SALISBURY, Md. – The seventh-ranked Salisbury University Men's Lacrosse program defeated Washington (Md.), 6-4, to hold on to the Charles B. Clark Cup for the 12th straight matchup inside Sea Gull Stadium in a Friday night slugfest.
Before the game, Salisbury honored its 19 seniors:
Kyen Argentinis,
Joe Buxbaum,
Kicky Crowell,
Michael DeSano,
Robby Donnelly,
Joey Halloran,
Connor Herraiz,
Evan Huffman,
Blake Malamphy,
Brady Mancha,
Jacob Michalski,
Tristan Plotts,
Andrew Roe,
Kellen Smaw,
Jeremiah Stafford,
Bryce Stevenson,
Riley Strub,
Aidan Swartz and
Brayden Velasquez.
The Sea Gulls (14-3, 3-1 CLC) broke the ice with a Herraiz feed to
Chris Wong, who twisted his bid into the back of the cage. The Shoremen (12-5, 6-2 Centennial) found their footing in the following minutes, posting the next two goals to lead 2-1 after a quarter of play.
Bret Bergey knotted the contest up, receiving a pass from Herraiz. On the following face-off, Malamphy won possession and found pay dirt while charging into the attacking end. The senior went right back to the dot and followed suit on the next draw to give the Maroon and Gold a 4-2 advantage in 11 seconds.
The SU defense pitched a shutout in the second stanza, which consisted of two
Matt Sentowski saves and three penalties killed off by the Gulls to preserve the two-goal lead going into halftime.
The Sea Gulls blanked Washington in the third frame as well, while getting tallies from
Ryan Della and
Trent Lucovich to lengthen the lead.
Washington scratched across two scores in the final frame, but SU fended off the Shoremen's comeback bid to close out the regular season with a victory.
GAME NOTES
- Salisbury improved to 38-20 in the all-time matchup with the Shoremen. The Sea Gulls have won the past 12 meetings and 24 of the last 25 tilts. A combined ten goals was the lowest-scoring affair in the history of the War on the Shore.
- Blake Malamphy tallied a third of SU's goals in a total of seven seconds. The senior went 11-for-13 at the dot and scooped up six grounders. Malamphy recorded his fourth multi-goal outing in his career.
- Connor Herraiz dished out three helpers to improve his point total to 95 on the season.
- Chris Wong, Trent Lucovich, Ryan Della and Bret Bergey all chipped in scores.
- Jeremiah Stafford and Bryce Stevenson helped disrupt the Shoremen all evening. Stafford cleaned up two ground balls and caused a season-high five turnovers, while Stevenson logged two CTs to reach his 100th career caused turnover and claimed three ground balls.
- Matt Sentowski improved to 13-3, and provided a strong ten-save outing in the cage.
- The Sea Gulls held Washington to their lowest scoring output of the season and blanketed the Shoremen's seven-man-up tries.
- Salisbury outshot the Shoremen 47-25, won the ground ball battle 39-34 and went 18-for-22 on clear attempts.
The Sea Gulls begin their postseason quest by hosting the semifinal of the Coastal Lacrosse Conference on Wednesday against the third-seeded Stockton University Ospreys on Wednesday at 5 p.m. at Sea Gull Stadium.
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, 24 individual national championships, and 207 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.
