For Immediate Release March 10, 1999
Roanoke Drops Third of Season, 10-9, to Cortland
Kamerdin Scores Four Goals, Fasanaro Adds Three Assists
SALEM, Va.--The Roanoke College men’s lacrosse team made a strong fourth quarter comeback that fell just short, as the team lost to Cortland St., 10-9, today and saw its record drop to 0-3. The Red Dragons, who entered the game ranked 14th in the country, improve to 1-0 on the year. Roanoke is mired in its longest losing streak since the 1991 season when it also lost its first three games of the season. Cortland grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first period on two goals in the final four minutes. However, the Maroons scored four times in the second period to tie the score at four going into the halftime. With just under five minutes elapsed in the second period, Ryan Kamerdin (South Salem, NY/John Jay) took a pass from Gregg Fasanaro (Stony Brook, NY/Ward Melville) and beat the Red Dragon goaltender. The goal brought RC to within 2-1. However, Cortland quickly pushed its lead back to two, as just 27 seconds later Buck Sliter scored the first of his three goals. The Maroons responded 40 seconds later, as Fasanaro sent a pass from behind the cage to Dimitri Cafouco (Islip, NY/Islip), who collected the ball and fired it to the back of the net. The goal was Cafouco’s first of the season. Fasanaro picked up his third assist of the game just 16 seconds later, adding a helper on Kamerdin’s second tally of the game. The Maroons won the face-off and Fasanaro scooped the ball and found Kamerdin, who was left unchecked, at the top of the crease. Kamerdin calmly scored his sixth goal of the year. After Sliter scored for Cortland, Kamerdin recorded his third goal of the period with 5:13 to play before the break.
After halftime, Cortland scored the first four goals of the third period to jump out to an 8-4 lead. With just 46 ticks left on the clock in the third frame, Brian Fleming (Summit, NJ/Summit) scored for the first time this season to give RC some momentum heading into the final period of play.
In the fourth, the Red Dragons scored first, on Sliter’s third of the game, but the Maroons held Cortland without a goal for the next 11 minutes, a span in which they made their comeback attempt. Fleming scored his second goal of the game with 12 minutes left, a goal which was followed four minutes later by Jeb Burrows’ (Wayne, PA/Haverford School) first of the season, and first of his collegiate career. The Maroons then came within one tally, 9-8, when Kamerdin scored for the fourth time in the game, a goal that earned Ed Dover (Towson, MD/Towson) his first assist of the season. The Maroons then went a man down, and the Red Dragons took advantage, scoring the eventual game-winner with 2:58 remaining. Fleming again brought RC to within one, with 2:27 left, but the Maroons couldn’t tie the score before the final buzzer sounded.
The Maroons return to action in one week, March 17th, as they travel to Greensboro, NC to play the Guilford College Quakers. The contest will be Roanoke’s Old Dominion Athletic Conference season opener as the team begins its quest for its 14th ODAC championship. The last, and only, time the Maroons have opened the season with four consecutive losses was in 1987 (Penn State, Ohio Wesleyan, Virginia, Duke). After beginning that season 0-4, the team closed out the year 9-2 and made a trip to the NCAA Division III tournament.