The No. 1 ranked Salisbury University field hockey team opened up its season on Saturday afternoon at Sea Gull Stadium, coming away with a 2-1 victory against Capital Athletic Conference foe the University of Mary Washington.
In other action, St. Mary's upended 15th-ranked Johns Hopkins in overtime while Stevenson and Wesley both remained undefeated with home non-conference victories.
Salisbury sophomore forward Erica Henderson ripped the ball past Mary Washington goalkeeper Chrissy Bowdren (five saves) to give the Sea Gulls their first goal of the 2010 season, her first career goal, and a 1-0 edge going into the second half. The Sea Gulls held an 8-1 advantage in shots in the first 35 minutes of play.
Just 1:20 into the second half, Salisbury would strike again; this time it was junior forward Caitlin Walker who would score, unassisted, off of a penalty corner opportunity.
Mary Washington midfielder Kaitlyn Ripley netted the Eagles' first and only goal in the 45th minute off of a feed from midfielder Morgan Jones to cut Salisbury's lead to one.
Salisbury's junior keeper Anna Cooke was forced to make only one save in her 70 minutes in the cage. For the game, the Sea Gulls outshot the Eagles 14-5 and held a 16-3 advantage in penalty corner opportunities.
At Baltimore, sophomore forward Lauriann Parker notched the overtime game-winning goal nearly nine minutes into the first extra period as St. Mary's spoiled No. 15 Johns Hopkins' season- and home-opener by a 2-1 margin.
Stevenson and Wesley both improved to 2-0 this season with home wins Saturday.
At Owings Mills, Md., junior Jorden Haney coming into today had only scored two points in her career at Stevenson. She notched the game-winning goal 19 minutes in to pull a 1-0 victory against Delaware Valley this morning in the opening game of the 2010 Black Eyed Susan Tournament.
At Dover, Del., senior Candice Russ scored twice and Brooke Tadlock and Madison Leone had multi-point efforts as well, as Wesley College captured a 6-2 win over visiting Richard Stockton.
In other action, York picked up its first win of the season by a 6-0 count against Albright while Frostburg State suffered a 4-1 setback vs. visiting DeSales.
