Salisbury

Revenge was oh so sweet for Salisbury's women's lacrosse team, especially when it came with a national championship. The Sea Gulls polished off a 23-0 season with a 12-5 victory and the Division III national championship by avenging last year's title-game loss to Trinity College in a battle of undefeated teams Sunday at Stevenson University's Mustangs Stadium. "We've been cheering 'Redemption' all year and 'Road to redemption' and that word has really meant a lot to us," said Sea Gulls senior attacker Lauren Feusahrens, who scored five goals.

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)

College baseball Butler's single in 9th sends Towson to win Sophomore Brendan Butler singled in the winning run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning as host Towson (25-27, 14-12 Colonial Athletic Association) edged Northeastern, 7-6, in the second game of their three-game weekend series Friday afternoon. The Huskies (27-24, 11-15), who were trying to clinch a berth in the CAA tournament, had overcome a 6-4 deficit in the ninth inning to tie the game. More Division I: Mount St. Mary's (10-35, 5-24 Northeast Conference)

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.

When Salisbury opened the 2013 season in defense of the national championship it had captured last May, the team limped to a 1-2 start and the thought of advancing to the NCAA tournament semifinals appeared to be remote. At least that was the way coach Jim Berkman saw it. “It was definitely a distant possibility at that time,” he said Thursday after recalling a 13-12 setback to Lynchburg on Feb. 16 and a 7-6 double-overtime decision to Washington and Lee four days later. “But by the same token, they were both one-goal losses and in both games, we had a one-on-one to win the game.

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.

With Salisbury's offense averaging 16.33 goals per game -- second best in Division III women's lacrosse -- it can be difficult for even the best defense to get much attention. In Sunday's NCAA quarterfinal win over Franklin & Marshall, however, the defense stole the spotlight. If it hadn't, the No. 2 Sea Gulls (21-0) wouldn't be playing in Saturday's NCAA Division III semifinal. The Sea Gulls' attack struggled when the Diplomats put a face guard on offensive leader Katie Bollhorst, but the defense remained its usual stingy self and made sure Salisbury came away with an 8-6 victory in their closest call of the 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.

Three goals from freshman attackman Brady Dashiell and a suffocating defensive effort fueled No. 12 Salisbury's 7-4 upset of No. 8 Washington and Lee in Saturday's second-round contest of the NCAA tournament. But that does not mean that all is well with the reigning national champion. The first midfield of senior Eric Kluge and juniors Tyler Smith and Greg Korvin finished with zero goals and zero assists against the Generals, marking the first time this season that the trio had been shut out since partnering together in March.

Soccer Wake's Harris, Gamble among new Bohemians Two players from Wake Forest, goalkeeper Andrew Harris (Gilman) and forward Michael Gamble (McDonogh), have joined the Baltimore Bohemians of the United Soccer Leagues' Premier Development League. Other new players include midfielders Julio Arjona (George Mason), Malcolm Harris (McDonogh, Denver), Austin Martz (Georgetown), Sam Tana (St. Paul's, Susquehanna) and Geaton Caltabiano (Mount St. Joseph, UMBC)