SALEM, Va. --- The Roanoke College men's soccer team advances to the ODAC Championship game for the second time in three years after defeating Washington and Lee, 5-1, on Tuesday evening.  The top-seeded Maroons now have a record of 15-2-2, while the #5 seed Generals close the season at 11-5-2.

The Maroons are riding an eight game winning streak, as well as having been unbeaten in the last 11 contests.  The 11-game unbeaten streak is the longest of its kind for Roanoke since the 1996 season, where the Maroons won 11 straight games in a 12-4-2 season.  The Maroons will square off with #2 seed Lynchburg, who bested Virginia Wesleyan on penalty kicks on Tuesday evening.  Roanoke picked up its first win over Lynchburg since 2007 with a 1-0 victory on October 21st, 2014.

Marc Dinkel finished the contest with three assists, bumping his season total to 13.  He now stands alone in third all-time in single season assists, only behind Brandan Moffett (14 -2002) and Dustin Fonder (20 – 1993).  He now has 37 points (12g, 13a) this season, which ranks in fifth in single-season points.  He sits just one spot behind Roanoke College head coach Ryan Pflugrad, who notched 38 points (15g, 8a) in the 2000 campaign.  Scoring the second goal of the night, Dinkel was involved in four of the team's five scoring plays.

Roanoke tallied just one of its five goals in the first half.  At the 16:13 mark, Dinkel served up a pass to Tim Mahabir, who headed the ball over the keeper and into the back of the net for the 1-0 advantage.  The remainder of the half saw no goals from either team.

Just 1:53 into the second half, Washington and Lee's David Cohen found an opportunity to slip one past the goalkeeper, tying the game at 1-1.  However, the floodgates opened for the Maroons 10 minutes later as Robby Lentine dished out an assist to Dinkel, who put the Maroons ahead by one, scoring his 12th goal of the season.  Cole Thornton scored back-to-back goals for the Maroons over the next 19 minutes, netting his second at 75:18.  Roanoke had a three goal lead thanks to Thornton, as well as Dinkel and Garrett Eldridge, who were credited with the assists on the two goals.  Eldridge got a goal of his own in the final three minutes, assisted by Dinkel, tallying Roanoke's fifth goal of the night.  The Maroons' five goals marked Roanoke's highest goal total against the Generals since the 1953 season where the Maroons won 6-0.

Roanoke outshot Washington and Lee 11-8 on the evening. Dinkel and Thornton led the Maroons with three shots each, while five other Maroons had one shot apiece.  Cole Sinclair played all 90 minutes in net for the Maroons and tallied four saves on the night.

The Generals were led by Kevin Molnar and Cohen, each finishing with two shots apiece.  Austin Gilbert, Zach Colby Benjamin Bayles and Ted Hurst tallied one shot each.  Albert Civitarese also played the complete game in goal, finishing with one save.

--- This release is courtesy of the Roanoke College sports information department. ---
maroons.roanoke.edu