Posted: May 02, 2012
The Maroons make their sixth ODAC Championship appearance in seven years, all under eighth-year head coach, Mary Schwartz. Schwartz, who won her 88th game as head coach of the program, is now three shy of tying Tracy Coyne (1990-96) for the most wins by any coach in the history of the women's lacrosse program at RC.
Lynchburg opened the attack, as Kendall Adkin scored at the 27:00 mark of the first half. Roanoke would take over for most of the half, going on two separate runs of four goals each. In the first run, Kathleen Wager scored two goals, with both assisted by Jamie Golden. The other two goals came off assists by Allison Bonanno, one scored by Rosie Knisley and the other by Golden. Roanoke led 4-1 just 10 minutes into the game.
Lynchburg scored two more goals between 20:00 and 16:58, as Adkin scored one and Bri slate scored the other. In the Maroons' second run in the half, the goals came from Elizabeth Narwicz, Golden, and two from Bonanno. After this run, Roanoke led 8-3.
In the final three minutes of the first half, the Maroons were outscored 2-1, but still entered the locker rooms at half ahead 9-5.
Just one minute in to the second half, the game went on a delay because of lightning. Because the rule states you must wait 30 minutes from the last lightning strike, the delay lasted about two hours. Once the game resumed, Lynchburg came out hot, scoring four consecutive goals tying the game at 9-9.
After Lynchburg's run, the Maroons started to get back in the groove. With 16:50 left in the game, Wager scored the go ahead goal, taking the 10-9 lead. Darragh Evarts followed suit a minute later, finding the back of the net. Bonanno scored two goals, each within the seven minute mark, giving Roanoke the 13-9 lead.
With just five minutes left, Lynchburg wasn't out of the game, as they scored Lesley Buckingham scored to cut the lead to three, 13-10. The Hornets were given a player-up advantage, which they capitalized on and netted one more with 2:00 left on the clock. With :10 left in the contest, Paige Gadsby scored with a player-down disadvantage to cut the deficit to one, 13-12. However, the Maroons held off the Hornets for the next 10 seconds, and came out on top of the ODAC Semi-Final game, 13-12.
Bonanno led the team with seven points, four goals and three assists. She was followed by Wager, who netted three then Golden and Evarts who each finished with two. Golden also had three assists to her credit.
Lauren Curtin played all 60 minutes in net and made a career-best 17 saves.
Kendall Adkin led the Hornets with five goals and one assist. Leslie Buckingham was second in goals with three.
The Maroons now move on to face Washington and Lee in the ODAC Championship game on Sunday. The game will be held in Lexington and is scheduled for a 2:00 PM start.
Don't forget to become a fan of Maroon Athletics on Facebook. You can also follow us on Twitter @rcmaroons. Be sure to check out Roanoke Athletic's Vimeo Channel on our athletics home page and watch various highlight clips from our home games. To keep up to date with Maroon athletics from your mobile phone, click HERE to access the mobile app.
Did you know you can view all home games live online? Click HERE to watch live webcasts of each scheduled home athletic event. You can also access live stats for each home event and select away games by clicking our “Live Stats” link on the athletic homepage.
