SALISBURY, Md. – The No. 1 Salisbury University field hockey team claimed the program's 18th Capital Athletic Conference championship on Saturday night, topping Christopher Newport University, 2-1 in overtime at Sea Gull Stadium.

The Sea Gulls dominated the stat sheet, but still needed a second-half equalizer to get the game to overtime where sophomore Chandler Littleton struck for her first career goal, and it couldn't have been bigger, ending the game nearly five minutes into the extra session.

"It's a great victory," Head Coach Dawn Chamberlin said. "Any time you can win a conference championship it's awesome. It was a hard-fought game, we did a lot of good things out there.

"Chandler isn't a goal scorer for us, we just put her in off the bench and she had fresh legs, I told her to use her speed and get in position to help us out and that's exactly what she did."

(Click here to see Littleton's game-winning goal)

Salisbury got the first scoring chance of the day, getting a foul in the circle and a penalty corner less than a minute after the opening whistle of the game, but junior Courtney Jantzen's first shot whistled wide left.

The Sea Gulls would continue to apply early pressure on Christopher Newport goalkeeper Bailey Lien, taking eight of the first nine shots in the game, forcing Lien to make five saves in the first 17 minutes to keep the game scoreless.

It was the Captains who would strike first, getting a deflected goal in the 20th minute. Madison Doss sent a long ball in from the right wing, and Carol Thompson was stationed five yards in front of the Salisbury goal to tip the ball into the upper-left corner of the goal for the 1-0 lead.

Salisbury had the chance to tie the game with just over two minutes left in the first half when senior Mallory Elliott attempted a shot, which was stopped by Lien. The Captain keeper ended up on the ground, covering the ball, and the Sea Gulls were awarded a penalty stroke, but Lien made the stop to preserve the CNU lead.

At halftime, Lien had recorded stops on all 11 of Salisbury's shots that were on goal. The Sea Gulls held a 17-2 edge in shots and were awarded 14 penalty corners in the first 35 minutes, but could not solve Lien.

Nearly 10 minutes into the second half, Mallory Elliott would tie the game for the Sea Gulls. Senior Summer Washburn sent a long ball in from the left wing, following a Captain foul, toward the left side of the goal. Elliott was waiting, turned and one-timed the equalizer past Lien for her 13th goal of the year.

Each team would record a handful of shots through the remaining 26 minutes of regulation, but could not find the go-ahead goal.

In overtime, it appeared that Washburn might end the contest 90 seconds into the period, ripping a shot from the top of the circle, which missed just to the left.

The Sea Gulls dominated the nearly five minutes of overtime, attempting four shots and getting the game winner from Littleton.

With more open space in the seven-on-seven overtime, the Sea Gulls took advantage as Washburn dribbled the ball through a pair of CNU defenders to the end line on the left side. She sent a pass across the goal mouth to the right post were Littleton banged home the game winner.

 "Summer was dribbling the ball up the field and she crossed it and I just happened to be on the post at the right time and I tipped it in," Littleton said.

The win gives Salisbury the CAC's automatic qualification into the NCAA tournament. The Sea Gulls will make the program's 30th all-time appearance in the NCAA tournament beginning next week. The bracket will be released in the early hours of Monday morning, November 10.

Visit www.suseagulls.com for more information, as it becomes available.