Gulls

how do gullsknow to flyinwardfrom the seawhen farmersplow their fieldsdoes the smellof opened earthcatch on streams of windblowing seawardor does the soundof the plowstriking the earthechoechoecho

This was supposed to be the year that Salisbury fell from the top of the Division III mountain - hard. After graduation had sapped the team of six starters, two more 20-goal scorers and two short-stick defensive midfielders, the team limped to a 1-2 start and suffered its first losing streak since 2009 and dropped below .500 for the first time since 1989. The Sea Gulls rebounded with nine consecutive wins, but was stunned, 7-6, by Washington College on April 17 in their final contest before the Capital Athletic Conference tournament and then upended, 13-11, by St. Mary's in the conference tournament final.

Katie Mullinix seems to have everything to be successful that any pitcher would want. The Salisbury senior has a relaxed attitude and confidence to use any of her six pitches at any time. That combination helped her open the softball season by throwing back-to-back gems (no-hitter and perfect game) March 1 and March 2 that will earn her notice in Sports Illustrated's "Faces In The Crowd" section Monday. "It was a great way to start the season," Mullinix said Tuesday night while on a break at her job at a Salisbury fitness gym. "It was our first games, and everybody was a little uncertain about how we'd play."

Prior to Sunday night's NCAA tournament semifinal against No. 4 Stevenson, No. 12 and reigning national champion Salisbury had advanced to nine of 10 Final Fours and won every single one to advance to the title game. That did not happen against the Mustangs, who registered a convincing 12-6 victory over the Sea Gulls at Mustang Stadium in Owings Mills. While the Stevenson players and coaches celebrated with their fans, Salisbury (17-6) huddled in front of the net on its side of the field and got some words of wisdom from coach Jim Berkman.

GETTYSBURG, Pa. -- If the Division III rankings put out by the U.S. Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association are a true indication of the relative abilities of the teams, look for Salisbury State to have another mammoth season. Not that the Sea Gulls haven't been overpowering already. The top-ranked team crushed its supposed closest competitor, No. 2 Gettysburg, 14-3, yesterday for its 10th straight victory this season. The Gulls have now won 19 in a row, dating back a year [today] when this same Gettysburg team registered a 10-8 triumph in Salisbury.

SEA GULLS ARE NOT the most appealing of birds. These "starlings of the sea" are loud, aggressive scavengers and able thieves. Not confined to shoreline, they flock on inland parking lots and landfills, feeding on human refuse like winged rats. Yet there is little justification to eradicate gulls simply because of their adaptive success and occasional nuisance.Nonetheless, on Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge off Cape Cod, federal workers poisoned the nests of 6,000 gulls in an attempt to restore "avian diversity" on the island and protect two endangered birds, the piping plover and roseate tern.

EWING, N.J. - The nation's top-scoring Division III offense carried No.7 Salisbury State to the most wins in school history and a first appearance in the Final Four, but that attack was nowhere to be found yesterday. Top-ranked College of New Jersey shut out the Sea Gulls for the first 36:21 of the game and rolled to a 19-4 NCAA Division III women's lacrosse tournament semifinal victory on its home field, Lions Stadium. The Lions, who were upset by Amherst in last year's semifinal, will go after their 10th national title at noon today when they meet No.4 Williams, an upset winner yesterday over defending champ Middlebury.

COLLEGE PARK -- When the Salisbury State men's lacrosse team is playing, be advised that you shouldn't blink or you might miss the fireworks.The No. 3 Sea Gulls sprinted to a five-goal halftime advantage against fifth-ranked Middlebury and refused to slow down in the sweltering heat, cruising to a 13-6 victory in the finals of the Division III championship at Byrd Stadium yesterday.Senior attackman Brian Smith was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player for scoring three goals and adding an assist.

Senior Megan Shea scored four goals and senior Jackie Toner added three as seventh-ranked William Smith clipped No. 5 Salisbury, 12-11, in an NCAA Division III women's lacrosse tournament quarterfinal yesterday at Salisbury. William Smith (16-2) advances to Saturday's national semifinal against two-time defending national champion Middlebury, marking the school's 11th final four appearance and first since 1999. Salisbury (14-2) had won a school-record 12 straight games. Leading 8-4 at halftime, the Herons extended their lead to 12-7 when Shea scored her fourth goal of the game - 50th of the season - with 10:44 remaining.

