The fall season brought another bountiful harvest to SU Athletics and, undoubtedly, a sterling start to the Polizzi era.
Salisbury University volleyball may have brought home the biggest hardware with a Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference (C2C) championship, but they were far from the only maroon-and-golds to experience success in the first athletics season under new Director of Athletics Monica Polizzi.
Sea Gull field hockey enjoyed another season from its perch at the top of the sport, reaching as high as fourth in the rankings and finishing 14-5. SU earned a second straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals after freshman Ramsey Coffman came off the bench in overtime to score a penalty-stroke goal, lifting SU past Williams College, 1-0, in the second round.
Salisbury football rattled off its 14th consecutive winning season, overcoming a slew of injuries to finish 6-4 and earn a tie for second place in the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC). Sophomore kicker Kollin Samaha was named NJAC Special Teams Player of the Year, while senior Joey Bildstein made his third All-NJAC First Team after rushing for 15 touchdowns in just six games.
Sea Gull women’s soccer broke 10 wins to secure its first winning record since 2019 at 10-7-2, with half of those victories coming by just one goal. SU men’s soccer began to turn the corner under second-year boss Zack MacDougall by locking up its first winning season since 2018 with a 7-5-5 mark. Both sides earned signature 1-0 victories during the campaign, with the women’s team ending Washington & Lee’s two-year regular season undefeated streak on October 13 and the men upending NCAA Tournament-bound Christopher Newport five days later.
While the sport features no win-loss records, the Salisbury cross country teams can also claim winning campaigns after experiencing multiple fall breakthroughs. The Sea Gull men and women combined for three team first-place finishes through the season, and each side recorded strong placings at the conference and regional championship races. The women earned their best regional finish (seventh) in 17 years, while the men cracked the top 10 at regionals (ninth) for the third straight year.
The fall season brought another bountiful harvest to SU Athletics and, undoubtedly, a sterling start to the Polizzi era.
