Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 15, 1994 TAG: 9405150094
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ANDREA KUHN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Roanoke chipped away but could never find the tool it needed to topple the perennial powerhouse in women's lacrosse.
Pam Pluguez scored seven goals - six in the first half - and top-ranked Trenton State (13-0) handed the sixth-ranked Maroons (11-4) a 22-8 loss Saturday in the NCAA Division III tournament quarterfinals at Alumni Field in Salem.
The victory extended Trenton State's winning streak to 55 games stretching to April of 1991. The Lions have won the past three national championships and five total since the tournament began in 1985.
Pluguez struck early for Trenton, scoring one minute, five seconds into the game. The 5-foot-3 junior attack scored again 1:39 later and, with just seven minutes elapsed, the Maroons found themselves in a 5-0 hole.
"We're a run-and-gun team and we like to use the fast break," said Pluguez, who has 102 goals in 13 games this season.
"Trenton has always been a good attacking team," Roanoke coach Tracy Coyne said. "The key for us would have been to play better team defense."
Liz Florence got the Maroons, champions of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference, on the scoreboard at the 15:28 mark in the first half. The junior attack finished with two goals, as did Francesca Foord-Kelcey.
Jennifer Shimrak led Roanoke with three goals, including one unassisted at the 12:57 mark in the first half that made the score 5-2.
Kyra Preston scored her third goal of the game for Trenton with 9:53 remaining in the first half to make it 6-2. Eighteen seconds later, Roanoke's Kerry Campbell was called for slashing - her second penalty - and ejected from the game.
Campbell, a senior, was a first-team selection in the ODAC on defense this season and a three-time all-conference selection.
"Losing [Campbell] so early made a difference," Coyne said. "She's been the team leader on defense all season. It's hard to lose a key player."
It was Campbell's first yellow card of the season.
"I was just really trying to go after it and be aggressive," she said. "I never expected this to happen. It's a big letdown."
Campbell's loss was evident immediately. Pluguez scored four more goals, Preston added two and Jennifer Hart one on an assist by Preston that gave the Lions an 11-2 advantage at halftime.
Trenton scored two goals in the first 1:31 of the second half before Shimrak added a goal for Roanoke on an assist from Lisa Franzino.
The Lions then slammed the door on Roanoke's hopes for a third trip to the national semifinals in the past four years by scoring six straight goals to make the score 19-4.
"I think . . . we reached a point where we got discouraged," Coyne said. "We just never got the lift we needed."
Trenton State will play Middlebury, who defeated Bates 16-8 Saturday, in the semifinals next Saturday in College Park, Md. The other semifinal pits William Smith against Johns Hopkins.
by CNB