Capital Athletic Conference

Reigning national champion Salisbury has captured 17 league titles in the 20-year history of the Capital Athletic Conference (CAC), but this season's campaign may be the most critical to the program. Wednesday night's 10-8 loss to No. 3 Stevenson dropped the No. 6 Sea Gulls to 10-3 and may have endangered the team's bid for an at-large berth in the South Region of the NCAA tournament. Coach Jim Berkman also pointed out another side effect of the setback. “We might have lost the opportunity to host some playoff games,” he said.

No. 4 Stevenson not only defeated No. 12 and reigning national champion Salisbury, 12-6, in a NCAA tournament semifinal to advance to the program's first title game, but the Mustangs may also have banished some ghosts of the past. Stevenson had been escorted out of the postseason in two of the past three seasons by the Sea Gulls, who still command a 10-6 advantage in their series with their former Capital Athletic Conference foe. What made Sunday's triumph even more special is that the Mustangs had been evicted from the Final Four in 2010 and 2012 by Salisbury, a program that has captured 10 national titles.

Salisbury defenseman Zeke Smith was named the Capital Athletic Conference's Defensive Player of the Week on Monday. The 6-foot-4, 210-pound sophomore anchored a Sea Gulls defense that surrendered just seven goals in two wins against McDaniel and No. 15 Gettysburg. Smith had a team-best five caused turnovers and was tied for second on the team with six ground balls in those two victories. He leads Salisbury with eight caused turnovers this season.

When the NCAA tournament was unveiled late Sunday night, Dickinson - one of just two teams left in Division III with undefeated records - was the only team in the South region with a first-round bye. Roanoke got the next seed, and Stevenson was third, falling in line with the most recent regional rankings . It was what Mustangs coach Paul Cantebene anticipated. “It's a fair bracket,” he said Monday morning. “We're going to see good teams no matter what. So from what we did this season, we're in a very fair place.” Stevenson (17-2)

Senior midfielder Linda Ackermann scored three goals and had two assists as Salisbury captured its third straight Capital Athletic Conference championship in women's lacrosse with a 16-8 victory over Goucher yesterday. The Sea Gulls (12-0) are No. 1 in Division III and have won 23 of their past 24 games dating back to last season. The visiting Gophers (8-7) were led by freshman Emily Blatter's three goals and one assist. No. 4 Dartmouth 12, No. 3 Princeton 9: The win was the first for the host Big Green (13-0, 7-0)

Freshman Katryn Costenbader scored 14 of her 16 points in the second half as St. Mary's defeated Marymount, 66-57, last night in a women's Capital Athletic Conference game in Arlington, Va. The Seahawks (14-2, 5-2) led 30-28 at halftime. Marymount went scoreless for a five-minute stretch early in the second half. Felicia Harris had a game-high 21 points for St. Mary's. York 60, Goucher 36: Katie Parise scored a game-high 14 points to lead the host Spartans (12-5, 5-2) to a Capital Athletic Conference win. The Gophers (3-13, 0-7)

Marymount won its sixth straight Capital Athletic Conference women's tournament title with a 67-63 win yesterday over Salisbury State, gaining an NCAA Division III tournament bid.Cori Carson led the Saints (25-2, 17-0) with 26 points, 14 rebounds and six blocks.Amy Fenzel paced the Sea Gulls (18-8, 11-4) with a 26-point effort.

Senior guard David Clark (Catonsville) scored 26 as second-seeded Goucher (18-9) upset top-seeded host York, 82-72, for its second straight Capital Athletic Conference tournament title and an automatic berth in the Division III tournament. Pairings will be announced today. York fell to 20-7.* Chowan 60, Frostburg State 52: Chowan (10-15) beat Frostburg (17-7) despite 16 points by Damon Stevenson.

Senior forward Katie Haley scored a game-high 25 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead host Western Maryland to a 67-53 upset of Johns Hopkins in a Centennial Conference women's college basketball game last night.The Green Terror (15-9, 10-4) ended an 11-game winning streak by the Blue Jays (20-3, 12-1), the fifth-ranked team in NCAA Division III, and kept them from tying the school record of 12 straight victories set last season.Bowie State 64, Elizabeth City 39: Beverly Winstead scored 19 and Tarsha Wilson had 18 points and 12 rebounds as the host Bulldogs (24-1)

No. 4 Stevenson not only defeated No. 12 and reigning national champion Salisbury, 12-6, in a NCAA tournament semifinal to advance to the program's first title game, but the Mustangs may also have banished some ghosts of the past. Stevenson had been escorted out of the postseason in two of the past three seasons by the Sea Gulls, who still command a 10-6 advantage in their series with their former Capital Athletic Conference foe. What made Sunday's triumph even more special is that the Mustangs had been evicted from the Final Four in 2010 and 2012 by Salisbury, a program that has captured 10 national titles.

