do notice she checks her diabetes a little more when we’re doing drills she doesn’t care about,” Spallina joked. “But she’s a special kid.”

Vlahakis said DeVito’s ability to persevere through her ailment is what impresses him the most.

“She’s been able to handle everything,” he said. “It’s been tough at times, but it never stopped her.”

DeVito was on the receiving end of two highlight-reel passes as she scored her first goal to put the Panthers up 2-0 Sunday. Adelphi senior Elizabeth Fey raced down the middle of the field and threw a behind-the-back pass to her left where Claire Petersen caught it and had one thing on her mind: Do it again. Petersen whipped another behind-the-back pass to her left in front of the cage where DeVito snagged it and after a quick juke, easily beat the Limestone goalie in the top corner for a demoralizing goal.

“It’s an honor to be able to play with people who are that great of players,” DeVito said. “Players who are doing around-the-world, behind-the-back [passes]. After something like that happens, you stop and are like, did that really happen?” DeVito said.

“If [Limestone] had any doubts, I think they were confirmed at that point,” said Spallina, who still teaches physical education at Rocky Point High School.

Spallina said when one player goes behind-the-back, the next player has to follow.

“Erica actually broke the rule,” he said.

All three of DeVito’s first-half goals came on assists from Petersen, who finished the season with 125 assists. Three of DeVito’s assists came in the second half. She also scored a free position goal that made it 16-4.

DeVito had plenty of support in the crowd as Adelphi hosted the Final Four for the first time. DeVito said the list of spectators included girls from a team she coaches, friends she works out with, her parents, little brother, aunts and uncles.

“Everyone,” she said. “I think this is the best year because you got to do it in front of your families and friends and all the people you love. To be able to see all of them after the game so happy for you is definitely the most special of all.”

Adelphi has a long pipeline of local players and this year’s team featured two former Rocky Point players, Alison Staudt (’08) and Emily Mercier (’10). Both players came off the bench and saw a few minutes of action down the stretch against Limestone.

Staudt scored five goals with four assists for the season and Mercier scored seven goals with two assists. Adelphi also had one Longwood grad, Laura Hedges (’10), who scored four goals on the season.

Staudt started 13 games as a freshman and was fifth on the team in points (31). Spallina said an injury slowed her down the following season and now she’s been stuck behind Petersen, who transferred from Catholic University and played her first season with Adelphi last year.

Spallina said he has big expectations for what Mercier can bring to the midfield over her next three years.

“Emily’s going to be a big-time player,” he said. “She’s athletic. She’s quick. It’s just tough. We have a tough group of midfielders to crack.”