Second Times the Charm: Salisbury Tops Tufts 2nd Second Time Around

Sunday afternoon the Salisbury Sea Gulls captured their 9th NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse Championship with a demanding 19-7 win over the reigning Champion Jumbos of Tufts University. The victory was extra sweet by avenging the final round loss to Tufts the year before. The Sea Gulls victory ends the 17 year drought for the program and marks the 15th title in school history as well as the 9th title for head coach Jim Berkman in his 23 year tenure.

Salisbury came out of the gate hungry, starting with a big defensive stop followed by 3 quick goals, forcing the Tufts coaching staff to call a timeout rather quickly. Tufts was able to recuperate by scoring one tally but ended the first half down 6-1, ironically the same lead they had at half time last year. The difference in the first half was owning the ground and the face-off circle. Salisbury scooped up 18 balls of the turf where Tufts only had 10, won 57% of the draws, and nearly doubled the Jumbos 14 shots with 27 of their own.

The Sea Gulls controlled the rest of the contest, rallying behind stellar goaltending from Division III National Goalkeeper of the Year Johnny Rodriguez and explosive offense from Sam Bradman with a career high 8 points.

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Tune into watch the Virginia and Maryland duke it out for the NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship today, 3:30 on ESPN2.