Box Score For Immediate Release – 10/8/16 - #077
WildCats Tie Maroons on Homecoming
LYNCHBURG, VA – The Randolph College men's soccer team hosted Roanoke College on Saturday in a rainy, Homecoming affair. As was the case with the both matchups last year between the two, the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) contest needed overtime, as this one ended in a 1-1 tie.
It was a physical battle throughout the game, and it started right from the first minute. The physicality and the conditions made it slightly more difficult for teams to get the shots that they wanted. However, just into the eighth minute, Marshall Hodge sent a low shot towards the WildCat goal, but Erick Cortez-Martinez got his hands on it and stopped it.
The 'Cats got the next few chances. Travis Brown had a header and Brian Anderson sent a shot wide of the goal. But Blake Heatherly had the best opportunity on a free kick. However, his attempt was saved by Nick Tadros.
Both teams continued to press through the remainder of the half, with Cortez-Martinez making another tough, diving save. With that the teams would go into the half 0-0.
Randolph came out more aggressively then the visitors in the second stanza. Heatherly and Brown each forced Tadros into early saves, while three other shots were just wide of the mark. However, the best chance to that point in the game came in the 72nd minute for Roanoke, as Jon-Cody Mactutus' header went left of the net by about two yards.
But the WildCats continued to push. Finally, in the 82nd, the hosts broke through. A long ball was sent to the far right corner, where Joe Uzdavinis used his great speed to catch up to it before going out of bounds. Uzdavinis then sent in a cross where it deflected off of a Maroon straight to the top of the box. Jonathon Powell was there and he fired it into the bottom left corner, for his first-career goal.
However, the lead would be short lived. A clearance was attempted and it fell right to the feet of Andrew Yow. Yow then kicked the ball out of the air and it curled into the back right corner of the goal to tie the game. Heatherly had one final opportunity on a free kick with less than a minute remaining, but it was saved.
Roanoke earned the best opportunity of the first extra session, as Cortez-Martinez made another save. Heatherly also had a few attempts, but he could not find the back of the net, setting up another 10 minutes. In that last period, Brown had two great chances. His first was saved, but his second was a header that just barely missed, as both sides left with a point.
Cortez-Martinez stopped three shots in the game, but made a much larger impact than his stats indicated. He came off the line very well and commanded his box to prevent attempts by the Maroons. It led to the WildCats outshooting the visitors 18-11 (6-3 on goal). The 'Cats also held a 4-2 advantage in corners, with the Maroons (5-4-2 overall, 2-0-1 ODAC) earning them in extra time.
Randolph (6-2-3, 1-0-2) will head back on the road this week. The WildCats travel to Bridgewater College (6-4-2, 1-2) on Wednesday. It will be an earlier game, with kickoff scheduled for 4 p.m.
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