Salisbury never trailed in its bid to capture its first Division III Field Hockey Championship since 1986, cruising past Middlebury, 4-1, at Lebanon Valley November 22.

The title is Salisbury's second overall. The Sea Gulls defeated Bloomsburg in 1986, but had come away empty in five semifinal appearances since then.

The second-ranked Sea Gulls opened the scoring just over five minutes into the contest against the top-ranked and undefeated Panthers on Tracey Lloyd's 10th goal of the season. Then Salisbury's Brittany Elliott accepted a feed from teammate Erin Budd and unleashed her 17th goal of the year to push the score to 2-0.

Middlebury sliced into the lead on a Char Glessner shot that found the upper left corner of the cage.

The Sea Gulls held the Panthers scoreless in the second half. Elliott scored her second goal of the game, and a subsequent tally from Lindsey Elliott, her 18th on the year, put the game out of reach.

"Words can't express what we feel right now. It was a great showing and I thought we took control from the start," said Salisbury head coach Dawn Chamberlin.

Chamberlin added that playing on grass gave her team a mental boost.

"We knew Middlebury would score," she said. "We just knew we needed to score more. Having a 4-1 lead in the second half took a little pressure off. I think mentally it helped us to play on grass because we practice on grass and play almost all of our games on grass."

Salisbury closed out the season on an 11-game winning streak and finished 20-1. The Sea Gulls edged College of New Jersey, 1-0, to earn their second straight appearance in the final.

Middlebury skimmed past Cortland State, 2-1, in the other semifinal. The Panthers ended the season 19-1.

Lindsey Elliott, Brittany Elliott, Melissa Webster and Melissa Taylor of Salisbury earned spots on the all-tournament team, along with Middlebury's Glessner, Missy Krempa and Channing Weymouth. Jackie Levy and Danielle Bechtel of College of New Jersey and Cortland State's Jess Ueltschi and Kelli Johnson also were selected.

Semifinals

First half: M -- Char Glessner (Channing Weymouth), 6:18.

Second half: M -- Abigail Lamb (Ashley Pullen), 46:57. CS -- Kelli Johnson (unassisted), 36:43.

Shots: Middlebury 14, Cortland St. 6. Goalkeeper saves: Middlebury (Meghan McGillen) 4, Cortland St. (Jessica Anderson) 8. Penalty corners: Middlebury 12, Cortland St. 10.

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TABLE BORDER=1 CELLPADDING=1 ALIGN="LEFT"> Salisbury 10 -- 1 TCNJ 00 -- 0

First half: S -- Lindsey Elliott (Erin Budd), 14:27.

Shots: Salisbury 14, TCNJ 2. Goalkeeper saves: Salisbury (Melissa Taylor) 2, TCNJ (Kristina Beyel) 9. Penalty corners: Salisbury 13, TCNJ 3.

Championship

First half: S -- Tracey Lloyd (unassisted), 5:22; S -- Brittany Elliott (Erin Budd), 11:14; M -- Char Glessner (Ashley Pullen), 16:21.

Second half: S -- Brittany Elliott (Erin Budd), 41:29; S -- Lindsey Elliott (Abby Rowe), 46:55.

Shots: Salisbury 18, Middlebury 10. Goalkeeper saves: Salisbury (Melissa Taylor) 7, Middlebury (Meghan McGillen) 12. Penalty corners: Salisbury 15, Middlebury 3.