Box
Score
St. Mary's City, Md. - Forwards Christina
Eury (Germantown, Md./Damascus) and Sarah
Jessilonis (Pasadena, Md./Chesapeake) combined for four
goals in leading regionally-ranked Salisbury University to a 5-1
victory over St. Mary's College of Maryland, spoiling Senior Day
for the Seahawks.
Today was a must-win contest for SMCM if the Seahawks wished to
potentially have a home game in the upcoming Capital Athletic
Conference playoffs, which begin Sunday, November 1. However,
with today's loss, the Seahawks drop to fifth in the standings and
will most likely travel to the University of Mary Washington, who
is currently fourth, for first round action next Sunday.
Jessilonis put the Sea Gulls (10-3-2, 7-1 CAC) on the
board first at 11:56 as she fired off a rocket from the right side
of the box and found the top left corner. Four first-half
saves by freshman Grace Koplow (Ellicott City,
Md./Wilde Lake) kept Salisbury, ranked eighth in the NSCAA South
Atlantic region, to just one goal in first 45 minutes.
Eury then notched a fast break goal at 59:20,
giving her squad a two-goal cushion as she ran up the middle of the
field and beat Koplow to the left. Sophomore
defender Kira Mangone (West Windsor, N.J./West
Windsor South) netted her first goal of the season at 62:39 as
senior midfielder Stephanie Fersch (Bloomingdale,
N.J./Butler) placed a cross ball from the right side to the far
left side where Mangone one-timed it for a 3-0 Sea
Gull advantage.
Senior midfielder Sophia Esparza (Silver Spring,
Md./Montgomery Blair) converted a penalty kick at 65:08 for her
team-leading eighth goal of 2009, helping St. Mary's (6-9-1, 4-3-1
CAC) avoid the shutout.
Jessilonis struck again at 73:37 as
Eury sent in a diagonal pass from the left side to
the top of the box where Jessilonis right-footed
it into the top right corner. Eury then
picked up her second tally of the afternoon just three minutes
later as she finished off a pass from sophomore midfielder
Danielle Crowley (Flanders, N.J./Mt. Olive).
Salisbury tallied 23 shots to the Seahawks' 10 while the Sea
Gulls edged SMCM in corner kicks, 4 to 3.
Prior to the match, St. Mary's recognized its seven seniors:
Esparza, Kaitlin Boswell
(Baltimore, Md./Friends School of Baltimore),
Brianne and Karisa Carroll (Long
Island, N.Y./Ward Melville), Lea Gonzalez
(Washington, D.C./The Potomac School), Erika Kenny
(Severna Park, Md./Severna Park), and Tessa Searle
(Olney, Md./Sherwood). These seniors have helped the Seahawks
amass a four-year overall record of 36-28-7, including a CAC mark
of 19-8-3. They also guided SMCM to the league championship
game twice (2006 and 2008), leading the team to the conference
crown and the program's first-ever NCAA tournament berth last
season as well as their first-ever national ranking.
Freshman Melissa Orgera (Arnold, Md./Broadneck)
turned away two shots in registering her ninth win of the season,
while Koplow finished with nine saves on the day.
