Five Different Marlins Score in Victory Over Roanoke

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. --- Saturday's windy, rainy, cold weather did little to sap the effort of a focused group of Virginia Wesleyan College field hockey players.

The Marlins took aim at an Old Dominion Athletic Conference tournament victory and hit the bullseye at the U.S. National Training Center.  Virginia Wesleyan broke open a tight game with two quick goals in the second half Saturday and posted a 5-1 victory over the Maroons of Roanoke College.

It was a win that avenged a 2-1 loss on the road to the Maroons on Oct. 22 and, more importantly, gave Virginia Wesleyan its first ODAC tournament victory since 2006.  It was also VWC's highest scoring output against Roanoke since a 6-2 win in 2004 and gave Virginia Wesleyan its seventh win against the Maroons in the last 10 outings. 

Virginia Wesleyan (8-8) advances to the semifinals of the 2011 tournament to face the Yellow Jackets of Randolph-Macon College on Wednesday, Nov. 2 at a time to be announced.

Both VWC and Roanoke (6-12) braved the elements Saturday and produced a competitive game through the first half.  While Roanoke managed only one shot in the half, Virginia Wesleyan got off four and found the cage with about 15:45 remaining in the half.  Junior Evan Bunting, a defensive ace for the Marlins, turned scorer on a penalty corner, knocking the ball in for the score set up by senior Valerie Nowlan.

That's the way the score remained the remainder of the half and into the early minutes of the second half, before Virginia Wesleyan started to pull away.  The Marlins made it a 2-0 game when sophomore Taylor Lober scored at 31:26 off a pass from rookie Tanya Puccio.  Two minutes later the Marlins owned a 3-0 advantage after Puccio scored from about five yards out off an assist by sophomore Nikki Cuthbert.

Virginia Wesleyan extended its lead to 4-0 with 17:08 remaining in the half after the Marlins moved in close to get sticks on the ball several times, before a deflection sent the ball toward senior Tara White.  She reacted with a stroke that sent the ball through the crowd and into the cage.

Roanoke came back shortly thereafter to put a goal on the scoreboard when Mariel Hunt scored out of a scrum in front of the goal with 13:35 showing on the clock.

Virginia Wesleyan tacked on its final goal with 10:18 showing off another corner, set up once again by Nowlan who injected the ball to Amelia Goebel for the scoring shot and a 5-1 VWC advantage.

Virginia Wesleyan finished with an 11-3 advantage in shots and an 8-4 advantage in penalty corners.

Sophomore goalie Kirsten Olson recorded two saves in goal for the Marlins in 70 minutes.  Cristina Scichilone recorded one save in a little more than 54 minutes for Roanoke, before Katherine Muhvich finished and recorded one save.

This release is courtesy of the Virginia Wesleyan Sports Information Department.