Salisbury men's lacrosse to take on Colorado College
After falling short to York in the Capital Athletic Conference Championship game, the Salisbury University men's lacrosse team returned to the field with a bang by thumping Catholic in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Wednesday, May 11.
Nick Garbarino scored five goals, Carson Kalama added four more and Nathan Blondino dished out eight assists in the convincing win for the Sea Gulls.
Next up for them now is a match-up with Colorado College, which is coming off a first round overtime win against Whittier College.
Will the Sea Gulls be able to dismantle the Tigers as easily as they did Catholic?
As Sea Gulls continue surge, Reymann has stepped up
Game info
When: Saturday, May 14 at 3 p.m.
Where: Sea Gull Stadium, Salisbury, Maryland
The last time these teams met...
It was March 20, 2013 when the Sea Gulls hosted and topped the Tigers in a non-conference regular season matchup in Salisbury. Eric Kluge led the Sea Gulls with three goals in the 9-4 win. Salisbury won the face-off battle 12-4 and fired 41 shots at the Tigers' cage.
READ: Salisbury slams Catholic in NCAA opener
How good is Colorado College?
The Tigers haven't received any votes recently in rankings by Nike, USILA or Lacrosse Magazine, but seem to have some momentum and are on the upswing. Colorado College has won six consecutive games and are 12-4 on the year and undefeated on the road with a mark of 5-0.
Austin Davie is the leading offensive threat for the Tigers and has scored 48 goals this year along with tallying 10 assists. Davie is 14th in all of Division III lacrosse in goals-per-game with a mark of 3.20.
Tyler Borko has scored 22 goals while also dishing out 20 assists. Borko has scooped up 26 ground balls this season too.
The Tigers seem to be decent at the face-off X too, as Patrick Woo has won 104 of 197 battles there this season. He has also come up with 79 ground balls.
The one opponent that the Tigers and Sea Gulls shared this season was Roanoke. While the Salisbury topped Roanoke 14-6, Colorado College lost 7-12.
Tigers senior goalkeeper Chase Murphy has a save percentage of .602, which is good enough for 13th best in the nation.
READ: CAC loss sparks fire under Sea Gulls
What will Salisbury have to do to win?
If the Sea Gulls play like they did against Catholic, they should be fine.
Getting off to a good start will be key for the Sea Gulls. Beginning the game in a sluggish fashion is what cost them a win in the CAC title game. But against Catholic, Salisbury had a 4-0 lead about eight minutes into the game.
Salisbury finished strong against Catholic too, scoring five goals in the fourth quarter.
The Sea Gulls defense needs to remain stout as well. It's been rock solid for most of the year and was great again against Catholic. The Sea Gulls took 58 ground balls, forced 24 turnovers and allowed Catholic to get just 10 shots off.
If the Sea Gulls' offense can start and finish strong while its defense contains Davies and Borko, then Salisbury should be able to easily get by Colorado College on Saturday.
Prediction: Salisbury 14, Colorado College 6
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