OWINGS MILLS, Md. – The second-ranked Salisbury University men's lacrosse team claimed its eighth consecutive victory over rival "SU" Stevenson on Saturday evening, overwhelming the 11th-ranked Mustangs with a 16-2 first-half onslaught to power a 24-8 win and improve to 10-0 in the 2025 campaign.
The Sea Gulls opened the tilt with a four-goal blitz in just over five minutes, led by a pair of
Chris Wong goals and two points on a score and feed from
Connor Herraiz.
Ryan Della netted the fourth goal in the span, while
John DeFazio assisted Wong's second tally.
The Mustangs (6-3) found their first goal at the 7:44 mark of the opening frame to draw the ire of the Sea Gulls, who promptly rolled out a 7-0 run spanning over 15 minutes to further the distance, 11-1.
Brice Bromwell powered the rally with four points on three goals and one man-up assist while Wong and Herraiz tacked on two more points and DeFazio dished out his second helper.
Blake Malamphy also scored in the sequence.
Riley Strub did not take kindly to Stevenson's second goal of the evening, ripping three unassisted goals in 3:22 of game time to widen the margin to 12. Della set up
Ty Keaton for SU's 15th before Malamphy helped DeFazio beat the first-half buzzer to set the halftime score, 16-2.
SU would tack on four more before the hosts could record a third goal. Bromwell punched in his fourth of the night and assisted Della's second strike just 42 seconds later.
Bryce Stevenson joined the shootaround at the 9:15 mark with DeFazio's third assist, and
Michael Leahy and
Lucas Ingley connected to establish the 20-2 edge.
Bromwell followed a pair of Stevenson goals with his fifth to send the contest to the final frame. Leahy found the onion bag twice in under 90 seconds on assists from
Trent Lucovich and
Robby Donnelly before
Luke Hicks netted his first career goal to finalize the thumping.
GAME NOTES
- Brice Bromwell, Division III's leader in total points as of Saturday, reached the seven-point mark for the second consecutive game and the fifth time in his last seven outings. He tallied a season-high five goals while adding a pair of assists, with his efforts elevating him to 12th in program history in career goals (157) to pass Joe High '00.
- Chris Wong dunked in four goals for the Sea Gulls to match his career high.
- Riley Strub finished with three goals and one assist, insuring his position as the team's top goal scorer (34) through 10 games.
- Connor Herraiz totaled four points on two goals and two assists.
- Michael Leahy and Ryan Della each recorded three points on two goals and one helper. Della also scooped a pair of grounders in the win.
- John DeFazio proved his status as one of the sport's best, logging five ground balls and causing a pair of turnovers while distributing a team-high three assists and scoring his eighth career goal.
- Blake Malamphy locked down the dot, winning 65.2 percent (15-of-23) of his faceoff tries with a team-high eight ground balls. He also netted his 20th career goal and brought his career point total to 25 with his goal and assist against the Mustangs.
- Charles Fritchman won six of his 10 attempts with four ground balls in relief of Malamphy.
- Joe Buxbaum chased down four ground balls.
- After surpassing the 400-save threshold against Denison on Tuesday, Nicholas Ransom (10-0) earned his 50th career victory between the pipes, making five saves across 45 minutes of work. Matt Sentowski made one save across 8:35 in relief while Alex Swartz took the reins in the final 6:25.
- 14 different Sea Gulls registered a point on Saturday evening including 12 different goal-scorers.
- The Sea Gulls outshot the Mustangs 65-29, finished a perfect 21-of-21 on clears, stacked up 42 ground balls to Stevenson's 25, and won 22 of 36 faceoffs.
Salisbury gets a week to prepare for the start of Coastal Lacrosse Conference (CLC) play on Saturday, March 29th when Kean comes to town for a 1 p.m. faceoff at Sea Gull Stadium. Tickets are available for purchase
online.
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 202 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.
