No. 8 Salisbury Records 14th Straight CAC Title
Salisbury, Md. - A goal in each half helped the eighth-ranked Sea Gulls of Salisbury University capture its 14th straight Capital Athletic Conference championship with a 2-0 victory over St. Mary's College of Maryland Saturday afternoon.
Salisbury (15-3) will next await the official announcement of the 2008 NCAA Division III field hockey tournament field, expected to be released on Monday morning. SU has made 23 NCAA tournament appearances, 14 straight, in its programs history. The Sea Gulls have won four national championships, three of which happened between 2003 and 2005.
Saturday's appearance in the CAC title game was the second in a row for St. Mary's, who finished the regular season second in the conference standings to earn a first-round bye in the CAC playoffs. The loss ends the Seahawks' season at 8-9.
The Sea Gulls needed over 34 minutes to get on the board as SU struck with seven seconds left to play in the first half. Freshman forward Alison Bloodsworth (Delmar, Md./Delmar) redirected a pass from sophomore midfielder Kandice Hancock (Westover, Md./Washington) over the left shoulder of sophomore goalie Emma Lauhoff (Wayne, Pa./Radnor) for the goal. Salisbury led 1-0 at the break.
In the second half, freshman forward Caitlin Walker (Fallston, Md./Fallston) backed down the Seahawk defense 15 minutes in and took a shot that was stopped by Lauhoff. However, junior forward Beverly Beladino (Putnam Valley, N.Y./Putnam Valley) was positioned by the right corner of the cage to smack the rebound shot into the cage and put SU up 2-0.
Lauhoff registered a career-high 15 saves in the loss as Salisbury rattled off 24 shots. Sophomore Anna Cooke (Ann Arbor, Mich./Ann Arbor Pioneer) had no need to make a save today as the Sea Gull defense held St. Mary's to just one shot all game that was off the mark.
Salisbury recorded an impressive 20-0 advantage in penalty corners.
