This state sports dynasty travels by bus, eats on the run, never even has its games on the radio and rarely sees its name in lights or even small newspaper headlines.
It's the Salisbury University field hockey team.
At least, the Sea Gulls were given the honor yesterday morning of having the school's star quarterback, Dustin Johnson, show up to see the team off for a bus ride to Springfield, Mass., for this weekend's NCAA Division III field hockey final four.
Salisbury, ranked third in the nation with a 17-2 record, will be making its sixth appearance in the final four in 17 years and has been to the NCAA tournament 16 of those 17 seasons.
The Gulls captured their only field hockey national championship in 1986, the first year of their impressive run.
Dawn Chamberlin, the coaching brains behind this powerful machine, was an assistant coach on that 1986 squad that left nothing to chance by rolling through the season with a 21-0 record.
Chamberlin would become head coach in 1987.
And, as they say, the rest is history.
Chamberlin has compiled a 221-76-8 record and her team has accomplished every imaginable goal, except win the national championship while she has been head coach.
"This team showed a lot of heart and guts to win this past weekend," Chamberlin said of regional victories over New England College and Cortland State in the rain. "Certainly, the weather wasn't ideal, but it was the same for everybody. We just played good hockey."
Salisbury outscored those teams, 9-1, adding to its sometimes overpowering image.
Why overpowering?
Just take a look at the Capital Athletic Conference postseason awards that are traditionally spread around the league.
Not this year.
The awards looks like a Who's Who list from Salisbury instead of the entire league.
Lindsey Elliott, the team's leading scorer with 20 goals and six assists, is the Player of the Year; her sister and teammate, Brittany, is the Rookie of the Year; Chamberlin is the Coach of the Year; five Sea Gulls are first-team all-conference and one is a second-team choice.
The five first-teamers are Lindsey Elliott, Jill Cressor, Lindsay Bard, Megan Bailey and JacQui Alberti, and the second-team choice is Sara Saubier.
Tragedy at UMES
Maryland-Eastern Shore lost its popular assistant director of athletics, Jim Burbridge, Monday night when Burbridge, 51, was stricken and died while playing basketball at the William P. Hytche Athletic Center on campus.
Burbridge, who was in charge of events management and game operations, collapsed on the court while playing a pickup game on the arena's main court.
Case for Frostburg
Certainly, if Frostburg State defeats Johns Hopkins on Saturday in an East Coast Athletic Conference Division III regional football game, a strong case could be made for the Bobcats as the top Division III team in the state.
Forget that Frostburg would be only 7-4 and have the most losses among the four Division III schools. The Bobcats would own victories over Salisbury and a Hopkins team that trounced McDaniel last Saturday.
Case closed, unless Salisbury and McDaniel can convince people that the rain that day caused their defeats.
St. Mary's sails on
The national-champion St. Mary's sailing team added a title to its collection earlier this month, winning the Mid-Atlantic Intercollegiate Sailing Association fall championships over 17 competitors in St. Mary's City.
Finishing behind St. Mary's in the top seven were Hobart and William Smith, Georgetown, Washington College, Merchant Marine Academy, College of Charleston and Old Dominion.