Saturday was a big day for the Salisbury University men’s lacrosse program, as the team held its annual “Lax 4 Leukemia” game.
Prior to the game, the program held a silent auction, with all proceeds benefiting the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
In addition to the leukemia game, it was also the team’s senior game. Minutes before faceoff Saturday, the team honored each of its 10 seniors and their families with a pregame ceremony.
Eventually, all of the festivities came to a close and it was time to play lacrosse. The Sea Gulls were coming off their first loss of the season after falling to York College of Pennsylvania on Wednesday.
Salisbury was looking to rebound, and luckily for them, Southern Virginia University (5-11) is a great team to do it against.
Winless in conference play, this season has been a struggle up to this point for the Knights. Surely the last thing they wanted to do was face a Salisbury team coming off a loss.
The Sea Gulls got off to a bit of a slow start, firing shots off the pipe time and time again.
Sophomore attackman Cross Ferrara got Salisbury going on offense, scoring the team’s first three goals. Ferrara would finish the game with a team-high six goals.
On senior day, it’s only fitting that perhaps the most impressive performance of the game belonged to a senior. Brett Malamphy, as he has done all season long, dominated the faceoff game for the Sea Gulls winning 21 out of 24 faceoffs.
“I just want to do my job and give the ball to our offense," Malamphy said. "When they get as many opportunities as they did today, good things happen for our team.”
Brett Malamphy added that he and the rest of the seniors thoroughly appreciated the ceremony held by the team.
“It’s what we all play for," Malamphy said. “Just knowing that this is our last season and one of the last times we’re going to be able to play the game, it’s truly special. It’s sad, but at the same time, it’s a great feeling.”
Following goalkeeper Brandon Warren’s struggles against York, backup T.J. Ellis got the start today for Salisbury. Ellis was phenomenal in goal, tallying seven saves and allowing only four goals.
Wednesday’s loss to No. 3 York was a tough wake-up call for the team. As good as they have been all season, they know that they need to be even better for them to get where they want to be.
With that being said, Salisbury usually doesn’t waste time brooding over its losses, and they didn’t this time either. Over the course of the past 5 seasons, the Sea Gulls are 8-2 in games following losses.
The Gulls won in resounding fashion, defeating the Knights 26-9. Salisbury’s 26 goals were a season high.
“I think our guys were really anxious to get back out on the field and improve the Sea Gull way,” Coach Berkman said.
The Sea Gulls couldn’t have dreamt of a better response than the one they showed on Saturday. The road to the national championship in Philadelphia won’t be an easy one, but for now, the Gulls are back on track.
By TOMMY WEST
Staff writer
Featured photo: Brett Malamphy runs down the path before the game (Marshall Haas image).
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