SALEM, Va. -- The W&L field hockey team built a 3-0 lead early in the second half, and then withstood a late Roanoke rally to defeat the Maroons, 3-2, on Thursday evening at Kerr Stadium.

First-year forward Christina Benedetti (Derwood, Md./Holy Cross) opened the scoring with an unassisted goal, her second of the season, at the 10:19 mark. Junior forward Sallie Armstrong (Houston, Texas/St. John's) followed with first of her two goals at the 34:31 mark to put the Generals (4-6, 2-1 ODAC) up 2-0 at the break.

Armstrong struck again with her seventh goal of the season just 2:09 into the second half to give W&L a 3-0 lead. Senior forward Christina Merchant (Midlothian, Va./Collegiate) recorded the assist.

The Maroons (1-10, 0-4) would score twice in a 12 minute span midway through the second period on goals by junior Mariah Vietri (Jamestown, R.I./Rocky Hill) and first-year Jordan McIninch (Lanexa, Va./New Kent) to trim W&L's advantage to one with under 14 minutes remaining. Roanoke could not find the equalizer however, and W&L went on to win for the third time in its last four games.

The Generals outshot Roanoke 23-8 and were awarded 14 penalty corners to just three for the Maroons.

Washington and Lee returns to action on Sunday when it hosts Kenyon at 11:00 am.

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Scoring Summary:
W&L - Christina Benedetti (unassisted): 10:19
W&L - Sallie Armstrong (unassisted): 34:31
W&L - Sallie Armstrong (Christina Merchant): 37:09
ROA - MariahVietri (unassisted): 44:58
ROA - Jordan McIninch (unassisted): 56:06

Goalkeeping:
Caroline Habliston (W&L): 70:00, 2 GA, 1 save
Cristina Scichilone (ROA): 70:00, 3 GA, 3 saves

Team Stats:
W&L - 23 shots, 14 penalty corners, 1 save
ROA - 8 shots, 3 penalty corners, 3 saves