St. Mary's has been to five Capital Athletic Conference tournament finals and emerged empty-handed each time. But the program had not been to the title game since 2007, which makes Sunday's game at No. 8 Salisbury meaningful for coach Chris Hasbrouck. “It's another step,” he said Thursday. “At the beginning of the season, we set some goals, and this was definitely one of them. We envisioned ourselves here, and it's a lot of games and a long season, and we've persevered, and we're in a spot where we thought we would be, and that's with a chance to win the conference title.

Salisbury has not missed an NCAA tournament since 1988, capturing the championship 10 times - including in each of the last two seasons. With a 14-4 record and the No. 4 ranking in the South region, the program is in solid position to extend its consecutive streak to 25 appearances. But that is not how coach Jim Berkman feels. He said the team is determined to defeat St. Mary's (11-6) in the Capital Athletic Conference tournament final at Sea Gull Stadium on Sunday and seize the automatic qualifier to the NCAA tournament.

When reigning national champion Salisbury opens a semifinal contest of the Capital Athletic Conference tournament against Mary Washington this Saturday at Sea Gull Stadium, 10 days will have passed since the team's last game - a 7-6 setback to then-No. 12 Washington College on April 17. Coach Jim Berkman is hoping that the Sea Gulls (13-4), who slipped from No. 5 to No. 7 in the latest United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association poll because of that loss to the Shoremen, will still be sharp when they take the field Saturday.

Dropping a 9-8 decision to Capital Athletic Conference foe York cost St. Mary's the No. 2 seed and a first-round bye in the conference tournament. But that may not be such a bad thing. Wednesday's first-round game against Wesley at Seahawk Stadium in St. Mary's City gives the team an opportunity to erase the memory of that setback to the Spartans, who leapfrogged over the Seahawks for the No. 2 seed and the bye. And the team gets to play one more game in a familiar setting. “We're home, which is great,” coach Chris Hasbrouck said Tuesday.

Frostburg State took all the guesswork out of its placement in the Capital Athletic Conference tournament, thrashing Wesley, 17-9, last Saturday to capture the No. 4 seed. Not only did the Bobcats improve to 11-5 overall and 3-3 in the league, but they earned the right to play host to Mary Washington (8-6, 2-4) in a first-round game in the conference tournament for the first time in school history. Had the team lost to the Wolverines Saturday, Frostburg State still would have earned the No. 4 seed thanks to its head-to-head tiebreaker over the Eagles.

Chris Hasbrouck is not happy that St. Mary's dropped its regular-season finale to Capital Athletic Conference rival York last Saturday, and the coach wants to see his players show a little emotion when they meet Wesley in the first round of the conference tournament this Wednesday at Seahawk Stadium in St. Mary's City. “We need to go in there with a little bit of a chip on our shoulder,” Hasbrouck said Tuesday morning. “They knew that for a lot of reasons, we let a great opportunity slip by. I think we play better when we feel like there's more at stake.

J.L. Reppert had three goals as 13th-ranked Navy defeated Mount St. Mary's, 11-7, yesterday in men's lacrosse at Dewey Field in Annapolis.The Midshipmen (6-5) broke from a 3-3 tie in the second quarter with five consecutive goals for an 8-3 lead early in the third period.Goucher 8, Marymount 7: The visiting Gophers (5-9) rallied from a 5-2 deficit in the third quarter to win a first-round game of the Capital Athletic Conference tournament. Tim Asher had three goals for Goucher.WomenAmerican 14, Mount St. Mary's 9: Eleni Vagelatos scored five goals and had an assist as the visiting Eagles (7-6)

SALISBURY -- Casey Musick (Cardinal Gibbons) scored 23 points to lead five players in double figures yesterday as Salisbury State defeated Marymount, 93-81, in the title game of the Capital Athletic Conference tournament.The Sea Gulls (19-8) earned an automatic bid into the NCAA Division III tournament.Salisbury will be making its fourth trip to the NCAA tournament and its first in four years.Salisbury raced to a 23-6 advantage over the first five minutes and built its lead to 19 points midway through the first half.

St. Mary's is in the midst of one of the program's best seasons since Chris Hasbrouck became the head coach prior to the 2009 campaign, and one of the key factors has been the team's success in one-goal games. The Seahawks (9-5 overall and 4-1 in the Capital Athletic Conference) are 3-1 in one-goal decisions in 2013. The last time the team thrived this well in one-goal games was Hasbrouck's debut year when that squad also went 3-1. In the three years between 2009 and 2013, St. Mary's compiled a combined record of 2-3 in one-goal decisions.

The disappointment of St. Mary's 15-4 loss to No. 5 Salisbury, the reigning Division III national champion, last Saturday has given way to the excitement surrounding the team's upcoming home contest against Capital Athletic Conference foe York this Saturday. The Seahawks (9-5 overall and 4-1 in the conference) are battling the Spartans (12-3, 4-1) for the No. 2 seed in the CAC tournament, which begins next Wednesday. A victory would give either side a first-round bye in the six-team field and at least one home game.