For Immediate Release April 25, 1999
Roanoke Wins 1999 ODAC Championship
Maroons Capture Ninth League Title
SALEM, Va.--The Roanoke College women’s lacrosse team outscored Randolph-Macon 6-3 in the second half to capture the 1999 Old Dominion Athletic Conference women’s lacrosse championship on Sunday afternoon. This is the Maroons’ ninth overall league crown, seventh of the 1990s, and second in the past three years. The Maroons improve to 14-3 on the year, while Randolph-Macon drops to 11-5. The two teams played to a 5-5 draw in the first half, but the Maroons scored six times in the second and held the Yellow Jackets to just three to claim the win. The Maroons struck early in the second half, as Kylie Wernert (Greenwich, CT/Greenwich) scored an unassisted goal at the 26:29 mark to give RC a lead it would not give up the rest of the way. Ellie Page (Savannah, GA/Berkshire) scored her third of five goals just under five minutes later to give Roanoke a two-goal cushion. Randolph-Macon answered back, a goal from Carrie Winkler (Towson, MD/Loch Raven), one of two on the day for her.
However, Roanoke scored three of the game’s next four goals, pushing the lead to 10-7. Kylie Wernert and Page sandwiched goals around a goal from RMC’s Winkler, while Lindsay Wernert (Greenwich, CT/Greenwich) scored at the 6:06 mark to give the Maroons the three-goal lead.
Randolph-Macon refused to die, and when Angela Bisland (Severna Park, MD/St. Mary’s) scored with 1:48 left in the game, Roanoke’s lead was just two. The Maroons controlled the ensuing draw, and played keep-away for most of the remaining time. When Macon did get possession of the ball, it was unable to clear the ball. The game’s scoring was capped by Page’s fifth of the day, a spectacular, no-look, behind-the-neck shot that skipped past the Macon goaltender.
The first half was a half of streaks. After RMC’s Jessica Burke (Millersville, MD/Severn School) opened the scoring in the game, Roanoke went on a 2-0 run, getting its first goal from an unlikely source. Defender Erin Brooks (Towson, MD/Maryvale), who had not taken a shot on goal all season, was left all alone in front of the RMC cage. Lindsay Wernert found her, and Brooks ripped the shot into the net. Five minutes after the Brooks goal, Erin Harding (Cockeysville, MD/Notre Dame Prep) scored her sixth of the year to give RC a 2-1 advantage. The Yellow Jackets fired right back, going on a 3-0 run to regain the lead, at 4-2. All three of the goals came within a five-minute span halfway through the first. Erin Reidy (Ellicott City, MD/McDonough) scored the first, while Brooke Gibson (Charlottesville, VA/Albermarle) followed with a free position goal. The run was capped by a goal from Casey Latrobe (Monkton, MD/Oldfields School), on a pass from Bisland.
The Maroons, however, went on a 3-0 run of their own, recapturing the lead at 5-4. Page scored twice for Roanoke in the run, while Lindsay Wernert scored the other goal.
In addition to Page’s five scores, Roanoke got two apiece from the Wernert sisters, Kylie and Lindsay, and also got 13 saves from goaltender Debbie Apazidis (New Canaan, CT/New Canaan). Lindsay wernert added an assist in the game, giving her seven in the two games the Maroons played in the conference tournament.
Winkler led the RMC offensive attack, scoring twice and adding two helpers. Erin Reidy scored twice, while Angela Bisland added a goal and two assists. RMC keeper Amy Whitcomb (Reisterstown, MD/Franklin) stopped 12 Roanoke shots on the day.