Box Score LYNCHBURG, VA — On a rainy, wet night from WildCat Stadium, sophomore Nick Cornell (Front Royal, VA/Warren Co.) laced a free kick into the back of the net with 3:17 left in double overtime to propel the Randolph College men's soccer team to a 1-0 Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) victory over Virginia Wesleyan College Wednesday evening.
Cornell, whose brother Brian is a midfielder for the Marlins, has had a flair for the dramatic as this is the second double overtime winner he has scored this season. Cornell ended a game at the 106:06 mark against Goucher College earlier this season in a 1-0 victory. Today, he waited 37 seconds later into the affair to give the WildCats (11-5/4-4 ODAC) the sudden victory.
The victory served many meanings. First, Randolph broke its single season record for wins in a season with 11. Second, the victory propels the WildCats into a tie for 5th place in the ODAC, and lastly it sends seniors Timmy Songer (Windsor, VA/Windsor) and Nick Hudson (Glen Allen, VA/J.R. Tucker) out with a win in their last home regular season game in WildCat Stadium.
In the first half, both teams had opportunities but keepers Carter Smith (Greensboro, NC/Grimsley) and Ryan Zmuda both held strong. Smith had four saves in the first have to keep things scoreless. After intermission, the WildCats began to control tempo, outshooting the Marlins 9-4 in the second stanza.
Cornell had a great chance in the 75th minute, but it was blocked by a Marlin defender. Sophomore Corey Sindle (Gloucester, VA/Gloucester) was put in with a nice pass, but just missed the net on a breakaway at 77:11.
In overtime, Virginia Wesleyan (4-10-1/2-6 ODAC) had the game's best chance to that point as Adam Stringer put a perfect corner kick onto the head of Paul Messier. Messiers header had Smith beat and was soaring goalward but sophomore John Vecchietti (Annandale, VA/W.T. Woodson) kneed the ball up into the air and the ball was gathered by Smith. No more than 10 seconds later, Tyler Gilchrist (Bedford, VA/Liberty) broke in free on a counter attack, but his shot missed wide right.
The game looked destined for a scoreless draw, but with 3:21 left on the clock the Marlins were whistled for a foul. Cornell stepped up to the ball on the right sideline and drilled the free kick over the outstretched hands of Zmuda for the win.
Randolph held a 20-12 shot advantage, while possessing a slight 9-7 edge in the corner kick department. Smith and Zmuda both finished with five saves apiece for their respective teams. Though the game had 25 fouls, the contest was played very clean and was one of the better college soccer games you'll see.
The WildCats will look to climb further up the ODAC ladder Saturday with a road contest at conference leading Roanoke College in Kerr Stadium at 7 p.m.
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