The six alumni games during “Alumni Weekend” at Roanoke College were a huge success! With nearly 200 people in attendance to participate, everyone had a wonderful time catching up with former teammates and meeting the current members of the men's and women's soccer, men's and women's basketball, volleyball and tennis teams. To see photos from the day's festivities, click here to view the photo gallery from the games.

We had great weather during the game and throughout the weekend. The campus was buzzing with tons of activities including FOTQ, Maroon Club golf outing, 100 Years of Basketball Celebration, Hall of Fame reception, many organizational events and parties, and the college's introduction of our new capital campaign “Roanoke Rising.” It was a great time to be at Roanoke College during “Alumni Weekend.”

Men's Soccer Alumni Match
The men's soccer program opened the alumni game activities with a Friday night showcase under the lights at Donald J. Kerr Stadium. There were over 300 in attendance to check out the alumni vs. first-year head coach Ryan Pflugrad ‘02 and his 2013 men's soccer team.

The event for the men's soccer program saw over 40 alumni spanning six decades make their way back to campus. The alumni soccer game had a fantastic turnout of alumni playing the current team in a competitive and spirited 80 minute match played under the lights at Kerr Stadium. Kayvon Sarmadi '09 scored two goals lifted the alumni to a thrilling 2-1 victory over the Maroons.

For the current team, the goal was scored by Conner McBane with about 15 minute left in the second half. Throughout the game flashes of quality possession and combination play, which are the staples of our program, were on display for both teams. Despite the low score line, the game was wide open with lots of quality scoring chances created for both teams and the story of the night was the goalkeeping. Alumni goalkeeper Chris Lovett, and the trio of current keepers Cole Sinclair, Will Dooley, and Michael Perry were all called on to make big saves throughout the game and did not disappoint.

Women's Soccer Alumnae Match
The women's soccer game, opposed to the men's soccer match Friday night, was a high-scoring affair. The alumnae team defeated the 2013 version of the women's soccer team, 6-5 in a hard fought contest. Head coach Phil Benne said this year was the most alums he had come back to play in several years.

The Alumni team was represented well by Rebekah Adams '13, who tallied three goals in a tremendous hat-trick effort to lead her team to victory. She was followed by Stephanie Parenteau '13 with two goals and Erica Fienman '11 tallied one. The 2013 version of the women's soccer team was led by Lauren O'Brien '15 with a hat trick of her own with three goals. Briana McAuliffe '16, who is coming off a knee injury, scored a goal as well as rising senior Kara Kapell '14 in the contest.

Men's Tennis Alumni Match
Following the women's soccer match, coach Benne focused his attention on the alumni men's tennis match at the Elizabeth Campus Courts. He had a solid turnout as nearly every court was filled with former players going against each other.

Volleyball Alumnae Match
The volleyball coaching staff and players were excited to participate in the inaugural volleyball alumnae match. We had so many alumni come back (over 20 alums to play) that we pinned alumni vs. alumni and matched them up odd vs. even years by graduation. They played for just over an hour and at the end the odd year's team prevailed in three sets. Head coach Blair Trail ‘99 said that this was the first time her team was able to host an alumnae match in the Bast Center on campus in her 15-year career and was amazed by the turnout.

Women's Basketball Alumnae Game
Following the volleyball match, the women's basketball alumnae game commenced. The alumni were represented from the early 1980's and the first ODAC Championship team (Emilie Voelker ‘83, Tina Phillips ‘83, Mary Beth Harvey '84, Ann Harwood ‘83) to the late 2000's teams (Nicci Moats '12, Jordan Gholson '11, Rebecca Bays '12) that earned their last trip to the NCAA Tournament. The Maroon Club even played the original 1983 warm-up tape for the women's basketball team to bring back some good ole' memories!

Caitlyn Long '10 led all scorers with 18 points to lead the even's past the odd's, 53-36. Erin Hanson '08 had 11 points to help her team to victory as did Torri Bridge ‘08 and Jaleesa Osborne ‘10, who tossed in eight and seven points, respectively. Marcy Conner ‘09 led the odd's team with 15 points followed by Kendra Porter ‘11, who chipped in 12 of her own.

Head coach Susan Dunagan stated that she hasn't held an alumnae game in six years and was glad that with the help of the Maroon Club that it was started back and held on campus at the Bast Center. The teams were split odd vs. even years by graduation as a crowd of over 300 came to check out the game.

Men's Basketball Alumni Game
The final event of the day came at NOON with the men's basketball alumni game. This was the main event of the day as we had nearly 500 in attendance to check out the legends that ranged from the early 1980's (Mike Styles ‘81, Ken Belton ‘81, Tony Bond ‘82, Donnie Morris ‘83) to the 1990's (Bryant Lee '95, Kevin Martin '94, Ron Pendleton '91, Jon Maher '97) to the 2000's (Paris Butler '00, Brad Dunleavy '01, Colby Leftwitch '01, Jaimar Mansel '02, Robbie Pridgen '03, Jared Butler '06, Ty Sigmon '08, AJ Dowell '08, Keith Carter '08, Curtis Peery ‘09).

It was a hard-fought battle that went down to the wire. Brad Dunleavy '01 started the contest with a three-pointer from the corner to take an early lead. AJ Dowell ‘08 showed off his long-range ability with back-to-back three-pointers to spark a 10-0 run to go on top, 10-3 early on.

Robbie Pridgen ‘03 and Hilliary Scott '94 scored six points each down the stretch to bring the contest to a tight, 38-36 advantage pointing to the even year's team. The game seemed to get away from the even year's team in the second half, but the players, workers and fans were all in for a thrilling finish.

Paris Butler '00 hit a three-pointer and was fouled with seven-seconds remaining to keep the even years in the game. His free-throw was good and made it a three-point game, 78-75. With a loose ball rebound going back to the even-year's team with four-seconds remaining, there was time for one more opportunity to send the game into overtime. But it wasn't meant to be as the ball was thrown out of bounds and the odd year's team prevailed with an 80-75 victory.

Thank You on behalf of the Maroon Club!
On behalf of Athletic Director Scott Allison '79 and Assistant Athletic Director Brad Moore of the Maroon Club, along with the entire athletic coaching staff, we would like to thank everyone who made it back for “Alumni Weekend”. To see photos from the day's festivities, click here to view the photo gallery from the games.