SALISBURY, Md. - Sophomore Beverly
Beladino got No. 5 Salisbury University off to a fast and
exciting start as the shifty field hockey forward scored
back-to-back goals in an eight minute span in the first half. The
early lead allowed the Sea Gulls to stand strong on defense to
defeat No. 4 Messiah College 3-0 on Friday afternoon in front of a
crowd of 400 at Sea Gull Stadium.
"We played phenomenal today," said Salisbury coach Dawn
Chamberlin in her 21st season. "They [Messiah] are a much
better than a 3-0 loss team."
The Sea Gulls (10-1) have now won nine games in a row and with
the win tied the overall series record with Messiah, 13-13.
Beladino's first goal was a deflection off of a beautiful long
pass by senior Danielle Twilley from the 25 yard
line. Beladino got her stick on the ball and deflected the ball
past Falcon goalie Ashley Mowery (seven saves). Beladino struck
again off a back-handed touch pass from fellow sophomore
Lauren Correll to send the Sea Gulls into the half
up 2-0.
In the second half, Correll smashed home a rebound off Mowery's
goalie pad at the 41 minute mark to place the game out of reach.
Messiah (4-3) took 11 shots and seven penalty corners compared
to the 12 shots and nine corners by Salisbury. SU was 0-for-2 on
penalty shots as Mowery made two very nice saves.
"We did a very nice job of defending them this afternoon," said
Chamberlin. "We knew they had three very strong attack players. We
had to be real sharp and we were."
SU goalie Maria Ramoundos (10-0) was once again
spectacular as she recorded her 10th victory and saved nine MC
shots. The senior has now only given up four goals in 648 minutes.
The SU defense earned its fifth shutout of the season.
The Sea Gulls completed a very successful week as they beat two
nationally ranked teams in No. 12 Rowan on Tuesday, 2-1, and
Messiah this afternoon.
"This week was tough. Emotions were very high," said Chamberlin.
"Either of these games could have gone either way."
Salisbury will look to extend its win streak when it travels up
Rt. 13 to Dover, Del., to meet up with new Capital Athletic
Conference member Wesley College on Wednesday (October 3) at 4:30
p.m.
