SALISBURY, Md. - The second ranked Salisbury University women's lacrosse team used a 13-goal first half to defeat Meredith College, 19-11, in the second round of the NCAA tournament on Sunday afternoon.

Gabrielle Mongno and Emma Skoglund combined for six first half goals, and 10 in the game, to lead the Salisbury (19-1) offense past the sixth ranked defense in Division III, as Meredith (16-5) came in with a goals-against average of 5.84.

The Sea Gulls got on the board within the first minute as Krissy Murphy came from behind the net and put a shot fake on her defender.

After the Avenging Angels evened the score at one, Mongno found some open space in front of the net and converted on a pass from Alissa Talbert for her first of the day. Mongno then scored her second in the opening five minutes on a free-position shot to put Salisbury up 3-1.

Meredith got one back just over two minutes later, but Dana King looped around the net to find open space in front of the goal, connecting on a close-range shot for the 4-2 lead. Taylor Poore joined the scoring as she juked a defender and made a move to the inside for a 5-2 advantage.

Skoglund notched her first of the day with just under 17 minutes to go in the first half as she grabbed her own rebound, circled the back of the net, and came around the opposite side to put the maroon and gold up 6-2. 

The Avenging Angels, who came in averaging 19.79 goals per game, scored three straight to bring the deficit back to one, 6-5.

Salisbury clamped down on defense and finished the half strong offensively, ending the first frame on a 7-0 run in the final 12 minutes. Emily McQuay, Talbert, and Courtney Fegan each tallied their first of the game, while Skoglund and King notched their second. Mongno recorded two goals during the run to bring her total to four in the first half, including one with just nine seconds remaining as she squeezed a shot right under the crossbar to give Salisbury a 13-5 lead heading into halftime.

Meredith got the second half started with three goals in the first 6:20 to bring the score to 13-8, but the Sea Gulls responded with three of their own. Mongno ended the Meredith run off a feed from King for her fifth of the day. Lindsey Wagner then found Fegan, who converted on a shot as she was falling back to make the score 15-8. Wagner, who finished the day with three assists, added a goal of her own as she looped around the net and fired a shot back to where she came from for the 16-8 lead.

The teams traded goals the rest of the way, with Skoglund tallying the final three goals of the game for Salisbury.

The Sea Gulls outshot Meredith 48-26 in the game, with Gianna Falcone making eight saves on 17 shots on net to earn the win in goal. The Salisbury defense caused 11 turnovers while forcing Meredith into 17 total. Allie Hynson led the Sea Gulls with a team-high three caused turnovers, four groundballs, and five draw controls.

With the win, Salisbury advances to the third round of the NCAA tournament on Saturday, May 19 to face Denison University. A game time and location will be determined early this week.