Salisbury over Nazareth May 30, 2004  |
Salisbury over Nazareth May 30, 2004 |
Gulls are Champs; Civilier is MVP
BALTIMORE, Md. (May 30, 2004) -- Defending champion Salisbury jumped out to a 4-0 first-quarter lead and never trailed as the Sea Gulls went on to defeat 13-9 in the NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse Championship Game at M&T Bank Stadium Sunday. With the win, the Sea Gulls finished the season unbeaten at 20-0 and claimed their second consecutive title and fifth overall. The Golden Flyers, making their first championship game appearance since 1998, finished the season at 16-3.Nazareth sophomore Alex Civalier equaled a career high with 20 saves and was named the game's Most Outstanding Player, becoming only the second player from a losing team to earn that distinction.
Nazareth fell behind 5-1 in the first quarter and never recovered. Salisbury got goals from five different players, while senior midfielder T.J. Rogers broke through for Nazareth with 2:45 left in the period.
"If we could have erased the first quarter, we would have had an even game," said Nazareth Coach Rob Randall. "Our kids may have been a little shocked coming out of the blocks."The Golden Flyers battled back to score six times in the second quarter to close within 8-7 at halftime. Brandon Brown, Justin Wahl and Chad Amidon each scored within a 55-second span to close the gap to 5-4. Salisbury's Justin Smith stopped the string with his second goal of the game with 7:08 left in the half. Nazareth added second-quarter goals from Rogers, Bryan Coon, and Bryan Adams, but Salisbury countered with goals from Andy Arnold and Corey O'Neil (his 72nd goal of the season) to maintain a one-goal lead.
"We felt pretty good coming out of halftime," Randall said. "We felt good about our chances. To Salisbury's credit, though, they played great. They're very athletic team amd they dictated a lot of what we were doing on offense."
Nazareth managed just two goals in the second half -- one by freshman attackman Ryan Hotaling in the third quarter, the other by senior midfielder Brian Navarra in the fourth. Salisbury, meanwhile, plodded along as Arnold and Scott Simmons each scored twice in the second half.Simmons scored just 51 seconds into the third quarter to enable the Sea Gulls to regain their two-goal lead. The teams then went scoreless until Hotaling's unassisted score with 3:15 left in the quarter. Ryan Rohde, though, scored a man-up goal off a pass from O'Neil with just 37 seconds left in the third quarter to give Salisbury a 10-8 advantage with 15 minutes to play.
The Sea Gulls' lead grew to 12-8 on fourth-quarter scores from Simmons and Arnold, before Navarra scored for Nazareth off a pass from longstick Mike Field with 3:51 to play. The Golden Flyers had additional chances in the fourth, but Salisbury goalie Dan Korpon made four of his nine saves, including a key save on a shot by Rogers with 3:30 left. Salisbury was able to control the ball for the balance of the game and Arnold tacked on Salisbury's 13th goal with 20 seconds to play.Salisbury had statistical advantages in shots (48-32), ground balls (53-35), and face-offs (16-10), but were turned away repeated by Civalier, who kept the Golden Flyers close.
"We're disappointed that we didn't win, but getting this far means a great deal," Randall said. "We talked to our guys back in the fall about raising the bar and getting our program back where it belongs. It's a tremendous accomplishment for this group even though we fell a little bit short today."
Salisbury's Andy Arnold High Bandwidth
ACTION VIDEOS
Salisbury's Dan Korpon High Bandwidth Only
Championship MVP Alex Civilier! High Bandwidth Only
Salisbury's Justin Smith High Bandwidth
Nazareth's Thomas Brescia High Bandwidth
Nazareth's Bryan Coon High Bandwidth
Nazareth's Alex Civilier again! High Bandwidth Only
Nazareth's Ryan Hotaling High Bandwidth
Salisbury's Mike Edwards to Scott Simmons High Bandwidth
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