SALEM, VA -- The seventh-seed Roanoke College men's lacrosse team opened its 2007 with an 18-13 home victory over visiting May Washington on Saturday in Salem. The Maroons are of course 1-0, the Eagles 0-1 on the year. The meeting was just the second between the two teams with Roanoke winning both.

Mary Washington's Keith Sweeney opened the scoring, but the Maroons countered with a man-down goal from Zach Thomas to even things at one. Just over two minutes later the Eagles took their second lead of the game on a Daniel Coates goal, but the Maroons rattled off four straight goals, the second two from freshman Pat March, to take a 5-2 lead. Roanoke freshman defender Stephen Simmons recorded his first career point on March's first goal. Before the first quarter was up, however, the Eagles scored two more goals, the second coming with just 0.1 seconds left on the clock.

A Matt Duke man-up goal from 15 yards out late in the second quarter gave the Maroons an 11-6 lead, but again the Eagles scored the final two goals of the period and at halftime trailed just 11-8. Twice in the third quarter the Eagles climbed within two goals, but the Maroons slowly pulled away on March's fourth goal of the game led 18-12 with just over 10 minutes in the game.

Nick Peck played the second half in goal for the Maroons, making eight saves while allowing just five goals. Billy Cameron went 18-for-28 on face-offs in the win. Thomas and senior attackman Jon Mason each had four goals and two assists for Roanoke. Mary Washington's Matt Morrell matched that output to lead the Eagles.

Roanoke is back in action next Saturday in a home game against the Sea Hawks of St. Mary's College. St. Mary's is the nation's 19th-ranked team. St. Mary's won the 2006 meeting 9-5 in St. Mary's City, MD.

SCORE BY PERIOD       1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
Mary Washington.....  4  4  2  3 - 13
Roanoke.............  5  6  3  4 - 18

Mary Washington SCORING:
GOALS: Matt Morrell 4; Scott Fletcher 2; Sean Brown 1; Brent Fisk 1; Keith Sweeney 1; Matt Richman-Raphael 1; Sterling Montague 1; Daniel Coats 1; P. Flannery-Tellock 1
ASSISTS: Matt Morrell 2; Sean Brown 1; Brent Fisk 1; Scott Fletcher 1

Roanoke SCORING:
GOALS: Zach Thomas 4; Jon Mason 4; Pat March 4; Steve Furdock 3; Matt Duke 2; Billy Cameron 1
ASSISTS: Chaz Carlson 2; Jon Mason 2; Zach Thomas 2; Billy Cameron 1; Pat March 1; Brendan Moore 1; Scott Pattison 1; Stephen Simmons 1

SHOTS - Mary Washington 41; Roanoke 43
SHOTS ON GOAL - Mary Washington 24; Roanoke 30

PENALTIES - Mary Washington 2/1:30; Roanoke 7/6:30
MAN-UP OPPORTUNITIES - Mary Washington 1-7; Roanoke 1-2

FACEOFFS - Mary Washington 12-34; Roanoke 22-34

CLEARS - Mary Washington 19-34; Roanoke 14-22

GOALIES
UMWML: Eric Everitt (60:00 minutes, 30 shots-12 saves, 18 GA)
RC: Jake Dorsey (30:00, 11-3, 8), Nick Peck (30:00, 13-8, 5)

A-333

2007-02-18