SALISBURY, Md. – The top-ranked and top-seeded Salisbury University men's lacrosse team breezed through the Coastal Lacrosse Conference (CLC) semifinals, handling the fourth-seeded Kean University Cougars by a 25-5 score inside Sea Gull Stadium on Wednesday evening to advance to Sunday's CLC Championship game.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Sea Gulls struck first in the CLC bout, courtesy of a Jude Brown solo sling that placed the hosts in front by one. Chris Wong scored a pair to help the Sea Gulls to a 3-0 sweep of the quarter, pushing helpers from Brown and Luke Nestor into the nylon for the early lead.
• Nestor added another Sea Gull tally less than three minutes into the second quarter, burying an assist from Jack Dowd to widen the margin to four.
• The Cougars got on the board nearly five minutes later, with Dylan Johnson finding Nick Thorne for the first Kean goal of the evening. Johnson scored his first goal with 3:35 left in the half, dunking a dime from Jonathan Slusser between the pipes to tighten the matchup, 4-2.
• Salisbury punched back with a two-goal run, using solo strikes from Josh Sanchez and Brown to rectify to return the lead to four. Kean's Jacob Dvoor won a faceoff and fired in a breakaway goal with just under two minutes left, but Charlie White scored two goals in the final 70 seconds to lift SU to an 8-3 halftime advantage.
• The hosts came out ready in the second half, scoring twice in the opening minute to push their total to double digits. Nestor connected with Wong just 28 seconds into the frame before Brice Bromwell logged an unassisted tally 60 seconds in, putting the Sea Gulls ahead 11-2 with 29 minutes to play.
• Just over five minutes later, Brown connected with Ty Keaton for his first goal of the affair. Dowd and Sanchez piled up consecutive unassisted scores, with Sanchez's immediately followed by Blake Malamphy's sixth goal of the campaign to increase the advantage to 11, 14-3.
• The Sea Gulls scored two more in the final minute of the third stanza. Lucas Ingley kicked a helper to Keaton to set up his second score before Brown delivered a prayer directly to the stick of Sanchez with one grain of sand left to set the score at 16-3 heading in to the final frame.
• Bromwell needed just 26 seconds to find Wong for goal number 17, while Nestor fired in his second 36 seconds later. Jeremiah Stafford scored his second career goal in as many games, calling his own number on a transition chance to cushion the lead, 19-3.
• The Cougars broke the 13-goal Sea Gull run with 9:36 left in the fourth as Christian Schlaefer dished to Connor Batjer for Kean's fourth tally. Ryan Della replied in earnest, logging his fifth goal of the season before feeding Joey Halloran two minutes later, 21-4.
• With just over five minutes remaining, Anthony Porter distributed an assist to Nick Thorne for Kean's final goal of the season. Salisbury scored four in the final five minutes, with Blake Epstein assisting a pair of Halloran goals and scoring his own while Della added another to seal the 25-5 triumph.

SALISBURY GAME NOTES

• Jude Brown logged a game-high six points, scoring twice and dishing out four helpers.
• Chris Wong continued his hot entrance to the starting lineup, scoring four more in Wednesday's win. Wong has tallied 11 goals across his last three efforts.
• Luke Nestor finished with four points, scoring twice with a pair of assists. He added three ground balls and caused one miscue as well.
• Josh Sanchez and Joey Halloran each recorded hat tricks in the bout, with Halloran's coming on just three shots.
• Ryan Della tacked on three points on two goals and one helper while adding a pair of ground balls.
• Blake Epstein tallied three points on one goal and a pair of assists.
• Ty Keaton scored a pair of goals while picking up five ground balls.
• Blake Malamphy went 14-for-19 on faceoffs and scooped a game-high 11 ground balls. Mackenzie Moreland won nine of his 14 opportunities and logged seven ground balls in relief.
• Bryce Stevenson scooped a trio of ground balls while forcing two errors, while John DeFazio found four ground balls and caused one miscue.
• Nicholas Ransom improved to 38-0 in his collegiate career, making nine saves across the opening 52:01. Matty Back logged the next four minutes, while Z.J. Shahin closed out the final 3:59 with two saves and a caused turnover.

KEAN GAME NOTES

• Nick Thorne tallied two goals and picked up three ground balls.
• Dylan Johnson finished with two points on one goal and one assist, adding two ground balls and causing one turnover.
• Jacob Dvoor went 7-for-19 on faceoffs with four ground balls and scored, while Christian Updale won three of his 14 chances and corralled four ground balls.
• Nick Paterno was tagged with the loss, making 15 saves across the opening 47:51. Pasquale Capozzoli made a pair of saves across the next 9:02 before John Westbrook closed the final 3:07 of play.
• Kean concludes the season with a 12-7 overall record and a 2-3 tally in CLC play this season.

UP NEXT

• With the win, Salisbury advances to the CLC Championship game on Sunday, May 5 for a rematch with second-seeded Christopher Newport.
• Opening faceoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. inside Sea Gull Stadium.

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Salisbury University is a proud member of NCAA Division III with primary membership in the Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference, along with the New Jersey Athletic Conference for football and men's and women's swimming, and the Coastal Lacrosse Conference for men's lacrosse. With over 500 student-athletes in 21 varsity sports, SU is recognized as one of the most competitive intercollegiate athletics programs regardless of division, featuring dedicated coaches and staff that foster excellence on and off the field. The Sea Gulls have celebrated 23 team national championships, 24 individual national champions, 197 conference championships, and 45 Academic All-Americans.

To Make Tomorrow Yours at Salisbury University, and learn more about Sea Gull Athletics' tradition of excellence, visit www.SUSeaGulls.com or follow on social media @SUSeaGulls.