SALEM, Va. --- Roanoke fell to defending national champion and top-ranked Salisbury, 15-8 Sunday afternoon at Kerr Stadium. The Maroons dropped to 3-2 while the Sea Gulls remain undefeated with a 7-0 mark.

Roanoke held a 4-3 early advantage thanks to Gina Valles (South Windsor, CT, Westminster ), who marched down the field and scored three of the first four Maroon goals. But Salisbury scored five-straight goals and went into the half with an 8-4 lead.

Meegan Rourke (Greenwich, CT, Millbrook School) free-position goal opened the scoring into the second half, but the Sea Gulls scored back-to-back goals to extend their lead to five, 10-5 with just under 20-minutes remaining.

Valles scored her fourth goal of the contest and assisted on Rourke's, her second of the game, to pull within three, 10-7 at the 13-minute mark.

But the defending national champions proved too much, as SU closed the game netting five of the last six goals on the day.

Salisbury held slight edges in shots (31-25), groundballs (22-14) and were 12-for-17 in clear attempts. Roanoke led 15-10 in draw controls but were only 1-for-4 in free-position shots and 7-of-14 in clear attempts.

Valles totaled five points on the day for Roanoke (4g, 1a), winning four draw controls and caused two turnovers. Rourke (2g) collected four groundballs, won five draw controls and caused four turnovers.

Jamie Golden (Timonium, MD, Notre Dame) collected three groundballs while Emily Knade (Easton, MD, St. Peter and Paul) added a goal and an assist for the Maroons. Lyndsey Jones (Easton, MD, St. Peter and Paul) had 12 saves in goal for Roanoke.

Salisbury's Trish DiGirolomo led all scorers with eight points (4g, 4a) followed by Allie Wheatley with four goals. Aileen McCausland and Amanda Holsclaw tallied two goals each as Katie Bollhorst dished out two assists on the afternoon. Julie Ann Caulfield totaled 11 saves to earn the win in goal for the Sea Gulls.

The women will host SUNY-Cortland this Friday, March 18 in non-conference action. Game time is scheduled for 4 p.m. at Kerr Stadium.