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Top Seeds Advance As Salisbury And Frostburg State Win Home Semifinal Matches To Qualify For 2015 CAC Men's Lacrosse Title Contest

Top Seeds Advance As Salisbury And Frostburg State Win Home Semifinal Matches To Qualify For 2015 CAC Men's Lacrosse Title Contest

The top two CAC teams men's lacrosse teams in the regular season - 8th-ranked Salisbury and 20th-ranked Frostburg State - both posted home-field victories in Saturday's semifinal round to advance to the May 2 Championship Game at Salisbury.

The defending-champion and top-seeded Sea Gulls (14-4) put together a trio of three-goal surges in the first half on the way to a 9-2 lead the break, eventually gaining a 16-4 victory over fourth-seeded York (10-9).  SU, which has won 18 of the last 20 CAC titles, will take an eight-game win streak into the championship match.

On the western side of the state, Frostburg State needed a four-goal performance from Tate Rolland, including the game-winning goal to break a 6-6 tie with 4:41 left, to lift the second-seeded Bobcats past sixth-seeded Mary Washington and into the CAC championship game in just the fifth year of the program's existance.

At Salisbury, Nathan Blondino erupted for six goals, including three in each half, to lead the Sea Gulls.  Mike Kane (4 G, 1 A), Carson Kalama (3 G, 1 A) and Sean Fitzgerald (four assists) also contributed to the attack.  Dillon Hannah had two assists for the Spartans, who had four different goal scorers on the attack.

At FSU, Mary Washington's Miles Davis opened the scoring six minutes into the game, and the team traded goals before ending the half tied at three.  Rolland's second goal of the game, a minute into the third quarter, gave Frostburg State its first lead of the contest.  Davis scored his second goal with six seconds left in the frame to send the game into the fourth quarter tied at four.  Rolland's third goal of the game, less than a minute into the fourth quarter, put FSU back on top.  The Eagles responded when Jared Krikorian assisted on a Jack Carver score, then Krikorian put UMW on top with an unassisted score with 10 minutes left in the game.  Chris Rios scored the game-tying goal for FSU with five minutes left, and Rolland's 30th goal of the season a minute later sent the Bobcats to the CAC title game.

The 2015 Championship Game is a re-match of an 8-7 overtime victory for Salisbury which was Frostburg State's first loss of the season.  Deadlocked at 7-7 less than a minute into overtime, Blondino took a pass from junior Thomas Cirillo on the left wing and planted the winning shot inside the left post, giving the 11th-ranked Sea Gulls an 8-7 overtime victory over 17th-ranked Frostburg State in a back-and-forth thriller on Saturday afternoon in Frostburg, Md. 

The FSU at SU victor earns an automatic bid to the 2015 NCAA Championship Tournament.