BALTIMORE – The Salisbury University Sea Gulls won their ninth NCAA Division III title with a convincing 19-7 victory over Tufts in the 2011 men's lacrosse final on Sunday night at M&T Bank Stadium. Salisbury junior Sam Bradman dominated the game with seven goals, setting a record for the most ever in the DIII final and earning the Most Outstanding Player of the game award.
In a rematch of last year's NCAA final, won by Tufts 9-6, Sunday was Salisbury's night. In addition to scoring the most goals against the Jumbos since March 2008, their 12-goal margin of victory is the largest in an NCAA Div. III title game.
"Sailsbury kicked our tails today," said Tufts coach Mike Daly. "Our hats are off to them. We weren't taking the high road earlier in the week when we were talking about our respect for them. We have it. There's not too much hindsight into how we prepared and how we played. We just got our butts kicked today and we'll be back tomorrow."
Bradman added an assist to finish the game with eight points, while the Sea Gulls also received four goals and an assist from Tony Mendes and two goals with two assists by Matt Cannone. SU finished with a 46-29 advantage in shots, with goalie Johnny Rodriguez making four saves for the Sea Gulls in 47:25 of action. Tyler Granelli won 15 of 27 face-offs for Salisbury, while Rodriguez and Mendes each had four ground balls.
For Tufts, senior D.J. Hessler (Monkton, MD) finished with two goals and three assists for five points, breaking his own school record for points in a season. He finished with 95 points on 38 goals and 57 assists. Senior Ryan Molloy (Setauket, NY) tallied twice for the Jumbos, while senior Matt Witko (Chappaqua, NY) scooped up a team-high four ground balls. Goalies Patton Watkins (Chattanooga, TN) and Steven Foglietta (Oceanside, NY) combined for seven saves in the Tufts cage.
In an exact opposite of last year, when the Jumbos led Salisbury 6-1 at the end of one period, it was Salisbury who led by a 6-1 margin after 15 minutes of play on Sunday. They came out flying, taking a 3-0 lead just 4:15 into the game. Sophomore Ryan Clarke assisted on two of the goals. Salisbury had advantages of 16-4 in shots and 13-5 ground balls for the period.
Tufts sophomore Geordie Schafer (Rancho Santa Fe, CA) broke the run, pulling Tufts within 3-1 at 9:50 of the first quarter off a Hessler assist. However, the Sea Gulls finished the period with three goals, with Cannone scoring and assisting, to lead 6-1.
The most momentum that the Jumbos had in the game came early in the second, when Hessler and junior Kevin McCormick (Laytonsville, MD) scored 43 seconds apart to make the score 6-3. However, the Sea Gulls answered by scoring the next three goals to lead 9-3 at halftime.
"Every time we got to those points where we could make it a two-goal game, they made the plays, they scored," Daly said "You can't really break it down more than that."
After Clarke put Salisbury up 10-3 early in the third, back-to-back goals by Hessler and Molloy kept Tufts in the game at 10-5 with 7:42 remaining in the third quarter. However, the Sea Gulls again had a response, scoring the next five - including three in a row by Bradman - to lead 15-5 at 11:24 of the fourth.
Tufts junior Sean Kirwan (Boonton Township, NJ) scored his 66th goal of the season at 11:20 of the fourth, and then four more Salisbury goals and a final goal by Molloy led to the 19-7 result.
"We had three basic things that helped us to success tonight and the first was transition defense," said Salisbury coach Jim Berkman, who has directed the Sea Gulls to all nine of their national titles. "We knew Tufts could score in transition and we really limited that today. Secondly was covering the crease and not allowing the crease goals. We gave up a few today, but they didn't get the number they usually do. And third was dodging and feeding and I think our guys really executed those things today."
Salisbury finished its season with a 21-1 record, while Tufts ended at 18-3.
Game Box Score
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