Beladino scores twice to lead No. 5 Salisbury past No. 4 Messiah
SALISBURY, Md. - Sophomore Beverly Beladino got No. 5 Salisbury University off to a fast and exciting start as the shifty field hockey forward scored back-to-back goals in an eight minute span in the first half. The early lead allowed the Sea Gulls to stand strong on defense to defeat No. 4 Messiah College 3-0 on Friday afternoon in front of a crowd of 400 at Sea Gull Stadium.

"We played phenomenal today," said Salisbury coach Dawn Chamberlin in her 21st season. "They [Messiah] are a much better than a 3-0 loss team."

The Sea Gulls (10-1) have now won nine games in a row and with the win tied the overall series record with Messiah, 13-13.

Beladino's first goal was a deflection off of a beautiful long pass by senior Danielle Twilley from the 25 yard line. Beladino got her stick on the ball and deflected the ball past Falcon goalie Ashley Mowery (seven saves). Beladino struck again off a back-handed touch pass from fellow sophomore Lauren Correll to send the Sea Gulls into the half up 2-0.

In the second half, Correll smashed home a rebound off Mowery's goalie pad at the 41 minute mark to place the game out of reach.

Messiah (4-3) took 11 shots and seven penalty corners compared to the 12 shots and nine corners by Salisbury. SU was 0-for-2 on penalty shots as Mowery made two very nice saves.

"We did a very nice job of defending them this afternoon," said Chamberlin. "We knew they had three very strong attack players. We had to be real sharp and we were."

SU goalie Maria Ramoundos (10-0) was once again spectacular as she recorded her 10th victory and saved nine MC shots. The senior has now only given up four goals in 648 minutes. The SU defense earned its fifth shutout of the season.

The Sea Gulls completed a very successful week as they beat two nationally ranked teams in No. 12 Rowan on Tuesday, 2-1, and Messiah this afternoon.

"This week was tough. Emotions were very high," said Chamberlin. "Either of these games could have gone either way."

Salisbury will look to extend its win streak when it travels up Rt. 13 to Dover, Del., to meet up with new Capital Athletic Conference member Wesley College on Wednesday (October 3) at 4:30 p.m.