Salisbury taking care of business while keeping an eye on rivals
While rivals like top-ranked Tufts, No. 2 Stevenson and No. 4 Cortland battle each other and other quality opponents, No. 3 Salisbury has been dismantling its opponents while sprinting to a 7-0 start.
That doesn’t mean, however, that the Sea Gulls aren’t aware of what’s occurring outside of the friendly confines of their campus.
“I know that they’re winning, and I’ve seen who’s scoring their goals,” coach Jim Berkman said. “I’ve watched them on webcasts when we’re not playing and have seen them all play. We’ve been doing that for a long time.”
Salisbury encounters perhaps its stiffest test of the season when it travels to face No. 9 Roanoke Wednesday night. The Maroons recently overcame a five-goal deficit in the fourth quarter and scored the final nine goals to hold off No. 10 Lynchburg, 14-10, on Saturday.
“They’re definitely explosive on offense,” Berkman noted. “They’ve scored a lot of goals this year already. They had a lot of shots against Stevenson, almost 40 shots against them. But they’re definitely an explosive offensive team that likes to run and gun.”
That would seem to fit the Sea Gulls’ free-wheeling style of play, but Berkman said that’s not necessarily the case.
“They’re run and gun almost to the point where they’re unpredictable,” he said. “You have to be ready at all times because they’re like a bunch of gunslingers out there that don’t care what the odds are. I don’t think we’re quite that way. I think we throw in our cards a little smarter than they do as far as taking opportunities. But they attack at all times. They could be three-on-six, and then you’ll see a guy quick-dodge somebody and fire a shot. They just go to the goal.”
