Salisbury University adopted its current name on July 1, 2001, after previously operating as Maryland State Normal School (1925-34), Maryland State Teachers College (1934-63), Salisbury State College (1963-88), and Salisbury State University (1988-2001). In honor of the silver anniversary of the institution's rechristening, we're spinning the "Gulls Greatest Hits" and revisiting each varsity team's biggest moment in the Salisbury University era.
Women's Soccer | Nov. 4, 2006 – CAC Tournament Championship vs. St. Mary's (Md.)
Setting the Stage
After tremendous success in the first decade of its existence, Salisbury women's soccer had endured the program's first-ever losing campaign in 2005, finishing 6-10-1. The sub-.500 finish snapped a streak of 11 consecutive winning seasons under founding head coach
Jim Berkman and current boss
Jim Nestor, which included two Capital Athletic Conference (CAC) championships and an NCAA quarterfinals run in 2000.
The Sea Gulls eked out a winning record in the regular season at 7-6-1 to qualify for the CAC Tournament as the three-seed. After dispatching Marymount (Va.) 1-0 at home in the quarterfinals, SU went on the road for the semis and stunned Catholic with a pair of late second-half tallies, winning 2-0 to return to the title match for the first time since enduring a shootout loss to Mary Washington in 2004.
Waiting in the wings was St. Mary's (Md.), itself coming off an underdog run to the finals after taking down Mary Washington 2-1 and upsetting top-seeded York (Pa.) in PKs. The Seahawks arrived in Salisbury seeking their first-ever NCAA Tournament berth, while the Sea Gulls were primed to return to the dance for the first time in six years.
Key Faces
Salisbury outscored its opponents 53-20 across 18 matches that season, with forward
Kate Weaver matching the entire competition with 20 goals on the way to First-Team All-CAC accolades. Other major contributors to the offense included
Erin Casey (seven goals, one assist) and
Ally Olewine (six goals, three assists), while
Dana Passucci distributed a team-leading five assists.
Midfielder
Robyn Bishop and defender
Natalie Day anchored the back line en route to their own All-CAC laurels, allowing goalkeeper
Samantha Phipps to surrender just 1.09 goals per match and register 63 saves across 18 starts in net. Nestor, meanwhile, became the Sea Gulls' first CAC Coach of the Year since their inaugural 1994 season, the first of two he would earn leading SU women's soccer.
How It Happened
With a raucous crowd of 400-plus on hand for a sunny Saturday afternoon at "The Island," Salisbury brought the hammer down early thanks to the brilliance of Weaver. In the 18th minute, Weaver took a pass from
Allyson McIntee at the top of the box and launched it into the right corner of the net to put the Sea Gulls on top. Then, a mere 19 seconds later, Weaver stole the ball off the kickoff and broke away to put another one in the onion bag. SU did not allow the Seahawks to take a shot in the first half and coasted into the break up 2-0.
SMC went into desperation mode early and outshot SU 10-8 after halftime, but Phipps made three key saves and
Kristin Greene took care of the final five minutes of the combined shutout. Weaver, meanwhile, had more brilliance to come, netting a hat trick in the 79th minute on a feed from
Christina Eury. Lightning struck one more time as Weaver sniffed out a loose ball in front of the net and fired home a fourth goal just 88 seconds after her third.
By the time the whistle sounded on the Sea Gulls' 4-0 victory, it was clear to all observers that the losing season of a year before was an anomaly, and the Salisbury championship pedigree ran deep in what was then still its newest sport.
Reflections from HC Jim Nestor
"Scoring four goals in one game is incredible, but to score four goals in a CAC championship game was unforgettable. Kate was having one of those games where everything was going right for her – everything she did was executing perfectly. I was so happy for her, and it was a performance I'll never forget."
Aftermath
Salisbury drew Johns Hopkins in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Blue Jays struck early but Casey answered late for the Sea Gulls to force overtime. Hopkins ultimately prevailed, though, scoring off a corner kick with two minutes left in double OT to win 2-1, ending SU's comeback season at 10-7-1.
Weaver helped lead the Sea Gulls back to the NCAA Tournament in 2007, earning CAC Player of the Year and All-Region honors and becoming the women's soccer program's first and so far only First-Team Academic All-American.
SU made the NCAA Tournament once more in the Nestor era after capturing the CAC title in 2011; he stepped down following the 2012 season to focus full-time on leading women's lacrosse. The next year the Sea Gulls hired
Kwame Lloyd as the women's soccer program's first full-time head coach; he is currently in his 14th season at the helm.
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), Coastal Lacrosse Conference (men's lacrosse), State University of New York Athletic Conference (field hockey), and Colonial Women's Golf Conference (women's golf). 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, 26 individual national championships, and 211 conference championships, and have produced 54 Academic All-Americans.
To Make Tomorrow Yours at Salisbury University, and learn more about Sea Gull Athletics' tradition of excellence, visit SUSeaGulls.com or follow on social media @SUSeaGulls.
