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When Salisbury met York on March 24, matters were tied 3-3 at halftime. Then, as junior midfielder Corey Gwin put it, things “slipped away” and got “out of control.”

By game’s end, the Sea Gulls lost 15-6, putting them at 6-3 midway through the regular season — a record almost unheard of for the back-to-back national champions. But that dreary day taught Salisbury an important lesson, per Chesapeake Bayhawks draft pick and two-time All American Kyle Tucker.

“The biggest thing we took from it is we’re vulnerable,” Tucker said. “We’re not teams of the past. We have to bring it 100 percent of the time and you can see it from the scoreline that we didn’t.”

Flash forward to May, and Salisbury is riding a nine-game winning streak into Saturday’s Capital Athletic Conference title game — a rematch with York. It’s a marked turnaround, especially when coupled with early-season overtime losses to Gettysburg and Ohio Wesleyan.

NO. 2 YORK VS. NO. 7 SALISBURY
WHEN: Saturday, May 5, 6 p.m.

“Any team that has played us, they’ll tell us this isn’t the team they saw two months ago,” said coach Jim Berkman. “As a coach, our objective is to get better in May, that’s in our identity. Maybe at some other programs guys get burned out, but we’re off that bus and we’re ready to go.”

So, what’s behind this marked turnaround for Salisbury?

As Berkman sees it, a major contributing factor is the offense finding its groove. He was confident the defense would hold opponents to 10 goals or fewer, but replacing the likes of Nathan Blondino, Nick Garbarino and Carson Kalama on attack would take some time. That trio combined for 310 points in 2017, or nearly half of Salisbury’s offense.

Then there was the matter of key sophomores coming into their own. That’s unfolded with goalkeeper Brandon Warren, who has a goals against average of 5.89 after seizing the starting job on March 7. Berkman said fellow sophomores Emory Wongus, Griffin Moroney, Pierre Armstrong and Josh Melton deserve credit, too. They’ve combined for 173 points for the Salisbury offense.

“It’s a ‘next man up’ mentality and we have excellent leadership here that’s helped our confidence a lot,” Warren said. “At the beginning of the season, the young attackmen were hesitant. They’ve really found their stride lately.”

Still, the Gettysburg and Ohio Wesleyan losses loomed large. They marked Salisbury dropping back-to-back games for the first time since early in the 2015 season. It lost just two games in the previous two championship seasons.

While that stretch might have set most programs back, Berkman said his group emerged feeling good about themselves.

“We put ourselves in a position to win those games and didn’t get it done,” Berkman said. “We didn’t get too down.”

Against Gettysburg, the Sea Gulls led 8-5 late in the third quarter. Versus Ohio Wesleyan, they were up 8-7 midway through the third quarter. The games, Berkman said, were there for the taking. They just couldn’t get the job done, and late mistakes added up.

Much like the York loss, Tucker viewed those back-to-back defeats as a vital lesson.

“It’s something you don’t see a lot historically at Salisbury, but it was an eye opener that things aren’t given to us,” Tucker said. “We have to go and get what we want. We can’t make any excuses.”

Instead of growing frustrated, Salisbury started rattling off wins, including ones in the regular season over top 20 teams in Christopher Newport and Cabrini. They then knocked off Christopher Newport again in this past Monday’s CAC Tournament opener. 

The turnaround, Gwin said, is a byproduct of growing from adversity.

“We’re playing our best lacrosse right now at the end of the season,” Gwin said. “That’s what we want to do going into the playoffs. Especially in those close wins, it’s us battling in practices which are sometimes harder than our games are.”

There’s a certain air of confidence in the Salisbury locker room, too, compared to how 2018 began. Tucker was adamant that it’s not cockiness or arrogance, rather belief that May, for the Sea Gulls, means winning titles.  

It’s an assertion backed by proof. Salisbury has won 12 national titles and 20 CAC Championships, placing 243 All-Americans along the way.

“Everyone playing has been to Philadelphia and Gillette Stadium, so we know what’s expected of us,” Gwin said. “We have a high bar to get to. It’s not really cockiness, but more confidence in how we’ve been there before.”

Now, Berkman said, it’s like the ball is flying out of everyone’s sticks and simple mistakes that plagued Salisbury early on are long gone. Postseason is here, and Salisbury is peaking, which often is a scary thought for the Division III lacrosse world

“We’ve been on a good run,” Berkman said. “If I was a player, you couldn’t have anything but confidence going forward.”