Berkman’s results speak for themselves, too: 22 Capital Athletic Conference titles, 12 NCAA tournament titles and 30 straight NCAA bids. With a 552-62 record, Berkman is the all-time winningest coach in NCAA men's lacrosse history.
The last time these two foes met, Salisbury earned a 12-11 win in the 2017 national semifinals. Salisbury also won a 2016 quarterfinal matchup, 11-10 in overtime. These contests, as of late, have been nail-biters.
“Playing Salisbury, everything is magnified a bit, and you want to do the best you can at every moment of every game,” Caravana said. “That’s what it takes to compete with them at the highest level.”
Traveling to Salisbury also represents a logistical challenge for Denison, Caravana said. They’re a 495-mile drive apart, which is just below the NCAA minimum of 500 miles to fly. So the Big Red are taking a bus from Ohio to Maryland over two days and staying in hotels to break up the trip.
And when they arrive, they hope the likes of Peter Pittroff, Spencer Butler and Brooks Davy can go off. They’ve combined for 273 points so far this year.
“It's trying to win that play, win that five minutes, win that quarter and we'll see what we can do,” Caravana said. “But at this level, with the elite eight teams in the country, it’s pretty competitive. It won’t be easy.”