OWINGS MILLS, Md. - Salisbury scored the game's first six goals while holding the nation's ninth-best scoring offense without a goal in the first half as the 10th-ranked Sea Gulls won their 15th-straight CAC men's lacrosse championship with a 13-5 victory over No. 1 Stevenson Sunday at the Caves Athletics Complex. The loss snaps a 15-game win streak for the Mustangs (14-1), including 12 consecutive at home.

Salisbury (14-3), who outscored the Mustangs 9-2 through three quarters, won despite having to play back-to-back road games in the conference tournament for the first time since joining the CAC in 1995.

Jake DeLillo had four goals and one assist while scoring the first three of the game for the third-seeded Sea Gulls. Matt Cannone finished with three goals and Kylor Berkman added three assists.

Stevenson's five goals were the fewest the team has scored since a 10-5 loss at No. 8 Washington (Md.) on March 21, 2007, a span of 42 games. Junior Nic Bevacqua (Boonton Township, N.J./Mountain Lakes) had one goal and one assist, while sophomore Jimmy Dailey (Westminster/Winter Hills) had two assists.

The 13 goals surrendered by the Mustangs were a season-high and the most since last year's CAC championship game at Salisbury when the dropped a 20-10 decision.

After Bevacqua got Stevenson on the board with 9:11 remaining in the third quarter to cut the deficit to 6-1, DeLillo answered with his fourth goal of the game just 13 seconds later to swing the momentum back in the Sea Gulls' favor as Cannone added his second at 6:33.

Junior Geoff Hebert (Lutherville/Dulaney) made 10 saves for the Mustangs. His counterpart, Johnny Rodriguez, had 11 saves for Salisbury, including five in the fourth quarter.

With the win, the two-time defending national champion Sea Gulls earn the CAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse Championship while Stevenson will have to wait until the championship selection show on May 3 for its first-ever NCAA championship appearance.

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OWINGS MILLS, Md. - The No. 10 Salisbury University men's lacrosse team captured their 15th consecutive Capital Athletic Conference championship on the road Sunday with a 13-5 win over No. 1 Stevenson University before a crowd of 1,781. The Sea Gulls, the two-time defending national champions, claim the conference automatic bid for the 2009 NCAA Division III men's lacrosse tournament where they will make their 21st straight appearance.

The Sea Gulls (14-3) used a patient offense and strong defense to defeat the Mustangs (14-1) who entered with the sixth best scoring defense and ninth best scoring offense. This is SU's first victory over a No. 1 Division III team since April 17, 1994 when the then second-ranked Sea Gulls defeated top-ranked Nazareth College, 21-2, on the road.

"It was just a huge win. To come up here and beat the No. 1 team in the country, who's had a couple real quality wins, and to win the conference championship is great," said SU coach Jim Berkman, the all-time winningest coach in NCAA men's lacrosse history.

Salisbury jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead on a pair of unassisted goals by junior attackman Jake DeLillo in the first quarter. The Salisbury defense stifled the Mustang attack as sophomore goalie Johnny Rodriquez made five saves in the first quarter. The SU defense played brilliant in the frame as it forced six turnovers and blocked a bevy of Mustang shots.

The Gulls opened up the second quarter with another goal from DeLillo who received a nice feed from senior All-American midfielder Kylor Berkman (three assists) just 1:23 seconds into the quarter. Berkman, the reigning National Player and Midfielder of the Year, would set up senior Stephen Krasco on a man-up opportunity to put the Sea Gulls up 4-0. SU would close the half out with a pair of unassisted goals by freshman Matt Cannone (three goals) and sophomore Eric Krum (two goals, one assist) to take a 6-0 lead into intermission.

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2009-04-19