Short-timers: Salisbury Stunned by No. 8 Colby
from press releases
SALISBURY, Md. - Hours after the Salisbury
University women's lacrosse team took over the top spot in the
Division III rankings the Sea Gulls suffered their first loss of
the season. No. 8 Colby College scored a last second goal to upset
No. 1 Salisbury, 15-14, on Tuesday afternoon at Sea Gull
Stadium.
This is the first loss at home for the Sea Gulls since they lost a
NCAA tournament game at the end of the 2006 season to The College
of New Jersey, a streak of 32 consecutive games. In fact, the last
time the Sea Gulls lost a regular-season game at home occurred
seven seasons ago, a streak of 45 straight games, when SU lost
13-10 to The College of New Jersey on March 15, 2003. The
Colby setback also ends Salisbury's 31-game regular-season
winning streak that began back at the start of 2007 season.
Salisbury (9-1), who trailed the majority of the game, tied the
game at 14-14 with 31 seconds left in regulation when junior
attacker Beth Rhodey (two goals, three assists) netted a
free-position goal past Colby goalie Sarah Warnke (15 saves).
Colby won the ensuing draw control which set-up the game-winning
goal. Senior midfielder Heather Nickerson (five goals, one assist)
found a wide open Becky Julian (two goals) in front of the Sea Gull
goal. Julian received the pass and spun and shot it past SU goalie
Sonja Stuart (nine saves) with 12 seconds left in the game.
Time ran out on the Sea Gulls as the Mules (5-1) celebrated the
win in the first-ever meeting between the two schools.
Colby led 7-5 at the half and scored four of the first four goals
to begin the second half. SU trailed 11-6 with just under 22
minutes left in the game. Salisbury rallied to score the next five
goals in a 10-minute span to tie the game at 11.
Senior midfielder Robyn Bishop (three goals) scored two of her
three goals during the run. Sophomore Logan Bilderback (two goals,
one assist) added an unassisted goal and assisted on senior
midfielder Ashleigh Gender's third goal on the day. The other goal
was netted by senior midfielder Holly Johnson (two goals) off a
Rhodey assist.
The two teams traded goals as junior attacker Kim Cudmore (one
goal, three assists) found Bishop at the 4:50 mark to knot the game
at 12. Colby scored back-to-back goals off the sticks of Nickerson
and Kate Sheridan (two goals, two assists) to give the Mules a
14-12 lead with 2:11 left in the game. Salisbury didn't give up as
Cudmore scored an unassisted goal a minute later before Rhodey tied
the game for the eighth time with the free-position goal.
Salisbury scored the game's first goal when Cudmore assisted
Gender less than two minutes into the game. SU led for five minutes
before Nickerson scored her first goal on the day off an assist
from Amy Campbell (one goal, one assist). The Sea Gulls regained
the lead at the 12:09 mark in the first half when Bilderback netted
her first goal on an assist from Rhodey to give SU a 4-3
advantage.
Colby answered seconds later on a goal by Nickerson and then a
goal by Kathleen Kramer (two goals, one assist) at the 6:26 mark.
The Mules scored the final two goals of the half to take a 7-5 lead
into intermission.
Colby won 19-of-31 draw controls as the two teams both recorded 36
shots. Salisbury was nearly perfect on clears (14-of-15) while
Colby converted 15-of-22 clear attempts. The Sea Gull defense
caused 12 of the 16 Mule turnovers and scooped up 15 ground balls.
Salisbury shot 50 percent on free-position attempts (3-for-6) while
the Mules struggled with a 20 percent showing (2-for-10).
