Saturday's 12-6 home loss to unranked Gettysburg will surely drop Salisbury from its No. 7 ranking when the next United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association poll is released later on Monday. But that's the least of coach Jim Berkman's worries.
The Sea Gulls (2-2) have not found their shooting touch in losses to the Bullets and then-No. 8 Lynchburg (12-7 on Feb. 14). In those setbacks, the offense has taken a combined 73 shots, but 33 attempts have missed the cage entirely and 27 were turned aside by opposing goalkeepers.
Some of that can be credited to the opponents' defenses, but Berkman said it is discouraging that the players are settling for shots outside of 13 yards and taking the first available opportunity.
"Once again, I think we took some shots that we needed to wait and get a better opportunity," Berkman said Monday morning. "We outshot them by five, and it's another game where we have 39 or 40 shots and we only have six or seven goals. So obviously, we're not shooting very well. The good news is we're getting that many shots, but we've just got to make better, conscious decisions about our shot selection, our shot location, and we've got to become better shooters."
In the losses, Salisbury converted just 1-of-8 extra-man chances, and the starting attack of senior Mike Kane and sophomores Chris Joyce and Carson Kalama combined for two goals on 20 shots, one assist and six turnovers.
The Sea Gulls also fell into holes of 5-1 against Lynchburg and 6-0 against Gettysburg, but Berkman linked those slow starts to the team's accuracy problems.
"It's a concern especially because of our shot selection on the first two possessions," he said. "It's critical that you really get a great shot and that you don't settle for a good shot, and I think we've been settling for a good shot. It's always been a big thing here that we never took that first good shot, that we always took the first great shot to put a lot more pressure on the goalie. I think that was definitely our nemesis in both of those games."