OWINGS MILLS, Md. - Stevenson women's lacrosse sophomore Kiely Bunce tied her career-high with six points on five goals and one assist but ninth-ranked Salisbury scored six unanswered goals as the Sea Gulls escaped with an 11-10 overtime victory in the season opener for both teams on Saturday afternoon at Mustang Stadium.

It is the third consecutive season opener for the Mustangs versus Salisbury while marking just the second overtime game in the 24-game series. The Sea Gulls have won all 24 meetings dating back to 1997. Stevenson is also 0-7 in season openers over the last seven seasons with all seven games coming against ranked opponents. The team is 2-20 versus ranked opponents since the start of the 2014 season.

The Sea Gulls (1-0) got on the board just 1:33 into the contest as Allie Hynson scored off an assist from Dana King. But the Mustangs (0-1) answered 2:03 later as sophomore Carly Bowes scored a free-position goal, her first of three in the opening half. The three goals by Bowes ties her career-best that she set twice a season ago. Her three free-position goals in a new career-high.

After Salisbury took a 2-1 leads, the hosts answered with four consecutive goals, including three by Bunce. Freshman Lindsay Seipp recorded her first career point with an assist on the first goal by Bunce while Bowes also recorded an assist on a Bunce score.

Krissy Murphy stopped the Stevenson run with her first of two goals or the visitors as Salisbury scored three of the next four goals to cut its deficit to 6-5 with 4:43 remaining in the opening half. Bowes pushed the lead back to two with 2:43 remaining, a lead the Mustangs would take into halftime.

The Mustangs picked up right where they left off at the start of the second half, scoring the opening three goals. Junior Dana Stevens and senior Amanda Robshaw each netted their first goal of the season while Bunce scored her fifth and final of the game to give the hosts a 10-5 lead with 21:13 remaining.

After Robshaw's goal pushed Stevenson's lead to five, the Mustangs committed 14 turnovers the rest of the way as the Sea Gulls slowly chipped away at the deficit, with Emma Skoglund tying the game wuth 2:48 remaining in regulation. Salisbury was able to get two shots off in the final 11 seconds but both were off frame.

In overtime, the Sea Gulls won the draw control but Stevenson forced a possession clock violation to gain possession for the first time. But the Mustangs were whistled for an illegal self start, handing the ball back to Salisbury with a free-position shot. On the whistle, Skoglund fired the free-position shot to the near upper left corner for the season opening win.

Senior Jamie Bittner recorded a game-high seven ground balls while adding three draw controls. In net, sophomore Mack Ferguson recorded 13 saves.

Salisbury outshot the Mustangs, 38-19, including 24-6 in the second period and overtime combined. Stevenson finished 6-for-8 on free-position shots compared to 2-for-9 for the Sea Gulls. The hosts were just 18-for-30 on clear attempts, including 8-for-17 in the second half.

Stevenson returns to action on Wednesday, February 21 when the Mustangs host a non-conference contest versus McDaniel beginning at 5:00 p.m.