SALISBURY, Md. - The No. 8 Salisbury University field hockey team captured its 14th consecutive Capital Athletic Conference championship Saturday afternoon with a 2-0 victory over St. Mary's (Md.) College at Sea Gull Stadium.

"It's phenomenal. It's unprecedented. We take pride in that," said SU coach Dawn Chamberlin abut the Sea Gull championship streak. "We want to come out each year and win the conference title."

Salisbury (15-3) took 17 shots on goal in the game but struggled early against the tough Seahawk defense.

"With a young team we had a lot of nerves early on. We had a lot of near misses," said Chamberlin.

It took the Gulls over 34 minutes to get on the scoreboard as Salisbury struck with seven seconds left to play in the first half. Freshman Alison Bloodsworth redirected a pass from sophomore Kandice Hancock over the left shoulder of St. Mary's goalie Emma Lauhoff (15 saves) for the goal. Salisbury led 1-0 at the break.

In the second half, freshman Caitlin Walker backed down the Seahawk defense 15 minutes in and took a shot that was stopped by Lauhoff. Junior Beverly Beladino was perfectly positioned by the right corner of the cage to smack the rebound shot into the cage to put SU up 2-0.

The Sea Gull offense took 24 shots in the game and had 20 penalty corner opportunities in the matchup. SU was equally as dominant on the defensive side of the field. The maroon and gold did not allow a Seahawk (8-9) shot attempt until 13 minutes remained in the game. Sophomore Anna Cooke (0 saves) improved her record to 11-1 with the win.

"We had great pressure on them all game. We didn't give them any opportunities," said Chamberlin.  

Salisbury will next await the official announcement of the 2008 NCAA Division III field hockey tournament field, expected to be released on Monday morning.

"We hope with our record we would advance. I think we have a really good shot," said Chamberlin of Salisbury's NCAA postseason aspirations.

Salisbury has made 23 NCAA tournament appearances, 14 straight, in its programs history. The Sea Gulls have won four national championships, three of which happened between 2003-05.