LYNCHBURG, VA — Junior Sam McGarrity (Richmond, VA/James River) posted possibly his biggest goal of his career Wednesday, heading in an overtime tally to push the Randolph College men's soccer team past cross town rival Lynchburg College 2-1 in Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) action from Shellenberger Field.

McGarrity, who had come on as a reserve in the game, was inserted into the starting 11 for the overtime period. After sophomore Jacob Lusczek (Fredericksburg, VA/Chancellor) earned a corner, he quickly took the corner attempt and the junior back placed his header in the perfect spot to give Randolph the walk-off win.

For McGarrity, it was his first goal of the season and the assist for Lusczek was his ODAC leading sixth of the season. The win for the WildCats was their first-ever over their Lynchburg rivals, as the Hornets (4-6-2/2-1-2 ODAC) had taken the first seven meetings between the teams. The victory also breaks a three-game losing streak Randolph had coming into the game.

The WildCats (9-3/2-3 ODAC) scored early on in the contest, thanks to a great individual effort from sophomore John Adams (Lynchburg, VA/E.C. Glass) . Adams, who has been playing at an All-ODAC level all season, again showed his prowess as he broke down the left sideline and fed a pass across to senior Timmy Songer (Windsor, VA/Windsor). Songer, who to that point was one of only two Randolph players to ever score against LC, netted his second career goal against the Hornets with a flick on at 22:17.

First-year keeper CJ Stevens (Mechanicsville, VA/Lee-Davis) played an electric first half, making five saves including two point blank stops to keep the host Hornets off the board. After the intermission, the game went back and forth before with six minutes left LC struck for the equalizer.

Senior Kyle Symczek took a flick on off a throw on from Chaz Ashton to tie the score and send the game to overtime. Early on in overtime, McGarrity had a chance from 30 yards out that just missed wide, but less than six minutes later he would strike for his game winner.

Stevens earned the win in net for Randolph, making eight saves while the defense was credited with a save as well. The host Hornets held a slight 18-15 shot edge but the game was deadlocked in the corner kick department as both teams took seven apiece.

First-year center backs Coulton Watson (Virginia Beach, VA/Salem) and Conner Ray (Bristow, VA/Brentsville) each had superb games, playing in their first game together in the middle of the back row.

Randolph will look to continue its momentum Saturday with another ODAC contest at Randolph-Macon College at 1 p.m. in Ashland, VA.

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