SALISBURY, Md. – The second-ranked Salisbury University men's lacrosse team took care of business in its 2025 season opener, locking down a 22-3 victory over the Eastern University Eagles on Saturday afternoon inside Sea Gull Stadium.
The Sea Gulls (1-0) got off to a fast start in 2025, logging four consecutive goals to begin an opening stanza that favored the hosts by seven, 8-1.
Ryan Della tallied a pair of goals in the frame, both assisted by
Brice Bromwell, while
Ty Keaton,
Riley Strub,
Simba Makawa, Blake Malamphy and Bromwell each marked a tally in the first quarter.
Bromwell would add two more helpers before the contest's halfway point, finding Wong for a man-up finish and dishing his third assist to Della of the day with less than 90 seconds remaining in the half.
Connor Herraiz added a pair of points in the second frame, helping Strub's second strike before scoring his own in transition courtesy of short-stick defensive midfielder
Jacob Michalski.
Entering the third quarter with a 12-2 advantage, the Sea Gulls kept the foot on the gas, scoring nine straight goals across the first 16 minutes of second-half action. Bromwell began the quarter with an extra-man tally on a feed from Della before a solo strike and an assist to Strub set the score at 15-2 with over 10 minutes left in the period.
A quad-feed of solo goals followed, beginning with Herraiz's second goal just 40 seconds later.
Robby Donnelly, Strub and
Trent Lucovich followed suit to extend the lead to 17 with 15 minutes to play.
The fourth quarter belonged to
Michael Leahy, who scored all three goals for Salisbury in the home stretch to set the 22-3 final score.
Bret Bergey's first assist came on Leahy's first strike less than two minutes in.
GAME NOTES
- Brice Bromwell finished with a career-high 10 points on a hat trick and seven assists, putting eight of his 10 shots on target while beating his prior best assist mark by three. Bromwell is the first Sea Gull to record double-digit points since Jude Brown '24 tallied one goal and 10 helpers against Cortland on March 18, 2023.
- Riley Strub picked up right where he left off a season ago, firing a game-high four goals and added four ground balls.
- Ryan Della recorded a career-high four points including his first hat trick as a Sea Gull, while Michael Leahy found the net thrice in his collegiate debut.
- Connor Herraiz finished with four points on pairs of goals and assists, tacking on three ground balls and causing a turnover.
- Jeremiah Stafford dug out a game-high seven grounders while being one of four Sea Gulls (Joe Buxbaum, Seamus Johnston, Bryce Stevenson) to cause a pair of turnovers.
- Blake Malamphy controlled the dot, winning 16 of his 20 faceoff tries with one goal and six ground balls. Jimmy Son went 4-for-4 on his attempts, while Charles Fritchman claimed a pair of wins as well.
- John DeFazio chased down five ground balls in the victory.
- Nicholas Ransom improved to 42-1 in his Sea Gull career, turning away six tries in 45 minutes of action to earn the win. Alex Swartz, Matt Sentowski and Aidan O'Connor each tallied a save in relief.
- The Sea Gulls outshot Eastern 66-28, finished 18-of-22 on clear attempts, claimed 22 of 28 faceoff attempts and finished 4-of-6 on man-up opportunities.
The Sea Gulls are tasked with protecting "The House" next Saturday, Feb. 8th as the team battles Grove City at the Under Armour Global Headquarters campus in Baltimore, Md. at 1 p.m. Stay tuned to suseagulls.com next week for more information.
Salisbury University is a proud member of NCAA Division III with primary membership in the Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference, along with affiliate membership in the New Jersey Athletic Conference (football, men's & women's swimming) and the Coastal Lacrosse Conference (men's lacrosse). With over 500 student-athletes in 23 varsity sports, SU is recognized as one of the nation's 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 won a combined 23 team national championships, 24 individual national championships, and 201 conference championships, and have produced 50 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.
