Salisbury

Salisbury University announced Thursday the receipt of an $8 million donation - tied for the largest in its history - from the Guerrieri Family Foundation. The funds will help develop a new Academic Commons area on the Eastern Shore campus. The $116 million project, which includes a new library and Delmarva research center, will be named after Patricia R. Guerrieri, a Salisbury alumna who studied elementary education in the 1950s. She died in 2010. Her family ran Showell Farms, a poultry processing business with five plants in four states, for decades until Perdue Farms acquired the company in 1995.

Colleges Salisbury ranked No. 1 in D-III softball for first time For the first time in program history, Salisbury has been named the top-ranked team in the nation by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Top 25 poll. The Sea Gulls (35-2) claimed the No. 1 ranking after going undefeated in the Capital Athletic Conference tournament last week to win their 18th CAC title, the 17th in a row. The 1-0 victory over Frostburg State extended the team's winning streak to 24 games.

No women's college lacrosse team has dominated its conference recently the way Salisbury has. The Sea Gulls have won 93 straight games over their Capital Athletic Conference opponents and are looking for their 11th straight conference title when they host York (Pa.) in Saturday's final. Coach Jim Nestor's Sea Gulls (17-0) have not lost to a CAC opponent since March 19, 2003. The Sea Gulls swept CAC postseason honors with Katie Bollhorst (St. Mary's) named CAC Player of the Year for the second straight year and Nestor picking up his ninth Coach of the Year honor.

Caroline Franke (Severn) matched a career high of 13 saves to anchor the defense as host No. 13 Princeton defeated No. 6 Penn State, 14-8, at Sherrerd Field at Class of 1952 Stadium. Offensively, Sam Ellis had a career game with four goals and two assists. Erin McMunn (Winters Mill) also had a six-point game with three goals and three assists. Jaci Gassaway (Severna Park) reached a milestone, scoring her 100th career goal. The Tigers (10-5) started with a 4-0 run, of which Ellis had two. Princeton would never relinquish the lead and led by as many as six goals.

While the NCAA selection committee has Rating Percentage Index and strength-of-schedule rankings to review regarding the 16-team field of the NCAA Division I tournament, the committee in charge of the NCAA Division III version has another tool. The NCAA ranks contenders in the North and South regions, and the most recent list was released Wednesday. No. 4 Stevenson, No. 7 Salisbury and No. 10 Washington College are ranked in the top five of the South region. The Mustangs are ranked No. 3 with a 14-2 overall record and a 12-2 in-region mark.

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.

Washington College got an emotional lift from last Wednesday's 7-6 decision over then-No. 5 and reigning national champion Salisbury. Now coach Jeff Shirk acknowledged that the team may have been too high. The Shoremen stumbled their way to an 8-1 deficit in the first half of an eventual 14-6 loss to then-unranked and Centennial Conference foe Gettysburg last Saturday - an outcome that dropped the team to fourth place in the league and put it at risk of missing the conference tournament.

No. 12 Washington College's 7-6 come-from-behind win against No. 5 and reigning national champion Salisbury on Wednesday night may prove to be a psychological lift for a program that had dropped 12 straight contests to the Sea Gulls. Perhaps more immediately, the victory might propel to the Shoremen (11-2) to their second consecutive appearance in the NCAA tournament regardless of how they fare in the Centennial Conference tournament. With a 4-2 record in the league, Washington is currently third behind conference leaders Dickinson (12-0 overall and 5-0 in the Centennial)

Reigning national champion Salisbury has won the past 11 meetings and 14 of the last 15 with Washington College. But as the two sides prepare for the latest installment of the “War on the Shore” series Wednesday night in Chestertown, Sea Gulls coach Jim Berkman said he and his players have no intention of overlooking the Shoremen. “They've got a win over a team that beat us,” Berkman pointed out Monday. “They beat [Washington and Lee], 8-4, and we lost to W&L, 7-6. So they have a couple good wins on their schedule.

The end of Washington College's drought against Salisbury started to sink in as the Shoremen took a victory lap. Past the grandstand. Past hundreds of students who reveled on a hill overlooking Roy Kirby Jr. Stadium well after the game. Wednesday's 7-6 victory didn't erase a dozen straight losses in the "War on the Shore. " But it was another sign of how far Washington College has come in the past couple of years. "To me, it's a culmination of everything - highs and lows," senior attackman Bennett Cord said.