SALEM, VA--Trailing 5-4 at halftime, the Roanoke College women's lacrosse team outscored Randolph-Macon College, 6-1, in the second half of play to earn a 10-6 victory on Saturday afternoon in Salem, VA. The Maroons, who have won two straight over the Yellow Jackets, improve to 3-3 on the season and 3-1 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. The Yellow Jackets drop their third consecutive contest and are now 2-3 overall and 1-2 in league play.
Randolph-Macon opened the scoring just 29 second in and opened by scoring three of the game's first four goals. The third of those four goals came with 20:28 to play in the first half of play.
Julie VanDerGhinst (Boca Raton, FL/St. Edward's) scored the Maroons' first two goals of the game, her first tying the game at one and the second bringing the Maroons to within one goal, 3-2. Randolph-Macon pushed its lead back to two goals with 9:59 to play, but a goal from senior
Carrie Smith (Charlottesville, VA/Monticello), on an assist from
Emily Hearn (Kennebunk, ME/Kennebunk), again brought the hosts to within one. Cindy Hamblen (Vienna, VA/Madison) scored on a low-angle shot with 6:45 to play in the first to make the score 4-4.
The Yellow Jackets would score the ninth goal of the first half to take a 5-4 lead into halftime, but coming out of the break, the game swayed quickly in Roanoke's direction, thanks in large part to the defense. Sparked by the play of sophomore
Coleen Harvey (Street, MD/C. Milton Wright) and
Rachel Hutchinson (Pasadena, MD/Chesapeake), the Maroon defense held the Yellow Jackets off the scoreboard for the first 28:26 of the first half and as a result allowed the attack to put the Maroons in control.
Five different Maroons scored goals in the second half sparking the comeback win. Meaghan Cromwell (Alexandria, VA/Mt. Vernon), Chelsea Rankin (Columbus, OH/Thomas Worthington), and Dara Lundregan (Columbus, OH/Hilliard Davidson) gave the Maroons a 7-5 lead 13 minutes into the second half. Hearn and Cantey Bailey (Crofton, MD/South River) gave Roanoke a 9-5 lead before the Yellow Jackets could finally score with 1:34 to play in the game.
The Maroons will host Christopher Newport at 2:00pm on Sunday afternoon. The game will be played at the college's Elizabeth Campus fields. The game was supposed to be played at alumni Field, but due to unforeseen circumstances, the game was moved to the Elizabeth Campus.
