SALISBURY, Md. - The No. 2 Salisbury University women's lacrosse team advanced to the NCAA Division III national quarterfinal on Saturday afternoon as the Sea Gulls defeated No. 20 Washington and Lee, 10-7, in front of a crowd of 286 at Sea Gull Field.

The Sea Gulls (19-1) will face Colorado College (11-5) tomorrow (Sunday) in the regional final here at 1:00 p.m. This is the fifth straight regional final that Salisbury will play in.

Salisbury scored first just under two minutes into the game as senior Ani Khatchatoorian netted a feed from junior Sue Ackermann to give the Gulls the early advantage. The lead was short lived as the Generals (15-4) stormed back to score the next three goals to take a 3-1 lead with 20 minutes left in the half.

SU went on its first big run of the game as it scored the next four goals of the half to take a 5-3 lead. W&L cashed in on the final two goals of the half to knot the score at five.

Salisbury and Washington and Lee traded goals to open the second half but the Gulls snuck ahead with a 7-6 lead with 22 minutes left in the game. Senior Natalie Degele scored the next two goals within two minutes of each other to push SU's lead to three at 9-6.

W&L's Megan Slosson scored her second goal of the game at the halfway point of the second half but junior Alexis Morrell put the game out of reach with the game's final goal at 4:46 to give the Gulls the three-goal win.

Sophomore Sonja Stuart made her second start of the season and made seven saves while W&L goalie Sarah Tilbor made 13 stops.

The Sea Gulls outshot the Generals 32-19 and scooped up seven more groundballs, 20-13. Washington and Lee committed 24 turnovers for the game; eight were forced by the Sea Gulls.

Last season Salisbury fell to The College of New Jersey in the regional final, 6-5.

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SALISBURY, Md. -- Second-ranked Salisbury used a three-goal spurt in the second half to break a 6-6 tie en route to a 10-7 victory over 20th-ranked Washington and Lee in the NCAA Women's Lacrosse Tournament on Saturday morning in Salisbury, Md.

The Seagulls opened the scoring as Ani Khatchatoorian found the net off an assist from Sue Ackerman just 1:46 into the game. However, the Generals scored the game's next three goals, including a goal and an assist from sophomore attacker Kelsi Robinson (West Chester, Pa./Westtown), for a 3-1 lead with 20:03 left in the opening period.

Stephanie Shores then ignited a four-goal spurt for SU at the 18:18 mark when she scored unassisted. W&L junior goalkeeper Sarah Tilbor (West Simsbury, Conn./Simsbury) was then assessed a yellow card at 16:20, forcing her to leave the field and give way to sophomore Ali Hillyard (Media, Pa./Episcopal) for three minutes. The Seagulls scored two goals during that stretch and another upon Tilbor's return to assume a 5-3 lead with 11:10 left in the contest. The Generals rebounded to score the final two goals of the half, including a goal and one assist from junior midfielder Megan Slosson (Cockeysville, Md./Maryvale Prep), to knot the score at 5-5 heading into the break.

The two teams exchanged goals in the opening 7:20 of the second stanza to make the score 6-6, but a Stephanie Shores goal and two tallies by Natalie Degele gave Salisbury a 9-6 advantage with 19:42 remaining. W&L sliced into the lead when Slosson scored unassisted at the 15:38 mark, but the Generals could not find the net again and the Seagulls added one more for good measure in advancing to the final eight of the tournament.

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2007-05-12