VIRGINIA BEACH -- Virginia Wesleyan College's women's lacrosse team gave Roanoke College's Maroons all the game they wanted for about 52 minutes Saturday on Foster Field at the Trinder Center.

Unfortunately for the host Marlins, the Maroons found the breaks they needed in the final eight minutes to pull out a 12-8 Old Dominion Athletic Conference victory.

Roanoke (10-5, 7-2 ODAC) scored the final five goals of a well-played, tightly contested game that included seven ties and five lead changes.

Virginia Wesleyan (6-10, 4-5 ODAC) bolted out to a 4-2 lead in the first 23 minutes, as junior Nikki Salyers (Severna Park, Md./Severna Park) scored three goals for the Marlins.

But, Roanoke answered with three goals to move in front 5-4 for the halftime lead.  Natalie Belva (Colorado Springs, Colo./Liberty) and Courtney Shelton (Prince Frederick, Md./Huntingtown) scored the first two goals of the second half to put the Marlins back in the lead at 6-5, but once again Roanoke answered.

It was a back-and-forth battle, with VWC taking its last lead at 8-7 when rookie Alex Lambert (Alexandria, Va./Hayfield) got in behind the Roanoke defense to score over goalie Lauren Curtin (Hudson, Ohio/Western Reserve).

It was all Roanoke after that however, as Darragh Evarts (Golden Bridge, N.Y./John Jay) scored with 8:18 remaining to tie the game at 8-all.  Jamie Golden (Timonium, Md./Notre Dame) gave the Maroons' their go-ahead goal with 6:51 remaining.

VWC out-shot Roanoke 23-19 and was led in scoring by Salyers with four goals.  Shelton finished with two and Belva added a goal and two assists.

Evarts paced Roanoke with four goals and Allison Bonano (Ridgewood, N.J./Ridgewood) added three goals and three assists.

VWC also held the edge in ground balls, 22-20, but Roanoke had the lead in draw controls, 14-8.

Senior Brittany MacKnew (Abingdon, Md./Bel Air) record three saves for the Marlins.  Senior Michelle Mace (Dumfries, Va./Woodbridge Forest Park) protected the goal for 15 minutes.

Curtin finished with 10 saves for Roanoke.

The game was the final regular season contest for the Marlins.

--AMDG--