LYNCHBURG, Va.- It was a packed crowd for WildCat Weekend on a warm and humid Saturday night as the Randolph men's soccer team hosted Shenandoah in the ODAC opener for both teams. The Wildcats scored four times in the second half on their way to a 4-1 victory.
Randolph, which has won six straight for its longest streak in six years, improves to 6-3-1 on the season. The Hornets drop to 4-5.
The first half did not foretell what was to come as the two team played to a 0-0 draw at halftime. The WildCats outshot the Hornets 9-3 in the period but only two came on frame.
The second half was a different story as the WildCats got on the board less than a minute in. Evan Blow's (Charlottesville, Va./Charlottesville) corner kick found Noah Carney (Charlestown, W.V./Homeschool), who headed it in to put Randolph ahead 1-0.
Daniel Over's (Westminster, Md./Winters Mill) goal in the 60th minute put the WildCats ahead 2-0 and seemingly gave them a comfortable lead. Shenandoah would cut the lead down to one, however, in the 73rd minute as Hector Colon banked in a pass from Kane Melendez to make it a 2-1 game.
The WildCats looked to add another goal to separate from the Hornets but couldn't find their mark. The Hornets had a shot on goal rejected by Wildcat goalkeeper Erick Cortez-Martinez (Winston-Salem, N.C./North Forsyth). Randolph got the score they were looking for as Carney found Gabe Krueger (Jacksonville, N.C./White Oak) at 88:57 and Niles Brown (Atlanta, Ga./Coral Academy) scored a solo shot with less than a minute to play to ice the game.
Randolph controlled the stat sheet with a 25-6 advantage in total shots and 12-2 lead in shots on goal. Corner kicks favored the WildCats 11-2.
Cortez-Martinez finished with one save. His counterpart for Shenandoah, Michael Romeo, stopped eight shots.
Randolph looks to keep its momentum going when it travels to Virginia Wesleyan next Saturday. Game time will be at 2:00 p.m.
