VIRGINIA BEACH -- Virginia Wesleyan College's field hockey Marlins scored three unanswered goals Saturday at the U.S. National Training Center and held on to pin a 3-2 non-conference loss on the Bobcats of Frostburg State University.

The Marlins, who won their fourth game in their last five outings, improved to 4-4, hitting the .500 mark for the first time since the 2006 season.

Saturday's final score does not reflect the Marlins' dominance in the game on both ends of the field.  Defensive play limited the Bobcats (3-10) to just five total shots, including two in the second half.  Seniors Tara White (Alexandria, Va./Thomas A. Edison) and Valerie Nowlan (Virginia Beach/Salem) once again sparked the strong defensive effort, along with rookie Danielle Pellerin (Long Valley, N.J./Chester West Morris).

That effort backed a big day offensively for the Marlins, who ripped off 17 shots, including 10 in the second half.  Taylor Lober (Wilmington, Del./Concord), Amelia Goebel (Virginia Beach/Mercersburg, Pa.), Allie Lanna (Midlothian, Va./Manchester) and Nikki Cuthbert (Morrisville, Pa./Fairless Hills Pennsbury) took leading roles in keeping the ball moving toward the FSU goal for the Marlins.

FSU countered with alert defensive play by Erin Johns (Halethorpe, Md./Landsdowne), Tiffany Eschler (Olney, Md./Sherwood), and Heather Gray (Thurmont, Md./Catoctin) to hold off the Marlins as long as possible.

Ironically, it was FSU that scored first, finding the break in the VWC defense to allow Johns to knock it into the right corner off an assist by Becky Randel (Columbia, Md./Long Reach) in the 10th minute of the game.

Virginia Wesleyan kept plugging away and saw the effort knot the game in the 22nd minute when Nowland put the ball into the left corner off an assist from Lober.

The teams played with the 1-1 deadlock into the second half when Lanna gave Virginia Wesleyan the lead, chipping the ball into the right corner off a ball from Evan Bunting (Poquoson, Va./Poquoson) in the 56th minute.

Seven minutes later it was a 3-1 VWC lead as Lober scored off a feed from Cuthbert.

Frostburg State had one second half scoring threat snuffed out with 9:05 remaining when a Bobcat player advanced quickly toward the goal with the ball, only to have VWC goalie Kirsten Olson (Springfield, Va./Lorton South County) step out to take the ball away before a shot was attempted.

The 'Cats did get the final score of the game however, when Rachel Merritt (Pasadena, Md./Chesapeake) scored in the 69th minute off a ball from Alli Elliott (Mechanicsville, Md./Chopticon).

Virginia Wesleyan finished with a 17-5 advantage in shots and an 8-2 advantage in penalty corners.  Olson finished with three saves in goal for the Marlins and Maggie Edwards (Lebanon, N.J./Hunterdon Central Regional) produced nine saves for FSU.

Virginia Wesleyan will attempt to continue winning ways when the Marlins play on Tuesday, Oct. 4, in an Old Dominion Athletic Conference game at Lynchburg College at 5 p.m.

--AMDG--