The Salisbury men's lacrosse team suffered a 12-9 defeat to Tufts in the NCAA National Championship game on Sunday afternoon at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. 

Making their 13th national championship game appearance, the Sea Gulls (21-2) had the better of the play early on, taking a 3-1 lead into the second quarter. 

Luke Phipps tallied an unassisted score at the 11:31 mark of the second to push Salisbury out to a 4-1 advantage - a lead that would prove to be its largest of the contest. 

The Jumbos (21-2) slowly began to chip away at the Sea Gull lead in the second frame, eventually evening things up at 5-5 with a pair of goals in the final 3:14 of the first half. 

From there, Tufts put together a decisive third quarter, outscoring the Sea Gulls 7-1 in the frame to jump out to a 12-6 lead entering the fourth. 

Donovan Lange and Mike Kane tallied scores in the opening minutes of the fourth for Salisbury, and Sean Fitzgerald's score at the 6:52 mark pulled the Sea Gulls within 12-9, but it was too little, too late as the Jumbos effectively ran out the clock down the stretch to preserve the win. 

Fitzgerald and Lange each notched two goals for Salisbury, while Greg Korvin tallied a goal and two assists. Goalkeeper Alex Taylor posted nine saves in the loss. 

Tufts was paced by John Uppgren's two goals and two assists, along with a one goal, five assist performance from Cole Bailey, the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament. 

This national title matchup between Salisbury and Tufts marked the third time in the last five years that the two schools met for the championship. Tufts captured the title in 2010, and Salisbury won the matchup in 2011.