SALISBURY, Md. – The top-seeded and third-ranked Salisbury University men's lacrosse team collected its 24th conference title after a 12-9 victory over the second-seeded and ninth-ranked Christopher Newport Captains on Saturday in the Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference (C2C) Championship.

BOX SCORE

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Two back-to-back goals by Griffin Moroney from Jack Dowd gave the Sea Gulls the early 2-0 lead midway through the first quarter.
• With only 37 seconds remaining in the first, the Captains got on the board with a Brady Altobello goal.
• Dylan Rice tied up the game for the Captains with a man-up goal at the 11:35 mark in the second quarter.
• Salisbury responded with three goals from Dowd, Luke Nestor and Jarrett Bromwell to take the 5-2 lead with six and half minutes left in the half.
• An Altobello goal trimmed the lead to 5-3 before Dowd pushed the SU advantage back to three goals with an unassisted strike with just over a minute left in the first half.
• The two teams traded goals to start the second half before a strong effort in front of the crease by Moroney right before the third-quarter buzzer put Salisbury up 9-5 heading to the fourth quarter.
• Salisbury got up to its largest lead of the game, 10-5 at the 13:47 mark of the fourth quarter, after an unassisted goal by Bromwell.
• A pair of two-goal runs in the fourth quarter cut the Salisbury lead down to two, 11-9, in the waning moments of the game.
• Logan Posner put the final nail in the coffin for CNU with an empty-net goal with 11 seconds left to clinch the championship for Salisbury.

SALISBURY GAME NOTES

• Jack Dowd led the Sea Gulls in the championship victory with a career-high seven points off three goals and four assists. 
• Griffin Moroney and Jarrett Bromwell also collected a hat trick each. 
• Luke Nestor earned a pair of goals while Josh Melton dished out a pair of assists.
• Brett Malamphy was strong at the faceoff circle. He won 15-of-21 faceoffs and picked up a game-high 14 ground balls.
• Jackson Woodward, John DeFazio, Cross Ferrara, Kevin Murphy and Dowd all scooped up three ground balls in the contest.
• Brad Apgar caused three errors for the Captains.
• In his second career start, Matty Back stopped 10 shots to earn the victory.
• Salisbury earned 38 ground balls while CNU earned 26.

CHRISTOPHER NEWPORT GAME NOTES

• Dylan Rice, Will Stockhausen, Jackson Deal, Coby Auslander, and Brady Altobello all notched a pair of goals for the Captains. 
• Ryan Young grabbed a team-high six ground balls, Rice grabbed four rollers in the contest.
• In net, Zac Hanway saved 12 shots and scooped up five ground balls.

UP NEXT

• With the victory, the Sea Gulls gained the C2C's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.
• The selection show will air Sunday, May 9 at 9 p.m. on NCAA.com.