BALTIMORE – The No. 2 Salisbury University men's lacrosse team suffered its first loss at M&T Bank Stadium in the program's history, falling to Tufts University 9-6 in the national championship game on Sunday afternoon.

The Sea Gulls found themselves in an early hole as the Jumbos were able to use some quick moves around the cage to take an early 1-0 lead just 90 seconds into the game. After Salisbury tied the game at 1-1 on a score by junior Shawn Zordani (Littleton, Colo.), Tufts rattled off six straight goals to grab a 7-1 lead with eight minutes left before halftime.

During the run the Sea Gulls were held scoreless for 22:44, the longest scoreless drought of the season, with Tufts goalkeeper Steven Foglietta starting a big day in the cage, turning away four Salisbury shots during the run.

Down 7-1, the Salisbury defense and goalkeeper Johnny Rodriguez (Gambrills, Md.) dug their heels in and limited the Jumbos to just two goals over the final 38 minutes.

“I was really proud of our defense,” Salisbury Head Coach Jim Berkman said. “We started to slide a little bit quicker and our defense gave us every opportunity to get back in the game. You couldn't fault our defense after the first 12 minutes of the game; they gave us the opportunity to get back in the game.”

Rodriguez turned away nine Tufts shots through the final 38 minutes, making 11 saves in the contest.

With the defense settling in, the Salisbury offense began to chip away. Senior Mike Winter (Port Washington, N.Y.) ended Salisbury's scoreless drought as he cut across the crease and took a feed from sophomore Sam Bradman (Canton, N.Y.), finishing to cut the lead to 7-2. That tally sparked a 3-0 Salisbury run to end the half, with scores from seniors Connor Burgasser (Mendon, N.Y.), off an assist from senior Jake DeLillo (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.), and Will Poletis (Baltimore, Md.).

Salisbury (21-2) had the momentum coming out of halftime and got within two goals, trailing 7-5 after DeLillo found the back of the net with 11:57 to play in the third quarter, but that was as close as the Gulls would get. Tufts pushed the lead back to three late in the quarter and added another goal four minutes into the third when Jamie Atkins slipped the ball past Rodriguez off an assist from D.J. Hessler to give the Jumbos (20-1) a 9-5 lead. Hessler finished with a goal and four assists and was named the championship's Most Outstanding Player.

Salisbury was able to get one past Foglietta late in the fourth quarter, as Poletis scored the game's final goal with 2:58 to play, ending another scoreless drought, this time 23:59. The Tufts goalkeeper recorded seven of his 13 saves in the final quarter.

The loss today ends the career of eight SU seniors: defender Jeff Breeding (Cockeysville, Md.), midfielder Ryan Finch (Finksburg, Md.), midfielder Kevin Finn (Evanston, Ill.), midfielder Mike Von Kamecke (Winter Park, Fla.) Poletis, Winter, Burgasser and DeLillo. Over the last four years the program has claimed two national championships, made three championship game appearances, won three Capital Athletic Conference tournament championships and posted a 82-6 record (93.18 percent winning percentage). As Berkman told the team after the game, they have nothing to hang their heads about.

“I told them that I am really proud of them,” Berkman said of his post-game comments to the team. “I was really proud of the seniors, they put us in a position to win a championship. They really led our guys. We want to learn from today, but we also want to celebrate. There were two teams left, our team won 21 games this year and we came in second. If that's the worst thing that ever happens in your life, then you're going to have a great life.”