SALISBURY, Md. – The fifth-ranked Salisbury University women's lacrosse team fell in heartbreaking fashion to No. 7 Gettysburg College in the Regional final of the 2011 NCAA Division III women's lacrosse tournament on Sunday at Sea Gull Stadium.

The loss snaps a streak of four-straight NCAA finals appearances for the Salisbury University women's lacrosse program.

The Bullets' (17-4) Hannah Church scored her team-leading sixth goal of the game with 10:06 remaining in the second half to extend the Bullets' lead to 14-10. After three minutes of scoreless play, SU senior attacker Trish DiGirolomo streaked past her defender and ripped a shot into the net to cut the deficit to 14-11. Senior midfielder Morgan Illian drew a foul and earned a free-position attempt with 3:55 remaining; the Salisbury, Md., native successfully converted the attempt, cutting the Gettysburg lead to just two. SU freshman midfielder Shelby Nemecek won the ensuing draw control to give Salisbury possesion of the ball; DiGirolomo took full advantage of the chance, as she added an unassisted goal to bring the score to 14-13 in favor of Gettysburg. The Bullets claimed the following draw control and looked to spread the field, but after a Gettysburg player entered the offensive zone, Salisbury senior attacker Logan Bilderback stripped the ball away cleanly to give the Sea Gulls one last chance to tie the contest. Salisbury senior midfielder Aileen McCausland cut through the offensive zone and put a shot on frame, but Gettysburg goalkeeper Maddie Coleman turned away the shot to maintain the one-goal advantage with 1:01 remaining on the clock. Gettysburg was able to successfully run out the clock to earn the program's fifth NCAA semifinal appearance. 

Salisbury (19-3) jumped out to a 6-2 lead over the first 14 minutes of the first half, with six different Sea Gulls tallying goals. After the sixth SU goal, the Gettysburg coaching staff called for a time-out; Following the time-out, the Bullets closed out the half with six-straight goals to take an 8-6 lead at the halftime break.

The second half started out as a back-and-forth affair, as the teams traded goals three separate times over the first 12 minutes of the frame. The Bullets tacked on a pair of goals to extend the lead to 13-9, before sophomore midfielder Lauren Feusahrens recorded an unassisted goal to cut the lead to 13-10.

Church led the way for the Bullets with a game-high six points on six goals; Kelsey Markiewicz (three goals) added three points, while Katie Blumenthal (two goals) and Lindsey Robinson (two assists) finished with two points.

Coleman finished with nine saves in 60 minutes of action to earn the win in the net for the Bullets.

Salisbury received four points from both DiGirolomo and Feusahrens, as they each scored three goals and handed out one assist. Illian finished shortly behind with three points on two goals and one helper.

SU senior goalkeeper Julie Ann Caulfield played 31 minutes and collected five saves, while freshman goalkeeper Ashton Wheatley closed out the contest and staved off three Gettysburg shots.

Today's game marked the final collegiate contest for seven Salisbury seniors: Bilderback, Caulfield, DiGirolomo, Liz Filgueras, Illian, McCausland and Meagan Osipowich. Over the last four years the group has compiled a record of 82-7 (92.1 winning percentage), claimed four Capital Athletic Conference championships, made four NCAA tournament appearances, advanced to the national semifinals three times and were part of the program's first national championship, in 2010.