ST. CROIX, Virgin Islands -- Gina Valles and Brooks Laufman led Roanoke with a combined 11 goals in the 19-14 win over Oneonta St. Sunday afternoon in the first of three games of its spring break trip. The win improved the Maroons to 2-0 while dropping the Red Dragons to 0-1 on the season.

Roanoke won the first meeting against Oneonta in its 30-year history of the program. They are 12-3 vs. New York opponents all-time, including a 6-1 record in series openers.

Oneonta jumped out to an early 4-1 lead before Roanoke scored three of the next four goals to get to within one in just 10 minutes of play. Kayla Moore, Cristen Sanfilippo and Valles all scored over the next five minutes to make it 5-4.

Heidi Kissinger scored two of the next four goals to increase the Red Dragons' lead to 9-4 midway through the first half. Carolyn Miller and Meegan Rourke scored the next two goals before Jessica Wimpel made it 10-6 with her unassisted goal with nine minutes remaining in the half.

From that point on, it was all Roanoke as the Maroons netted seven of the last eight goals to end the half. Valles gave the Maroons the lead for good with just over a minute remaining in the half as she found the back of the net to give the women a 12-11 lead. Laufman scored the final goal of the half to give Roanoke a 13-11 halftime lead.

Rebecca Monteith scored in the first minute of the second half to cut the Maroon lead to one, 13-12 off an assist from Rosemarie Fazio. The Red Dragons wouldn't get any closer as Laufman and Valles combined to score the next five goals to make it, 18-12 and eventually sealed the Maroons second win of the season.

Valles had six goals and one assist while Laufman scored five goals and added two assists to pace Roanoke. Paige Mason also had two goals and two assists. Sanfilippo finished with one goal, two assists and won four draw controls.

Defensively, Moore, Carolyn Clark and Meegan Rourke collected three groundballs for the Maroons. Bianca Catta-Preta led the team with four caused turnovers while Alida Haslett won five draw controls.

The Red Dragons were led by Lauren Portnoy, Rebecca Monteith and Heidi Kissinger with three goals and one assist each. Rosemarie Fazio finished with two goals and a team-high three assists.

Kaytlyn Scarlett had seven saves for the Maroons while Annelise Muscietta led Oneonta with 12 saves.

The women will take on Elizabethtown in the second of three games during their stay in the Virgin Islands Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. It will be the Maroons third-straight new opponent this season as it will be the first meeting against the Blue Jays.

2009-03-03