Salisbury and York Post Narrow Victories, Advance to NCAA Men's Lacrosse Quarterfinals
For the second time in the last three years, two CAC men's lacrosse teams will compete in the NCAA Elite Eight as Salisbury and York each posted narrow victories in third round action on Saturday. This marks fifth time in CAC history that two conference teams have advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight, most recently in 2016 when the Spartans and Sea Gulls both advanced to the quarterfinals.
In Amherst, Mass., York took down host Amherst 13-11 to move on to the quarterfinals for the second time in program history. Jake Hvazda (2g, 4a) and Hunter Davis (3g, 2a) paced the York attack, while goalkeeper Landry Marshall was superb in net with 15 saves. The Spartans improve to 19-2 with the victory, while Amherst ends its year at 15-4.
York will take on RIT (20-0), which defeated Stevens 17-9 on Saturday, in Wednesday's quarterfinals.
In Salisbury, Md., Christopher Newport jumped out to an early lead and led for the majority of the contest, but Salisbury came roaring back with a huge second-half spurt to defeat the Captains 12-11 in dramatic fashion. The Sea Gulls move to 18-3 with the win, while CNU's season ends at 15-5.
CNU led 5-2 after the first quarter and 9-3 at the half, taking all of the momentum into the halftime break. The Captains stretched their lead to 10-3 following a Dylan Rice score at the 13:16 mark of the third, but it was all Salisbury after that as the Sea Gulls reeled off nine straight goals to claim the 12-11 victory.
Griffin Moroney (3g), Garrett Reynolds (2g, 1a) and Pierre Armstrong (1g, 2a) were instrumental in the SU second-half run, while CNU's Rice led all scorers with five goals and two assists in the loss.
Salisbury will face Dickinson (17-3), a 10-9 winner of Washington & Lee, in Wednesday's quarterfinal round.