After experiencing its first loss of the season to The College of New Jersey last weekend, Salisbury returned to the win column by shutting out Gwynedd Mercy University 6-0.
Head coach Dawn Chamberlin felt confident that her No. 4 Sea Gulls (8-1) could persevere through their first loss of the season.
“I think it was a good bounce back,” Chamberlin said. “We didn’t perform well last weekend and we lost, so we knew we needed to come back and play our style of game.”
Salisbury started the scoring just eight minutes into the contest when senior forward Rachel Domanico deflected the ball off Mercy goalkeeper Abbie Kennedy for the first score of the game. The goal was assisted by senior forward Tara Daddio, gaining her first point in the game.
This would be the only tally of the first quarter.
Chamberlin felt that her team was disorganized in the first period and that they were getting a lot of good setups, but the Sea Gulls weren’t closing the shots out.
“We were a little sloppy in the first period in terms of putting the ball in. We were getting a lot of good looks, but we weren’t finishing,” Chamberlin said.
With five minutes left in the first half, sophomore forward McKenzie Mitchell netted her first goal of the game. Mitchell was able to control the ball in front of Kennedy and push it into the back of the net, increasing Salisbury’s lead to 2-0.
A minute after Mitchell’s goal, Daddio sent the ball into the back of the cage after Kennedy failed to clear it out. The Sea Gulls pushed their lead to 3-0.
Mitchell would tally two more goals on the day, continuing her breakout season for the Sea Gulls and pushing her total to six on the year.
Mitchell said her teammates push her to be a confident offensive player.
“We just go out there and they just tell me to play my game,” Mitchell said. “That’s just what we try to do every day.”
The Sea Gulls tallied 17 penalty corners, while the Griffins (6-4) had zero.
Allie Davis scored the final goal of the matchup with a minute left in the game. The opportunity came off of a deflection from Kennedy to Davis on the left side of the cage.
Junior goalie Dom Farrace saved the lone shot she saw throughout the contest during the second quarter.
Daddio had three points in the game with one goal and one assist. She feels strongly that her team can break the Catholic curse and increase their away record.
“Right now, we have a good momentum going off of us. Practice on Monday is going to be good because we are coming off a win,” Daddio said. “We are going to have a strong energetic practice to lead into Tuesday and hopefully break the Catholic curse.”
The Sea Gulls are back in action on Wednesday to take on The Catholic University of America Cardinals. The game is set to start at 6 p.m.
By DANIELLE TYLER
Staff writer
Featured photo: Emma Reider image.