SWEET BRIAR, Va. -- Virginia Wesleyan College's field hockey Marlins posted their third shutout of the season en route to posting a 5-0 victory at Sweet Briar College on Saturday.

VWC improved to 6-6 overall, marking the highest victory total since 2006, but more importantly, improved to 4-1 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. The Marlins are currently tied with Randolph-Macon College and Eastern Mennonite University for second place in the league.

Junior Allie Lanna (Midlothian, Va./Manchester) led VWC with back-to-back goals in the second half, as the Marlins clicked offensively to put four goals on the scoreboard.

Virginia Wesleyan took the lead with a solo goal in the first half when sophomore Taylor Lober (Wilmington, Del./Concord) scored off a penalty corner in the 19th minute.

The Marlins played 11 minutes into the second half when they expanded the lead to 2-0 on a Lanna goal in the left side, off a pass from first year Lauren Gold (Glendora, Calif./Glendora).  Four minutes later Lanna found the back of the cage again, firing the ball through the Sweet Briar defenders in the 51st minute.  Lober assisted on the goal.

Virginia Wesleyan iced the win with back-to-back goals in a span of 22 seconds in the 66th minute.  Sophomore Nikki Cuthbert (Morrisville, Pa./Fairless Hills Pennsburg) posted an unassisted goal at 66:43 and first year Lauren Douglas (Frederick, Md./Calvert) followed suit with a solo showing 22 seconds later.

Virginia Wesleyan out-shot the host Vixens 32-5, posting an 18-2 advantage in the first half.  The Marlins also produced their highest total of penalty corners of the season with 14.  Sweet Briar finished with five.

Sophomore Kirsten Olson (Springfield, Va./Lorton South County) emerged with four saves in nearly 59 minutes for the Marlins.  Morgan Culler (Ellicott City, Md./Mt. Hebron) protected the VWC goal for the final eight minutes.  Madeline Wilson (Orange, Va./Orange County) finished with 16 saves for Sweet Briar, which fell to 3-9 overall and to 0-6 in the ODAC.

Virginia Wesleyan, which has won six of its last nine games, competes again on Wednesday, Oct. 19, hosting Eastern Mennonite at 4 p.m. on Marlins Field in the only on-campus game of the season.

--AMDG--