SALISBURY, Md. - The top-ranked Salisbury
University men's lacrosse team won the first-ever meeting against
Eastern Connecticut State University, 15-7, on a cool and clear
Saturday evening at Sea Gull Stadium before a crowd of 425. The
victory hands Salisbury its 80th straight win at home and the 54th
consecutive victory overall. SU has won 86 straight
regular-season games since the 2003 season, the same year SU last
lost a game at home.
Salisbury (9-0) broke open a tied game, 4-4, with four
unanswered goals in the second quarter as the Sea Gulls took a
five-goal lead into the half, 10-5. The Sea Gulls outscored the
Warriors (3-2) in the second half 5-2 as the maroon and gold scored
three of four goals in the third quarter alone.
Junior attackmen Jake DeLillo and Mike
Winter led the Sea Gulls with five-point games as they
both scored four goals and passed out one assist. This is the
fourth game this season Winter has scored at least four goals in a
contest. DeLillo tied his season-high mark for goals and points in
a game. Freshman Sam Bradman was the other
multiple goal-scorer for the Sea Gulls as he netted two first half
goals and added one assist. Senior Kylor Berkman,
the reigning National Player and Midfielder of the Year, was
guarded heavily by the Warriors throughout the game. ECSU senior
defenseman Steve Lane helped to hold Berkman to no goals for the
first time this season. Berkman passed out a team-high two assists
to continue a streak of 58 consecutive games with at least one
point. Senior Patrick Bonanno (one goal) and
freshman Matt Cannone both matched Berkman with
two assists. Junior midfielder Mike Von Kamecke
scored one goal and one assist while seniors Ryan
Curran and Stephen Krasco both scored one
goal. The final point in the game for SU came from defensive
midfielder Will Poletis who recorded his first
assist of the season.
SU got on the scoreboard quickly in the first quarter as Bradman
scored an unassisted goal just over two minutes into the game. The
Sea Gulls scored two more goals in the next three minutes to jump
out to a 3-0 lead over the Warriors. ECSU answered with
back-to-back unassisted goals with the latter coming off the stick
of Zach Malouf (two goals). The Warriors tied the game at 4-4 on a
Brian Fechtmann extra-man goal off an assist from Brendan Hoppey
(three assists) just 42 seconds into the second quarter. SU
responded with a four-goal run which started on a DeLillo man-down
goal off an assist from Winter in transition.
The Sea Gulls scored the first two goals in the third quarter
before the Warriors scored their first goal in nearly 20 minutes.
Malouf netted his second goal of the game at the 3:04 mark in the
quarter to cut the SU lead in half, 12-6. Salisbury scored three of
the final four goals to seal the win.
Sophomore goalie Johnny Rodriguez (four caused
turnovers) made eight saves as he played the entire game for the
Sea Gulls to notch his ninth win this season. Eastern Connecticut
State goalie Kyle Savage was spectacular in net as the senior made
19 saves for the Warriors. In addition to Malouf the Warriors
received two goals from senior attackman Matt Savage.
SU outshout ECSU 52-25, made 23-of-27 clears, won the ground
ball battle 42-38 and caused 19 of the Warriors' 36 turnovers.
Eastern Connecticut State won 14-of-25 face-offs and made 19-of-29
clear attempts. Three of ECSU's seven goals came on extra-man
opportunities. The game also marked the return of former SU
assistant coach Justin Axel who is now in his second season as the
head coach at ECSU.
The Sea Gulls will next travel to York, Pa., to take on the
Spartans of York (Pa.) College in a Capital Athletic Conference
game on Tuesday, March 24, at 3:30 p.m.
