The No. 4 Salisbury University field hockey team faced off against Washington College on Wednesday evening. The Sea Gulls remained undefeated on the year, leaving Sea Gull Stadium with a 7-0 victory.
Head coach Dawn Chamberlin acknowledged her team’s ability to capitalize on opportunities in the win.
“Last couple of games, we had a lot of nice shots that were not being finished,” Chamberlin said. “Today, we wanted to make sure that we got the finish on the shot.”
Salisbury’s hot start offensively carried it to the win, as the Sea Gulls (5-0) tallied five of their seven goals in the first half. The seven-goal mark was the highest for SU since 2017.
SU senior forward Tara Daddio said that the big idea offensively was being ready for the ball to reach them at any given time.
“[The focus was] connecting our passes and being hungry in the circle, making sure that every deflection off the goalie was going right back to her to get that quick shot off,” Daddio said.
Salisbury’s aggressiveness near the goal was shown within the first five minutes of play, as senior forward Rachel Domanico scored off an assist from Daddio. This was quickly followed by another goal coming from the stick of junior defender/midfielder Camryn Dennis, assisted by junior forward/midfielder Jenna Partilla.
Coming into the game, Chamberlin said she wanted to see improvement from her team on the offensive end. She emphasized the ability to score on penalty corners as a key area of improvement for the Sea Gulls.
“[Our team] was getting some good looks from penalty corners and have not been able to score,” Chamberlin said. “We wanted to [convert on penalty corners] today, and we did that successfully.”
Leading the charge from penalty corners was Daddio, scoring two goals in the second quarter. The first of these was assisted by Arielle Johnston, and the second goal was unassisted.
At the half, Salisbury held a 5-0 lead over the Shorewomen (1-3). The Sea Gulls held a 12-1 shot advantage over Washington, and Daddio led the way offensively with five first-half points.
Salisbury continued to control possession after the break, recording nine second-half shots. Two of its nine shots led to goals by sophomore forward Peyton Kemp and junior forward/midfielder Rebecca Lloyd.
Despite the strong showing from Salisbury’s offense, Washington goalies Kayla Zapcic and Caroline Kral turned in solid days in front of goal. Out of Salisbury’s 21 shots on the evening, Washington’s goalies combined for a total of 10 saves.
The Sea Gulls turned in an impressive day on the defensive end as well. The only Shorewoman shot in the game came from junior forward Kailyn Brandt in the seventh minute, and it was saved by Dom Farrace.
Chamberlin said that the victory shows the players their improvement while still showing them what needs to be worked on.
“It’s reinforcing the things that we’re doing well and tweaking the things that still need to be tweaked to make our game a little stronger,” Chamberlin said.
The Sea Gulls will return to action on Saturday when they travel to face Cabrini University at 12 p.m.
By TYLER SMITH
Staff writer
Featured photos: Emma Reider images.
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