In a rematch of last year's Capital Athletic Conference men's soccer championship, which was decided in a shootout, Salisbury and Mary Washington again battled through scoreless regulation and overtime periods before settling things with penalty kicks. This time, the Sea Gulls (14-2-2) celebrated the championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament when Dan Lader converted his kick to give Salisbury a 4-2 shootout win in Fredericksburg, Va. The Eagles, last year's CAC champs, ended their season 13-3-3.

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.

Reigning national champion Salisbury has won 10 of 15 meetings in this series and is 2-0 against Stevenson in the NCAA tournament semifinals. But the Mustangs took the last contest, 10-8, at Sea Gull Stadium on April 3. The Sea Gulls (17-5) - ranked 12th in the most recent United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association poll - are making their 10th Final Four appearance in the last 11 years and have advanced to the title game every time. Junior attackman Rhett DePol has recorded 19 goals and a team-high 34 assists after managing nine goals and eight assists last season.

For the third time in the last four seasons, Stevenson and Salisbury will meet in the NCAA Division III tournament semifinals and at stake is a spot in the championship final at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia on May 26. Both sides took different paths to the same destination. The No. 4 Mustangs (20-2) have been ranked in top five for pretty much the entire year and collected a program-record 20th victory with Wednesday night's 13-7 victory over No. 13 Lynchburg. The No. 12 Sea Gulls (17-5)

The second-seeded Salisbury women's lacrosse team overcame its first second-half deficit of the season as Shelby Nemecek (Liberty) broke a 7-all tie with just over eight minutes to play in an 8-7 victory over third-seeded Middlebury (18-3) in the NCAA Division III semifinals Saturday at Stevenson. The win sends the Sea Gulls to their sixth national championship appearance in program history, where they will face Trinity (Conn.) College, an 8-6 winner over SUNY-Cortland, today at noon.

Salisbury is the torchbearer for NCAA tournament semifinals, making 10 of the last 11 Final Fours. But Stevenson is beginning to establish itself as a regular in the semifinals. The No. 4 Mustangs (20-2) will be making their fourth Final Four appearance in the last five years when they play host to the reigning national champion and No. 12 Sea Gulls (17-5) this Sunday night at Mustang Stadium in Owings Mills. It is a badge of honor for a program that had not qualified for the NCAA tournament until 2009.

The cards did not look stacked in Salisbury's favor as the reigning national champion took on the unenviable task of trying to upend undefeated Dickinson. But that is exactly what the No. 12 Sea Gulls did as they evicted the No. 2 Red Devils, 11-9, from a NCAA tournament quarterfinal Wednesday. Salisbury improved to 17-5 and will meet No. 4 Stevenson (20-2) this Sunday night for the right to advance to the title game in Philadelphia on May 26. It is a development that coach Jim Berkman is thankful for. “It was a great win on the road against a team that had an unblemished season,” he said Thursday morning.

Records have been falling regularly at No. 17 Salisbury State (8-2) this season.Jen Mezzadra (Parkville) set a single-game mark for points and Amanda Moculski (C. Milton Wright) set one for assists.Mezzadra had 11 points -- 10 goals and an assist -- in a 20-4 victory over Frostburg State on Saturday, breaking the record of 10 that had stood since 1993. Ten goals tied the single-game record.The sophomore has 40 goals this season, becoming only the eighth player in Sea Gulls history to score 40 or more in one season.

Dickinson, the top seed in the South region, will make only its second appearance in a NCAA tournament quarterfinal when Salisbury visits Carlisle, Pa., on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Sea Gulls, a 10-time national champion, will play in their 16th consecutive quarterfinal. Advantage, Salisbury? Coach Jim Berkman declined to declare that, but he did agree that the tension and pressure is turned up as a team advances deeper into the postseason. “Being at this point, there is more at stake, there is more tension, there is more urgency into the game,” Berkman said Monday.

No. 12 Salisbury's 7-4 upset of No. 8 Washington and Lee in the second round of the NCAA tournament last Saturday was immensely gratifying to the reigning national champion for two reasons. The Sea Gulls earned their 15th consecutive appearance in the quarterfinals since the tournament added a round prior to the quarterfinals for the 1998 tournament, and they made amends after dropping a 7-6 double-overtime decision to the Generals on Feb. 20. “It was nice to win the game because it obviously gets us to the quarterfinals,” coach Jim Berkman said Monday morning.