ROANOKE, VA. – The Rail Yard Dawgs (21-11-3) scored three unanswered goals to give themselves a chance late, but came up short in a 4-3 loss to the Fayetteville Marksmen in the School Day Game on Thursday. Josh Nenadal, Matt O’Dea, and Nick Ford scored for Roanoke.
Roanoke and Fayetteville had a back-and-forth first period that ended scoreless and without penalties. The Dawgs outshot the Marksmen 14-11 in the frame, but neither team could open the scoring. It was 0-0 entering the first intermission.
The second period fell apart for Roanoke. Fayetteville scored at 3:14 in the frame on an Austin Alger power play goal. The Dawgs got their own power play chance, but instead the Marksmen scored twice shorthanded within 34 seconds through Nick Mangone and Taylor McCloy breakaway goals, and suddenly the Dawgs trailed by three at the 4:42 mark. An odd-man rush at 13:03 led to a Drake Glover score, and Fayetteville took that 4-0 lead into the second intermission.
The Dawgs showed plenty of heart and character, as they stormed back into the game in the final period. A Nenadal redirection on a feed by C.J. Valerian got Roanoke on the board at 2:51. A hard slapshot by Mac Jansen created a rebound that O’Dea finished off at 4:22, and the Dawgs had cut the deficit in half. Roanoke went on the power play at 6:57, and wasted no time as Ford uncorked a long-range shot at 7:04 to make it a one-goal game. The Dawgs peppered the Fayetteville net and had several more high-quality chances in the remainder of the game, outshooting the Marksmen 15-3 in the third period. Fayetteville held on to end its 10-game losing streak, and the Dawgs fell to the Marksmen for only the second time in their last eight meetings.
Tom Aubrun stopped 16-of-17 shots for Roanoke in relief, after Austyn Roudebush stopped 11-of-14 shots before he was pulled in the second period. Fayetteville’s Connor O’Brien was incredible, stopping 34 of 37 shots faced. The Dawgs were 1-for-3 on the power play, while the Marksmen went 1-for-2.
Roanoke will hit the road on Friday, February 10 at 7:35 p.m. EST to face the Knoxville Ice Bears at Knoxville Civic Coliseum. Season tickets and single-game tickets are available by calling the Rail Yard Dawgs office, visiting the ‘Tickets’ page on our website, or by visiting the Berglund Center box office.
Photo Credit: Brian Collett // BC Captures