Nine-time reigning national champion Salisbury is off to a 2-0 start, which includes a 16-9 victory over No. 11 Lynchburg. But the degree of difficulty will ratchet up at least a level (or three) when No. 2 Roanoke visits Sea Gull Stadium in Salisbury on Saturday.

The meeting between the top two teams in the preseason poll released by the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association is a prime opportunity for the Sea Gulls to assess their progress thus far.

“Our guys are always amped up to play the best teams on our schedule,” Salisbury coach Jim Berkman said. “It’s big non-conference rivalry. … It’s a game that our players always look forward to because they’re a very competitive team and extremely well-coached, and nothing’s different this year. They’ve got a cast of guys back that were on that team that upset Stevenson last year in the [NCAA tournament] quarterfinals and won the conference championship. So they definitely have some weapons in their arsenal.”

The Maroons graduated just two starters from the squad that lost, 16-7, to the Sea Gulls in the semifinals. Junior attackman Richard Lachlan scored four goals, and senior attackman Jeff Keating registered one goal and three assists in the team’s 12-6 win against St. Mary’s last Saturday. Freshman Max Satossky won 13-of-19 faceoffs, and sophomore goalkeeper Charles Pease made 12 saves.

Roanoke likes to play at a frenetic pace, turning stops on the defensive end into fastbreak and transition chances. That’s an area that Berkman said the team will focus on during this week of practice.

“The key to always beating Roanoke is transition defense,” he said. “You’ve got to get in the hole, you’ve got to play six-on-six, and you can’t let them get the ball inside. They’re really good at forcing the ball into the Canadian kid [Lachlan] on the crease, and you can’t let them score inside. You can’t let them score in transition. That’s the key to beating them, and that’s what we had success with last year.”