VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. --- Roanoke fell to Virginia Wesleyan, 5-1 in the ODAC Semifinals on Wednesday evening. The Maroons end their season with a 12-7 record as the Marlins advance to the ODAC Championship at Washington & Lee this Saturday with a 17-3 mark.
Virginia Wesleyan now 16-11-2 against Roanoke, scored a series-high five goals and is now 4-2 against the Maroons in the ODAC Tournament.
The Marlins out-shot the Maroons, 15-6, including 9-4 in shots on goal. The corner kicks were even at three apiece in what was a physical contest with 29 fouls called.
The game was tight in the first half, as both teams traded possession. Midway through the first half, Virginia Wesleyan's Meaghan DiBiase opened the scoring with a shot from the top of the box off a rebound shot to make it, 1-0.
Four minutes later, Kristyn Anselmo gave the Marlins a 2-0 lead as she had a breakaway goal from 15-yards out in the 28th minute.
Roanoke cut their lead in half as
Gina Valles (South Windsor, CT, Westminster )scored off a shot from 20-yards out to make it 2-1 and eventually went into the half with a one-goal deficit.
VWC reeled off three goals in the second half, starting with Christina Fernandes' goal off an assist from DiBiase just seven minutes in to make the score, 3-1.
Midway through the half, Nicki Mazzoccone scored from 20-yards out and in the 71st minute Katie Gradel scored from 10-yards out to round out the scoring in the match.
Lindsay Kooiman (Fredricksburg, VA, Mountain View)finished with three saves for Roanoke. Allison Lennox collected two saves in goal for VWC.
Jessica Welfare (Roanoke, VA, Hidden Valley)led the Maroons with three shots on the afternoon.
Margaret Houston (Augusta, GA, Westminster School),
Alida Haslett (Bryn Mawr, PA, Radnor)and Valles played in their final collegiate soccer match. The three seniors won 10 games or more in each of their four seasons at Roanoke. All three were All-ODAC players throughout their careers.
Both Welfare and Valles were named to the ODAC Women's Soccer All-Tournament Team following the game.
Check out more information on Roanoke's new athletics website at
http://maroons.roanoke.edu/. The website features top stories, scores, stats, photo galleries, archive information and much more. Make sure to sign up for text alerts to get athletic updates sent right to your phone. You can sign up by going to the athletics homepage and click “Get Text Alerts” on the right.
Did you know you can view all home games live online? Click on the “Watch Games Live” ad from the athletics homepage to get live webcasts of each home athletic scheduled event. You can also access live stats for each home event and select away games by clicking our “Live Stats” link on the athletic homepage. To keep up to date with Maroon athletics from your mobile phone or PDA, please visit m.roanoke.edu/sports.
