Marlins Upset Roanoke on Homecoming Weekend

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- It took two overtime periods, but the Virginia Wesleyan College field hockey team picked up its first Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) victory of the season with a 2-1 victory over Roanoke College.

Roanoke found the back of the cage first at the 21:32 mark when Rebecca Schmidt found Shelbi Holloman for the score after the duo found themselves in a 2-on-1 break. Holloman's goal was her 16th of the season, double of the competitor in second place.

The Maroons entered the contest as the ODAC's top scoring offense, but was held in check by a tenacious Marlin defense.

Roanoke maintained a 15-4 advantage in shots and 15-2 in penalty corners, but it was Virginia Wesleyan who made the most of its limited chances.

Virginia Wesleyan found an opportunity with less than three minutes to play as a deflected pass found the stick of Karleigh Warren, who finished off the play for a tie game.

VWC kept the Maroons out of the cage to force overtime, despite Roanoke having a late penalty corner.

The Marlins fought off four penalty corners in the first overtime period alone, while Skye Swain made a save and another Holloman shot hit the post of the cage.

Closing in on the end of the double overtime session, just under three minutes again, the Marlins capitalized for a goal to spring the upset on one the ODAC power. Asiah Allen lofted a pass that was batted out of the air by Warren for her second goal of the game.

Swain made six saves for the Marlins while Heather Schauder stopped one for Roanoke (8-2/2-1).

Virginia Wesleyan (3-7/1-2) travels to Randolph-Macon College (1-9/0-4) Wednesday for a 7:30 p.m. ODAC start.