SALISBURY, Md. -- Facing the defending national champions and the nation's top-ranked squad, the Christopher Newport men's lacrosse team dropped a 17-5 decision to No. 1 Salisbury during a Capital Athletic Conference contest on Wednesday evening at Sea Gull Stadium.
 
Against SU, Ryan Mills struck twice for the Captains, while Randy Foster also contributed a pair of points. On the other side, Drew Cornell forced three turnovers, and Trevor Royce caused a pair to go along with seven ground balls. Between the pipes, Matt Hayden added eight saves and a highlight-reel assist at the end of the first half.
 
With the setback, Christopher Newport falls to 8-4 on the season, including 3-2 in league action. Meanwhile, Salisbury remains unbeaten, improving to 13-0 overall and 6-0 in CAC play.
 
In a sign of things to come, the Sea Gulls scored in the first minute of action to snatch an early lead. On the other side, the stingy SU defense clamped down on CNU's response. Shane McKenna peppered a pair of shots that just missed the mark before Will Geise and Matthew Crist ripped on-target attempts that were swallowed up by the hosts.
 
Following the defensive stand, Salisbury stretched its lead. In just over a minute of action, the Sea Gulls tossed back-to-back goals on the board to take a 3-0 edge. Minutes later, the squad capped off the opening period with its fourth tally to continue pulling ahead.
 
Running into a buzz saw, the Captains held tough but allowed two more goals early in the second stanza on the way to a 6-0 deficit. Trying to manufacture a response, Foster and Drew Magnusson missed wide on back-to-back attempts, while Cornell, Royce, and Will Cogan blanketed the field and corralled three rollers during a lengthy stand to keep the ball on the CNU side.
 
Unfortunately, despite the best efforts on both sides of the field, Christopher Newport could not keep the SU attack down for long. Salisbury put together four straight goals during a late push to snare a double-digit lead at 10-0 with minutes remaining in the opening half.
 
Refusing to back down, CNU continued to fight and eventually came through with one of the more unique goals in program history. In the final moments of the opening half, Hayden won a sprint to the end line following a Salisbury shot to gain possession. With only a few ticks left on the clock, he unloaded a Hail Mary heave that bounced perfectly to Geise on the opposite side of the field.
 
After corralling the ball, the senior brushed off a hit along the crease before depositing the squad's first strike as the horn sounded. That goal also marked his 40th of the year, establishing a new single-season program record.
 
Sadly, Salisbury was unfazed by the setback and came out firing again in the second half. Keeping the defense on its heels, SU went on a five-goal run to nail down a 15-1 lead heading into a CNU timeout. Following the stoppage, Cornell forced a turnover and Magnusson capitalized on the other side with the squad's second strike.
 
Minutes later, Foster tacked on Christopher Newport's third goal of the game, but SU managed to respond again to close out the period with a 17-3 advantage.
 
Facing a 14-goal deficit, CNU never relented and eventually added a pair of tallies to close out the contest in the fourth quarter. Stepping up late in the game, Mills scored his first goal off a feed from Jacob Hale before adding a man-up strike with help from Foster to close out the scoring during the 17-5 setback.
 
Overall, Salisbury held a 44-37 lead in shots and a 46-44 advantage in ground balls. Additionally, the squads split the game's 24 faceoffs with Tony Cruz winning a dozen for the Captains. He also collected four ground balls against the Sea Gulls.
 
Christopher Newport will return to action on Saturday when the squad hosts Wesley on Senior Day at 1 p.m.
 
---CNU---