No. 2 Salisbury Stunned by Christopher Newport in Overtime

NEWPORT NEW, Va. – No. 2 Salisbury fell in Capital Athletic Conference action to Christopher Newport, 8-7, on Wednesday afternoon in overtime at Captains' Stadium.

Senior midfielder Donovan Lange put the Sea Gulls ahead, 1-0, with the first goal of the game at the 13:54 mark of the first quarter.

The Captains would answer with a two-goal run to take the lead, but junior attackman Jesse Rabishaw tied the game just before the end of the first, taking a pass from sophomore midfielder Thomas Cirillo and ripping a shot from 15 yards out.

Just over one minute into the second quarter, Cirillo planted a shot in the top of the cage from the left side to regain the lead for the Sea Gulls; Cirillo led the team with three goals in the game.

CNU tied the game, 3-3, but SU scored two-straight to take a 5-3 lead at halftime. Senior attackman Luke Phipps scored from the right wing, and junior attackman Mike Kane took a pass on the crease from Cirillo, turned, and shot to get the two-goal cushion.

At the half, Salisbury led in shots, 21-10, ground balls, 15-13, and caused turnovers, 13-9.

Christopher Newport opened the scoring in the second half with a man-up score to get within one goal, but Cirillo scored his final two goals within one minute to rebuild Salisbury's lead to three, 7-4.

John Thompson, who led CNU with three goals in the game, scored with 2:29 left in the third quarter, before scoring both of the Captains' goals in the fourth to tie the score, 7-7; Christopher Newport outscored the Gulls, 2-0, in the final frame to force overtime.

The Captains' scored the winning goal just six seconds into the overtime period, with Nick Kirschke winning the faceoff, running into the box, faking a pass, and putting the ball into the top right corner for the score.

Senior goalkeeper Alex Taylor took his first loss of the season, taking his record to 10-1, while making eight saves in the game; with the saves, he now takes ownership of the No. 4 spot in Salisbury's all-time saves list with 482 saves, passing former Sea Gull Johnny Rodriguez.

Salisbury looks to get back into the win column on Saturday at Sea Gull Stadium, as St. Mary's College of Maryland will visit SU; the Sea Gulls will be hosting their Lax for Leukemia Youth Day with the game set to start at 3:00 p.m.