GETTYSBURG,
Pa. – The No. 3-ranked Salisbury University
men's lacrosse team defeated No. 1 Gettysburg College, 11-10,
in overtime in front of 2,527 spectators at Musselman Stadium.
The game featured the two all-time winningest coaches in NCAA
men's lacrosse history in Salisbury's Jim
Berkman and Gettysburg's Hank
Janczyk.
In
the overtime session, the Sea Gulls (10-0, 1-0 Capital Athletic
Conference) made a successful clear following a Gettysburg
(9-1) turnover and into the offensive box. Junior midfielder
Shawn Zordani (Littleton, Colo.) collected the
ball and headed behind the Gettysburg goal. Zordani hit a wide-open
Sam Bradman (Canton, N.Y.) who was
standing just inside the offensive restraining box; Bradman took
two steps and fired a right-handed shot into the bottom left corner
for his second game-winning goal of the season.
“That shot capped off a great game today for Sam against an
outstanding Gettysburg defense,” said Berkman. “Shawn
(Zordani) drew a double team and made a great pass to
Sam.”
The contest
will undoubtedly go down as another great game in the history
of the Gettysburg-Salisbury rivalry. This marks the third straight
game that the contest has featured an 11-10 final score. Last
season, the Bullets ended the Sea Gulls' 55-game winning streak,
the second-longest in NCAA history. This year, Gettysburg entered
the contest with a 20-game home winning streak; a win today would
have matched the program record.
The Sea Gulls
opened out of the gates blazing hot as they reeled off five
straight goals to open up the contest. Senior attackman Mike
Winter (Port Washington, N.Y.) and Bradman opened up
scoring with a pair of unassisted goals. Senior attackman
Jake DeLillo (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) followed
up with two goals of his own to push the lead to 4-0
before senior midfielder Mike Von
Kamecke (Winter Park, Fla.) scored his first goal of
the day for the 5-0 advantage. The Bullets finally got on the board
with an unassisted goal by J.C. Ward with 3:28 left to play in the
first quarter before Bradman struck again after causing a turnover
and marching up the field for a unassisted goal. The Bullets closed
out the quarter with a goal by senior midfielder Kyle
McGrath.
In
the second quarter, Gettysburg slowed the pace down and began to
possess the ball for longer periods of time. The Bullets outscored
the Sea Gulls 2-1 in the quarter. For the half the SU held a 18-14
shots advantage, won 9-of-13 face-offs and held a 18-5 ground balls
advantage.
Gettysburg controlled the start of
the 3rd quarter as it reeled off three straight goals to open
up the quarter. Sophomore attackman Matt
Cannone (Bayport, N.Y.) scored SU's only goal of
the quarter. The Bullets kept up the pressure in the 4th quarter as
they outscored the Sea Gulls 3-2. Gettysburg evened things up with
just 39 seconds in regulation to force overtime; the shot came from
McGrath, as he put on a shot on frame that junior goalkeeper
Johnny Rodriguez (Gambrills, Md.)
appeared to have saved, but the ball trickled over the goal line
for the game-tying goal.
Bradman and Von
Kamecke led the way for the maroon and gold, as they each finished
with five points. Rodriguez played the entire contest and finished
with nine saves on the day. The play of senior long-stick
midfielder Connor
Burgasser (Mendon, N.Y.) and sophomore defender
Andrew Sellers (Baltimore, Md.) deserve
special mention, as they held Gettysburg's top two players
(McGrath and Joe Brody) to five points combined.
“It was a great team win
today,” said Berkman. “We did a great job against a
great offensive team.”
The Sea Gulls will hit the road again for a Capital Athletic
Conference contest against the Eagles of the University of
Mary Washington on Wednesday at 4 p.m.
