Posted: Feb 25, 2015
Roanoke defeated a ranked team to open the season, marking the first ranked opponent that the Maroons have defeated since playing #8 Lynchburg on April 5th, 2014. The Maroons also saw a turnaround from the last time they played Denison, losing 12-4 in Kerr Stadium to the then #10 Big Red on February 26th, 2014.
Will Pilat, Tyler McWilliams and Joey Dishaw tied for the team lead in goals scored, netting three goals each. Kevin Jackson, however, led the Maroons in total points, scoring two goals and dishing out three assists in the win on Wednesday. Of the top scorers, McWilliams had the best shot-to-goal ratio, scoring three goals on just five shots. Roanoke finished the game with 47 ground balls, led by Wes Pancoast, who scooped up seven ground balls in the game. The Maroons won 14 faceoffs, led by Max Kraus who won nine, while Cameron Linsley came away with five faceoff wins. Roanoke players forced six turnovers, as Conn Curry led the squad with two. Dylan Torrey played all 60 minutes between the pipes and tallied 14 saves.
Roanoke got on the board first with an unassisted goal by Joey Dishaw in the first 1:10 of the first quarter. Will Pilat followed with a goal of his own four minutes later, giving Roanoke a 2-0 advantage. Denison's Will Donohue scored at 8:10 in the first, getting the Big Red back within one. However, Roanoke rattled off two more goals, one from Tyler McWilliams, assisted by Kevin Jackson, and the other by Jackson unassisted. Denison snuck in one last goal before the end of the quarter, as Blair Farinoff scored unassisted. After one quarter, Roanoke led 4-2.
The Maroons and the Big Red traded goals back and forth, four each during the entirety of the second quarter. Roanoke goals in the quarter came from Will Pilat, Kevin Jackson, Tyler McWilliams and Will Carter. With each team scoring goals, Roanoke still had a two goal lead entering halftime, up 8-6. As they had in the first quarter, Roanoke scored two unanswered goals to start the third. Colin Mackenzie scored at the 11:57 mark, while McWilliams completed his hat-trick a little over a minute later to give Roanoke a four goal, 10-6 lead. After Liam Rooney scored a goal for Denison, Pilat finished his own hat trick at 4:52 to maintain the four goal lead. Denison's Nick Caravana scored in the final seconds of the third quarter as Roanoke led 11-8 at the end of three.
Joey Dishaw led off the fourth quarter with an unassisted goal at 10:08. Denison tallied two consecutive goals to get back within two, 12-10. Dishaw scored his third of the game, assisted by Colin Mackenzie at 2:36 to keep a three goal buffer between the Maroons and the Big Red. Denison only scored one more in the final 1:37, as Roanoke picked up the win in the season opener over #16 Denison.
The Big Red were led in scoring by three players scoring two goals each: Will Donohue, Nick Caravana and Blair Fairnholt. James Meager, Donohue, Liam Rooney and Justin DeMarchi each finished with one assists apiece. Denison's Eric Baumgardner led the team with 12 of the team's 42 ground balls. Baumgardner was the face-off man for the Big Red, winning 14 face-offs. Elliott Avis played 46 minutes in net for Denison, tallying five saves on 14 shots faced.
The Maroons led in ground balls, 47-42, while the two teams tied in face-offs, winning 14 each. Roanoke had three man-up opportunities, but were able to convert on any of the attempts, while Denison only had one man-up opportunity and also couldn't convert.
The Maroons return to action on Saturday, February 28th as they travel to Sewanee, Tennessee to take on The University of the South in non-conference action. That contest is scheduled for a 1:00 PM start.
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