SALEM, Va. --- Roanoke opened its 2011 season with a 20-7 convincing victory over #20 St. Mary's (MD) Sunday afternoon in Maryland. The Maroons, ranked fifth in the USILA Pre-Season Coaches Poll, are 1-0 while the Seahawks dropped to 0-1 on the young season.

The Maroons, picked first in the ODAC pre-season poll, have now won 11 of their last 12 season-openers dating back to 2000. Roanoke scored at least 20 goals for the 11^th time in season-openers, including the third time against St. Mary's. RC is now 10-1 against the Seahawks.

Down 3-2 after the first quarter of play, the Maroons reeled off four unanswered goals in the second quarter to take a 6-3 halftime lead. Jeff Keating (Chatham, NJ, Chatham) scored all four of his goals in the first half.

With the score, 7-4 midway through the third quarter, Roanoke started to pull away, scoring five of the next six goals to take a seven-goal advantage. Drew Manley (Severna Park, MD, St. Mary's Annapolis) scored just 11-seconds into the final period to go, 13-5.

St. Mary's scored a minute later, but Roanoke proved too much over the final 13-minutes, scoring seven of the last eight goals of the contest. The Maroons scored three goals in the final minute which included Dominic Gurnsey (Catonsville, MD, Catonsville) first career goal with seven seconds left.

Roanoke scored two additional goals in each of the final three quarters to highlight the second-half outburst. The Maroons outscored St. Mary's, 14-4 in the final 30-minutes.

Roanoke outshot SMC, 51-37 and won the groundball battle, 41-30. The Maroons won 21-of-30 face-offs, led by Justin Tuma (Bloomfield Hills, MI, Lahser) who went 17-for-25 on the day. RC was 20-for-25 on clears while the Seahawks went 20-for-26 for the afternoon.

Noah Gibby (Terrace Park, OH, Mariemont) led Roanoke with four goals and two assists for six points. In addition to Keating's four goals, he dished out two assists as well to move up six spots to 29^th on the career scoring list (113pts). Tuma's single-game record of 17 groundballs led the Maroons as he moved up two spots to sixth on the career groundballs list (289). He also had three goals and an assist.

Joey Coretti (East Grand Rapids, MI, East Grand Rapids ) totaled two goals and an assist in his first game back after missing the entire 2010 season. Trey Keeley (Lancaster, PA, Conestaga Valley High School) finished with a goal and two assists to become the 42^nd member of the 100-point club at Roanoke.

Mike Hardon (Devon, PA, The Gunnery) earned his first career win in goal for Roanoke, finishing with nine saves. Charles Pease (Landisville, PA, Hempfield) totaled 10 saves as he played the entire second half.

Will Bell, Bobby Cooke and Dennis Rosson scored two goals each for St. Mary's. Stu Wheeler took the loss in goal for the Seahawks, as he and second half goalie Pat Simpson collected four saves each.

The men are back on the road Saturday, Feb. 26 as they travel to Franklin & Marshall in non-conference action. Game time is scheduled for 1 p.m. in Lancaster, PA.