LYNCHBURG, Va.- The Randolph men's soccer team hosted Roanoke in an Old Dominion Athletic Conference Tournament Quarterfinals match on Saturday night at WildCat Stadium. It was the first time since 2015 that the WildCats hosted a quarterfinal game. Evan Blow's (Charlottesville, Va./Charlottesville) goal in the 26th minute was all that Randolph needed as it would defeat Roanoke 1-0 to advance to next week's semifinals.
It is the first time since 2015 that the 'Cats have made it to the semifinal round. The team moves on to play top seeded Washington and Lee who defeated Hampden-Sydney earlier in the day.
The WildCats and Maroons played a week ago in Salem with the same result going in Roanoke's favor 1-0. The Maroons' goal in that contest came on a penalty kick. Both teams had five total shots and two on frame. Randolph had the upper hand this time in the rematch as it outshot RC 8-5 overall but just 2-1 in shots on goal.
Both of the Maroons shots early in the second half were wide of the goal. Blow picked up a pass from Colby Lambert (Chesapeake, Va./Western Branch) and blasted a long shot into the lower right side of the goal and in to give the WildCats the lead. It was Blow's team and conference leading 17th goal of the season. That ties the Randolph season mark set by Cory Sindle in 2013.
The WildCat defense stood tall in registering its sixth shutout of the season. Roanoke's first shot on goal of the night came at 56:00 from Ryan Pigeon whose attempt was thwarted by Zach Aylor (Vinton, Va./William Byrd).
Roanoke had one of the top defenses in the conference as they had only surrendered nine goals prior to tonight's game which had tied them with the Generals.
Aylor had just the one save on the night. Zach Behe also had one save for the Maroons.
Randolph will take on W&L in the ODAC Semifinals on Wednesday in Lexington. Game time will be announced in the coming days.
