Live Broadcast // Live Stats
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- Battling for league supremacy this weekend, the third-ranked Christopher Newport men's lacrosse team will host the Coastal Lacrosse Conference Championship on Sunday at noon when the Captains square off with No. 5 Salisbury in the title bout at Jennings Family Stadium.
Entering the weekend, CNU sits at 16-2 on the season, including 11-0 at home. Meanwhile, Salisbury is 15-3 with a 4-1 mark on the road.
For those fans unable to attend the game, Christopher Newport will provide a broadcast of the contest with Andy McGregor and Jake Myers calling all of the action. Live stats will also be available at CNUsports.com. Direct links to both features can be found at the top of this release and on the schedule page.
This marks the sixth straight season during which the Captains and Sea Gulls have faced each other in the league championship. Last year, Salisbury posted a 13-12 overtime victory at Sea Gull Stadium, which marked the program's eighth consecutive title dating back to the days of the Capital Athletic Conference.
Sunday's showdown will be a rematch of a regular season bout that took place on April 18 in Newport News. During that contest, Salisbury carried a slim 8-7 lead into halftime, but Christopher Newport scored five of the six goals in the second half to capture a 12-9 victory.
Carrying the Captains to the win, senior
Mason Bellinger pocketed 26 saves during that showdown, which established a new single-game school record. He also registered his second career goal and was honored as the USA Lacrosse National Player of the Week for that performance.
Along with Bellinger,
Mark Davison led the victors with five caused turnovers, while
Ryan Almassian,
Brett Kelley, and
Rory Keverline had two apiece. Meanwhile, on the offensive side, four Captains posted multi-goal efforts. Leading the way,
Fred Fulkerson,
Kevin Miller, and
Jackson Platner had three points apiece, while
Ryan Miller had a pair of strikes as well.
On the other side, Salisbury's Blake Malamphy won 22 of his 23 faceoff attempts against CNU. He also hauled in 18 ground balls and scored a goal. Additionally, Brett Bergey finished the contest with a game-high four points, while Matt Sentowski collected 10 saves.
Aided by his historic work in the regular season match-up, Bellinger currently has 238 saves this year. That is eight shy of matching the all-time program record, which former All-American Zac Hanway set with 246 stops in 2023. The fourth-year phenom is also just four saves away from reaching 500 for his career. He would join Hanway, Matt Hayden, and Andy McGregor as the only Captains to hit that benchmark.
Among other approaching milestones on the defensive end,
AJ Rosacker has 98 career caused turnovers. With two more strips, he would join Drew Cornell, Phoenix Hines, Max Wayne, and Ryan Young as the only Captains to hit the century mark.
Closing in on his own history,
Ryan Miller has 70 points this season. He is five away from matching Dylan Rice's all-time freshman record of 75 set in 2018.
Adding another layer to Miller's historic debut campaign, the first-year phenom ranks fourth on the team with 46 ground balls. Only one player in program history has ever recorded at least 50 points and 50 ground balls in a single campaign. Former All-American Matt Crist produced 86 points and scooped up 54 rollers during his award-winning senior season.
So far this year, CNU ranks second in the nation in takeaways-per-game with a 15.17 average. The squad is also seventh in clearing percentage (.903). On an individual level,
Kevin Miller is fourth in the country with 62 assists, while
Jamie Smith is second with 77 goals. Additionally, Bellinger is 11th nationally with a .606 save percentage. That also stands as the top mark in program history.
Following the squad's setback at CNU last month, Salisbury has won its last three games, including an 18-5 win over Stockton in the semifinals of the Coastal Lacrosse Conference Tournament on Wednesday evening. Boasting one of the nation's top faceoff units, the Sea Gulls rank first in the country in faceoff percentage (.735) while slotting second in ground balls-per-game (47.50). The team is also third in clearing percentage (.917) and 14th in scoring offense (16.67 goals per game).
Honored as the Coastal Lacrosse Conference Player of the Year, Malamphy is third nationally with a .763 faceoff percentage and a 12.17 ground balls-per-game rate. Meanwhile, on the offensive side, Connor Herraiz is second in the country with 65 assists and eighth with 98 points.
Remarkably, Sunday's game will feature two of the nation's top-three active assist leaders. Among current players, Herraiz sits first in the NCAA with 209 total helpers during his career, while
Kevin Miller is third with 165. The two stars are only separated by Syracuse's Joey Spallina, who boasts 183 assists with the Orange.
Herraiz also ranks second among active players with 379 career points, while Malamphy leads current competitors with 1,042 faceoff victories and 700 ground balls. Additionally, for CNU, Smith is 19th among current players with 168 goals.
The winner of Sunday's game will lock up the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, which begins with first-round action on May 6. The final bracket will be released during a selection show on NCAA.com at 9 p.m. on Sunday.
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