When it comes to rivalries in the state of Maryland, Johns Hopkins-Maryland may be No. 1 with Salisbury-Washington a close No. 2.

No. 2A just may be Salisbury-Villa Julie.

The Capital Athletic Conference foes combined for 19 penalties resulting in 17 minutes, 30 seconds of man-up (or man-down depending on how you look at it) play. Throw in the teams' first meeting on April 5, and Salisbury and Villa Julie have racked up 36 penalties and 30 minutes.

Today's CAC Tournament final featured six unnecessary roughness calls (three on each team), five slashing whistles (four on Salisbury) and an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty assessed to Villa Julie coach Paul Cantabene near the end of the third quarter.

"We recruit against them a lot," Cantabene said of competing with the Sea Gulls. "We don't necessarily agree with everything they do, but I don't think they necessarily agree with everything that we do. ... They've won a lot of titles doing the things that we do, and we're a building program trying to get to what they do. We're close, but we're not as mentally tough as they are."

Salisbury senior defenseman Ryan Phillips laughed when he was asked if the number of penalties suggested that the two teams don't like each other.

"Whenever we play them, we know it's going to be a tough game," Phillips said. "They're battlers just like us. They're not going to back down from any groundballs. We know it's going to be a little rough, but we tried to keep our heads."