SALISBURY, Md. - The scoreboard at Sea Gull Stadium wasn't wrong Wednesday afternoon when the score posted had a visiting team leading the top-ranked Salisbury University men's lacrosse team. For the first time in nine games at Sea Gull Stadium the Gulls trailed 3-1 midway through the second quarter. Salisbury (7-0) overcame its sloppy play and regrouped in the second half to defeat pesky Widener University, 13-7, before a crowd of 300.

SU looked out of sync in the first quarter as the high potent offense, which averages over 20 goals a game, could only score one in the first quarter. Junior Greg Titus (two goals, two assists) scored his 20th goal of the season off an assist from sophomore Kylor Berkman (three assists) at the 7:50 mark. That was the longest stretch (seven minutes, 10 seconds) this season for Salisbury to score its first goal of the game.

Widener seized the moment to attack a vulnerable Salisbury team. The Pride (2-1) tied the game at 1-1 off an unassisted Chris Matthews goal. Four minutes later, Widener scored back-to-back goals, within 12 seconds of each other, to take a surprising 3-1 lead.

The Sea Gulls hadn't trailed in a game since last season's national championship game when SUNY Cortland defeated Salisbury 13-12 in overtime. The 3-1 second quarter margin was also the same deficit Salisbury faced against arch-rival Washington College in last year's NCAA quarterfinals. SU went onto win that game (8-4) and later advanced to its fourth straight national championship game.

Salisbury senior attackman Eric Bishop scored two of his game-high five goals to close out the first half to send the Sea Gulls into the break up, 5-3. In the second half, SU scored four of the first five goals. Widener answered with three straight goals with the latter coming off the stick of Clint Quedenfeld (two goals, one assist) 53 seconds into the fourth quarter.

Bishop and junior attackman Matt Hickman (four goals, one assist) scored two apiece to close out the final quarter and seal the 54th straight regular-season win and the 49th straight win at home for Salisbury. Hickman's four goals on the day gives him 30 for the season through seven games.

Widener goalie Anthony Johnson played a great game as he made 15 saves as SU unloaded 45 shots. SU controlled the faceoffs as it won 17-of-23 and were a perfect 24-for-24 on clears.

Salisbury will next host Denison University at Noon, Sunday, March 18, at Sea Gull Stadium.

Score by Period       1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
Widener.............  0  3  3  1 -  7
Salisbury...........  1  4  4  4 - 13
 
Widener SCORING:
GOALS: Quedenfeld, Clint 2; Stromko, Brian 2; Jones, Darnell 1;
       Weber, Luke 1; Matthews, Chris 1.
ASSISTS: Jones, Darnell 1; Malampy, Cory 1; Quedenfeld, Clint 1;
         Upp, Justin 1.
 
Salisbury SCORING:
GOALS: Eric Bishop 5; Matt Hickman 4; Greg Titus 2; Brett Yoder 1;
       Mike Von Kamecke 1.
ASSISTS: Kylor Berkman 3; Eric Bishop 3; Greg Titus 2; Brett Yoder 2;
         Matt Dasinger 1; Matt Hickman 1; Michael Lennon 1.
 
SHOTS BY PERIOD       1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
Widener.............  3  6  9  3 - 21
Salisbury........... 13 11 11 10 - 45
 
GROUND BALLS BY PRD   1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
Widener.............  8  8  7  1 - 24
Salisbury........... 10 10 10  8 - 38
 
FACE-OFFS BY PRD       1     2     3     4     Total
----------------------------------------------------
Widener.............  0-1   2-8   3-8   1-6  -  6-23
Salisbury...........  1-1   6-8   5-8   5-6  - 17-23
 
CLEARS BY PERIOD       1     2     3     4     Total
----------------------------------------------------
Widener.............  6-8   9-9   5-6   4-7  - 24-30
Salisbury...........  5-5   8-8   5-5   6-6  - 24-24
 
EXTRA-MAN OPPS         1     2     3     4     Total
----------------------------------------------------
Widener.............  0-1   0-0   1-3   0-2  -  1-6
Salisbury...........  0-2   1-1   1-1   0-1  -  2-5
 
SAVES BY PERIOD       1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
Widener.............  5  5  3  2 - 15
Salisbury...........  2  3  1  1 -  7
 
TURNOVERS BY PRD      1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
Widener.............  9  6  6  7 - 28
Salisbury...........  7  7  4  5 - 23
 
PENALTIES - Widener 5/5:00; Salisbury 6/4:30.

2007-03-14