Macon, GA-  Despite battling back early on, the Fayetteville Marksmen fell to the defending President’s Cup Champion Macon Mayhem, 5-2, in their lone preseason tilt.

The Mayhem didn’t wait long to get the offense going, striking at the 1:18 mark. John Gustafsson took a feed from John Siemer and found room in the top corner over Matt Zenzola.

Just 2:51 later, the Marksmen battled back to even the game at 1-1, courtesy of a Travis Jeke tally. Radoslav Konecny earned the primary helper on the marker.

Not deterred by the quick answer, Siemer answered with his second point of the night to give his squad the 2-1 lead after the first 20 minutes of play.

Despite substantial scoring chances for both teams, the lone goal of the second stanza came on the power play for Dennis Sicard, giving his team a two-goal advantage. On the evening, the Marksmen finished 0/3 with the man-advantage, while the Mayhem went 1/3.

Stephen Pierog extended the Mayhem lead to 4-1 five minutes into the final period, but the Marksmen answered back quickly, this time from Dalton Jay’s score. Michael Lipari and Craig Skudalski assisted on the final strike for Fayetteville.

Vincent Muto tacked on the final goal of the evening, giving the Mayhem the 5-2 victory.

Zenzola started the game in net and stopped 23 of the 26 shots he faced in 40 minutes of work. Peter Di Salvo stopped four of the six shots he faced in 19:07 of work.

The Marksmen will head to Roanoke for the season opener on Friday, October 20.

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The Fayetteville Marksmen are owned and operated by Union Pro Hockey Group and play their home games at Crown Coliseum. The Marksmen are a committed community asset, designed to provide premium entertainment to families and individuals in Cumberland County and surrounding areas.