NEWPORT NEWS, Va. --Virginia Wesleyan College's women's lacrosse team came on strong at the end of Wednesday's non-conference contest at Christopher Newport University, but ran out of time as the host Captains held on to their undefeated start with a 12-11 victory.

Courtney Williams (Leonardtown, Md./Leonardtown) scored two goals and Rachel Gratton (Stratham, N.H./Exeter) added another, all in the final 3:36 to pull the Marlins with a goal of the Captains.

VWC started off strong as Tara Harding (Waterford, N.Y./Clifton Park Shenendehowa)  and Natalie Belva (Colorado Springs, Colo./Liberty) scored in the first four minutes to give the Marlins a 2-1 lead.  But, CNU came back with five straight goals to move out to a 6-2 advantage.

The visiting Marlins stopped the Captains (6-0) there however, and reeled off three consecutive goals by Belva, Gratton and Williams to end the half, with VWC trailing just 6-5.  Belva scored the first goal of the second half as well, creating a 6-6 tie. But, CNU scored four of the next five goals to create the lead it needed to hold off the Marlins in the final minutes.

Williams and Belva finished with three goals each for VWC (2-4).  The Marlins outshot CNU 30-27.

Goalie Brittany MacKnew (Abingdon, Md./Bel Air) produced eight saves for VWC.  CNU goalie Hanna Wilkerson (Falls Church, Va./Falls Church) finished with 12.  Kaitlin Quigley (Round Hill, Va./Loudoun Valley) led the Captains' scoring with four goals.

Virginia Wesleyan competes again on Saturday, Mar. 19, hosting the Randolph College WildCats in an Old Dominion Athletic Conference contest beginning at 2 p.m.

--AMDG--