For immediate release – 10/10/2015 - #070
Randolph Stays Unbeaten in ODAC as WildCats Draw Royals

HARRISONBURG, VA – The Randolph College men's soccer team continued its unbeaten run in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC), tying Eastern Mennonite University 0-0 on Saturday evening.  Despite the scoreline, there were several chances for both sides.

The 'Cats came out aggressively and kept it up throughout the entire half.  Blake Heatherly forced EMU goalkeeper Daniel Nyce into two saves in the first two minutes.  Then the WildCats got two header shots in a span of less than a minute.  Sam Griffith header was knocked out of bounds by Nyce, giving Randolph a corner.  Christian Irigoyan got his head on Troy Jurney's service, but it went over the crossbar.

Randolph continued to pressure, with Nick Rodriguez, Heatherly, and Troy Juth sending shots at Nyce, who kept them all out.  The WildCats defense was stout, allowing only two shots on goal, which CJ Stevens did well to keep both out of the net.

With both teams coming out of the intermission scoreless, both sides jockeyed for the lead.  The Royals had three shots, with one being blocked and another hitting the post.  But the WildCats came right back as Heatherly had his shot blocked and Austin Davidson had his header go wide left.

After the early goings of the stanza, Randolph took control, earning more chances.  Stevens was forced to make one more stop in the half and the Royals had a free kick carom off the crossbar out of bounds, but the 'Cats were the more dangerous side.  The WildCats recorded four shots and two corner kicks in the final minutes of regulation, but could not find the back of the net.

The first session of overtime started the same as the end of regulation.  Randolph earned a corner kick and Salvador Ramirez found the Heatherly service with his head, but it went just high.  EMU came down and had several chances but Stevens and the defense continued to keep them out of the back of the net, as the game would go into the second overtime.

Both teams had magnificent chances in the second overtime.  Stevens came up big stopping a header, and on the opposite side Rodriguez found Jurney in the middle of box, but he barely missed the winner, and the game ended in a draw.

Each team had 19 shots in the game, but the WIldCats had more on goal (10-7) and more corner kicks (11-4).  Nyce finished with 10 saves for EMU (3-8-2 overall, 1-2-2 ODAC), while Stevens had seven for the WildCats.

Randolph (5-3-3, 3-0-3) continues its longest road swing, this time playing outside of the conference.  The 'Cats take on Rutgers University at Camden, one of the top teams in the region, on Sunday at 4 p.m.

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